MTN and Huawei validate microwave spectrum reuse, but publish no capacity gain

MTN South Africa and Huawei say they have validated a way to reuse microwave frequencies on a commercial network, potentially increasing the capacity available to carry mobile traffic between sites. Their 26 October announcement does not provide a measured percentage improvement, the location of the validation, or a national deployment timetable.

The distinction matters for South African mobile users. Microwave links are part of the backhaul network connecting base stations to the wider telecommunications system. Improving those links can ease a bottleneck behind the tower. It does not automatically improve coverage, handset signal strength, or the speed every customer receives. A validation of the link is not a promise about the phone.

What they say the system does

Huawei calls the system Co-Channel Interference Cancellation, or CCIC. In the companies' simplified account, it analyses interference between links using the same radio channel and produces compensating signals to reduce that interference. They say this allows an operator to reuse existing licensed microwave frequencies more efficiently, particularly at crowded hub sites where obtaining further spectrum or adding new links is difficult.

That is a claim about efficiency on spectrum the operator already holds. It is not a claim that a new band has been licensed. Microwave backhaul frequencies are not the same as the mobile access spectrum used by customers' phones. Reusing a licensed backhaul channel does not mean MTN has received a fresh block of spectrum from ICASA. A reader who sees "spectrum reuse" and hears "more airwaves for 5G handsets" is hearing a different story from the one the announcement tells.

MTN describes the work as a proof of concept and a commercial-network validation. That wording is narrower than a nationwide roll-out. A proof of concept shows that a configuration can be made to work. A commercial-network validation says the test was not only in a lab. Neither phrase says how many sites, which cities, or when the rest of the network would follow. The partners say the configuration maintained network performance while improving spectrum-use efficiency. They have not published the link capacities, the frequency bands, the test conditions, or the before-and-after results needed for an independent comparison.

Without those figures, "improving efficiency" cannot be turned into a percentage a network engineer can check. The absence is the point of the announcement as it stands. The companies are confident enough to announce a validation and have not attached a capacity number to it.

Why backhaul is the constraint they are talking about

As operators add 5G equipment and more traffic flows through their networks, capacity behind the radio tower can become as important as the connection between the tower and a handset. Fibre is an option for many sites. Laying it can involve civil works, permissions and cost. Microwave links remain useful where fibre is impractical or expensive. CCIC, on the announcement's account, is a way to get more out of microwave links that are already there, at hubs where adding another link or another frequency is hard.

For MTN, squeezing more capacity out of frequencies it already uses could postpone some network expenditure. That potential saving is not the same as a verified reduction in customer tariffs. The companies have not published a cost comparison. They have not said whether the technology will affect prepaid or contract pricing. A postponed capital project, if it happens, shows up in a network budget. It does not, by itself, show up on a recharge voucher.

The announcement was issued by Huawei and carried as partner material. Its description of an industry first has not been independently benchmarked against every other operator's deployment. Partner material can be accurate and still be the vendor's account of its own trial. Until another operator, a regulator, or MTN's own engineering figures are public, the industry-first line is Huawei's description, not a measured ranking.

What is still missing

What remains unanswered is measurable performance: how much capacity increased, at which sites, under what traffic load, and at what cost. The 26 October announcement does not give a location for the validation. It does not give a date for a national deployment. It does not give the percentage a headline would normally carry.

Until MTN provides those figures and a roll-out plan, this is a technical validation the two companies say succeeded on a commercial network. It is not evidence of a countrywide change in the service a customer receives.

How to read an announcement with no number

A commercial-network validation is a stronger claim than a lab demo, and a weaker claim than a roll-out. MTN and Huawei have made the middle claim. They say the configuration held network performance and improved how efficiently existing microwave frequencies were used, at the kind of crowded hub where a new link or a new frequency is hard to get. They have not said which hub, which band, or by how much the capacity moved.

That missing percentage is not a small omission. Capacity is the reason the announcement exists. Without a before-and-after figure, a reader cannot tell a large gain from a small one, and cannot tell whether the gain survived a busy hour. The same silence covers cost. Postponing spend on fibre or on extra microwave links would matter to MTN's network budget. The announcement does not say the spend was postponed, and it does not say a customer's prepaid or contract price will change.

The regulatory line is separate and already clear. This is reuse of licensed microwave backhaul, not a new block of access spectrum from ICASA, and not a change to the signal a handset sees. Fibre remains the alternative where civil works and cost allow it. Microwave remains the alternative where they do not. CCIC, as described on 26 October, is a way to do more with the microwave an operator already has. The countrywide service improvement is the claim the announcement does not make.

Sources: Huawei and MTN announcement, 26 October 2026, carried as partner material.