communications law, ostensibly to protect jobs. The deregulation of VoIP was announced by former Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri in September 2004. 1G 1G used to be offered by Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom. Since then all 1G cell towers in South Africa have been repurposed as 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G infrastructure or decommissioned. 2G South Africa offers GSM 900 and GSM 1800 with almost 99% coverage. So far Vodacom has shown interest in turning off their 2G network, but it is still operating today 3G South Africa offers UMTS 900 and UMTS 2100 with 99.7% of the population having coverage. 4G/LTE South Africa offers LTE 1800, LTE 2100 and LTE 2300. LTE Coverage by carrier 2020 5G Carriers Vodacom and MTN both offer 5G 3500 and launched in Johannesburg and Cape Town. See also Digital Divide in South Africa Internet censorship in South Africa References External links Neotel SA Telecoms and Communications News