- Vodacom
Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the first cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 30.2 million customers in
South Africa , Tanzania,Lesotho ,Mozambique and theDemocratic Republic of the Congo . It is owned on a 50:50 basis by the South African telecommunications group Telkom and the British mobile phone operatorVodafone . [ Introduction Page on Vodacoms Website. http://www.vodacom.com/vodacom/about_vodacom/introduction.jsp] [ Vodacom Business article by the BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4434862.stm]Vodacom is the leading cellular network in South Africa with an estimated market share of 58% and more than 23 million customers. Vodacom was also the first provider to deploy a
3G (third generation) orUMTS network in South Africa and is also offeringHSDPA . Other network operators in the South African market include MTN andCell C .Virgin Mobile is anMVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator).Vodacom provides coverage to
Mount Kilimanjaro , which used to make it the highest point in the world to be covered byGSM . It no longer is, as China Mobile now provides coverage at the top of Mt. Everest, the highest point in the world. Vodacom was aided by its optimistic advertisements at the early stages of the democratic South Africa, this includes the yebo gogo campaign which is still in effect today in South Africa.ports sponsorship
Vodacom is a sponsor of South African sports. In
rugby union , they are the sponsors for three teams (Pretoria -based VodacomBlue Bulls ,Bloemfontein -based VodacomFree State Cheetahs , andCape Town -based Vodacom Western Province) in the provincialCurrie Cup competition.In
soccer they sponsor the two clubs in the Professional Soccer League,Kaizer Chiefs andOrlando Pirates , as well asBloemfontein Celtic . They also sponsor theSouth African Football Association and the national teams Bafana Bafana (men), Banyana Banyana (women) and Amajita (under 20's). MTN is the sponsor of the2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa.Vodacom also owns the
naming rights to several stadia, among them Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein,Newlands Stadium in Cape Town and Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.References
External links
* [http://www.vodacom.com/ Corporate Website]
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