Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 22 | Page 8

NEWS Paratus upgrades mobile data LTE network P aratus has successfully concluded the first phase of the upgrades to its Mobile LTE Data network. The operator has confirmed that phase two will commence during November when the equipment arrives from the vendor manufacturing line. Vodacom launches Enhanced Voice Services – Super HD Voice Vodacom South Africa has launched Enhanced Voice Services “We have been planning the upgrades for quite some time, during which various lab tests were done to ensure efficiency on the network platform,” said Client Service Executive Andrew Hall. “Meticulous planning is crucial when implementing in a live environment, as to not disrupt any service delivery to our clients.” Hall says Paratus is working closely with the vendor to ensure that the network continues to perform optimally during this process. Phase two will deliver the same results and Paratus is confident that clients will experience an improved service. The two phases were separated due to manufacturing time frames and deliverables. However, this proved to be a blessing in disguise, as this ensured that network inconsistencies were resolved. According to Hall, they are happy with the results to date and are confident that their clients will experience the benefits of the upgrades. He added that it is important to remain on the forefront of technological advances and the additional infrastructure has already shown a positive impact on the service to its customers. V odacom South Africa has introduced the next chapter in the evolution of the Vodacom network, Enhanced Voice Services (EVS), also known as Super High Definition (SHD) voice or HD Voice+. Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) subscribers using a compatible handset on the Vodacom network can now experience improved voice clarity made possible by the EVS codec. Vodacom launched VoLTE three years ago and is now pioneering the evolution of this technology in South Africa with EVS being the successor of the current HD Voice Codec called AMR-WB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband). Siyabonga Zulu, Vodacom Group Managing Executive for Radio Access Network Engineering, said: “Vodacom is 8 INTELLIGENTCIO always looking to improve the experience customers have on our network. Deploying Enhanced Voice Services is another step in this process and will ensure even better voice quality for our 4G users. “With our extensive 4G coverage, it makes sense to ensure that 4G users get the best possible voice quality to complement our super-fast 4G speeds.” EVS can deliver speech quality that matches other audio sources such as hi-fidelity stored music and is designed to offer up to 20kHz of audio bandwidth (CD quality). In addition, EVS has been shown to provide coverage gains for cell- edge users, which will translate in better voice quality performance in cell-edge conditions, i.e. where coverage might not be optimal. www.intelligentcio.com