MTN South Africa has launched a live 5G indoor solution at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre.

This is the first time that MTN has deployed a trial 5G network as an indoor business solution, and the company stated that commercial-grade 5G network equipment and devices were used in this deployment.

MTN said that the joint project with Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre would allow for further evaluation of the benefits of 5G connectivity for corporate customers.

This deployment will also lay the foundation for further tests of advanced 5G use cases, the company stated.

The 5G indoor solution consists of an end-to-end dedicated 5G network operating in 100MHz of 28GHz licensed spectrum and achieves download speeds of over 630Mbps and uplink speeds exceeding 130Mbps.

A 5G router accessible to Kyalami employees and attendees provides a fibre-like 5G service to mobile devices and computers via Wi-Fi connectivity.

Additionally, once smartphones with 5G capabilities are available in South Africa, these will be able to connect to the 5G indoor solution.

5G and spectrum

MTN South Africa CTIO Giovanni Chiarelli said that the company is working to explore a variety of 5G use cases with a number of partners.

“MTN SA is working with a number of partners to identify more 5G use cases and applications for the digital transformation of their industries,” Chiarelli said.

“Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre offers MTN the unique opportunity to test 5G services within a corporate and public indoor environment, while providing us with the opportunity to explore advanced 5G IoT and mission critical use cases.”

He added that the biggest challenge to widespread deployment of 5G in South Africa remains the lack of available spectrum.

“The most significant challenge preventing MTN from commercially launching 5G services is the lack of appropriate 5G spectrum,” he said.

“However, despite this lack of licensed 5G spectrum, MTN has continued to pioneer the use of 5G technology within the country, so that when such spectrum is made available, then MTN will be in an ideal position to begin supporting 5G use cases in a variety of environments and industries.”

MTN South Africa said the deployment of a live 5G network at Kyalami is another step towards accelerating the development of 5G in the South African market.