Huawei Technologies’ equipment was used by South African telecom provider Telkom to establish its 5G high-speed internet network, the two firms announced on Thursday.
Due to the rising demand for bandwidth, Telkom, a company that is partially owned by the state, has joined larger competitors Vodacom and MTN as well as smaller peer Rain in the 5G race.
“The COVID pandemic has driven significant lifestyle changes for South Africans, due to work from home or school from home, online shopping and an ‘always on’ kind of culture,” said Fortune Wang, Carrier Business Director for Huawei South Africa.
With its ultra high speed and low latency, 5G would enable enterprises to use cloud and artificial intelligence technologies while also supporting new services for South African consumers like online augmented reality and virtual reality games and ultra high definition streaming, Wang continued.
“At launch Telkom will primarily focus on providing super fast 5G fixed wireless access solutions, as the demand for mobile 5G increases, we will supplement this with suitable mobile propositions,” said Lunga Siyo, chief executive officer of Telkom Consumer and Business.
Although Huawei has refuted security worries that have caused it to be shunned in the global north, the Chinese corporation dominates in Africa as a supplier of equipment to numerous telecoms companies.