Plenty to Smile about over super-fast inroads into African markets
Spectrum delay keeps South Africa in the slow lane, writes Thabiso Mochiko SMILE Telecoms is making inroads in Africa with the deployment of its super-fast long-term evolution (LTE) or 4G wireless network, while it awaits clarity on the radio spectrum frequency in SA.Founded in 2007 by businesswoman Irene Charnley, SA-based Smile’s objective is to become the broadband provider of choice for super-fast data in each of its markets — Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and soon the Democratic Republic of Congo.The network enables ultra-high-speed internet access with connection speeds many times higher than 3G, translating into faster downloads and stutter-free video.Ms Charnley, a former executive at MTN, says there is a huge opportunity as more than 60-million internet users in its three-country market have access to 3G networks."The opportunity is to move them up (to LTE) to give them far better experience," Ms Charnley says.Smile sees potential customers at 300-million in its first four coun...
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