While there have been concerns raised that the local cellular industry has almost reached saturation point, mobile operator MTN is looking to break into the underground market.
The company has been conducting tests to assess the safety of electric and electronic detonators in the presence of cellular radio interference, in the hopes that it will soon be able to roll-out the next generation of underground communication systems within the country`s mines.
"The results of these tests open up the possibility of extending MTN`s GSM cellular coverage underground and into mines," says Yvonne Muthien, group executive for corporate affairs at MTN.
"This will provide miners with access to MTN`s full range of advanced telecommunications services, including GPRS, e-mail, SMS, faxmail and voicemail."
It is anticipated that mine efficiency and safety will be improved by the presence of mobile phones underground, and a special range of dedicated services will be possible for miners, including virtual private networks allowing short dial numbers, locating of personnel, and even a service that provides an option for group calls.
"The series of tests performed together with MTN indicates that the electric and electronic detonators exhibited excellent immunity to the MTN signal," says Dr Stafford Smithies of electronic blasting equipment supplier, Detnet.
"It would appear acceptable to use these explosive products in the vicinity of an MTN cellular system, provided the regulations on use of radio systems - such as those issued by the Department of Minerals and Energy - are always adhered to."
According to Benio Franceschi, MTN`s manager for corporate network solutions, the idea is to ultimately employ a dedicated underground network, complete with base stations and antennas fed through the tunnels.
"The beauty of cellular communication is the wide range of options it offers the workers underground. Everything from data and voice traffic to video, multimedia messaging service and telemetry applications can be made available," says Franceschi.
"While it might be a slightly more expensive system to implement initially, the various advantages it has over fixed-line communication will soon see it paying for itself."
He says while it may take some time for a fully-fledged underground network to be up and running, he believes that MTN will have some form of network available within a year.
"We are still conducting tests according to the required regulations, but once these have been successfully completed, I think we will start deploying underground. There has already been quite a lot of interest shown in this by the various mining houses," he says.
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