A data-consumption boom in townships has forced Vodacom back to the drawing board to search for new ways to cater for this growth and improve connectivity in these areas. Andries Delport, Vodacom's chief technology officer, said this week: "We see data volumes in Gauteng's townships almost doubling year on year, which is well ahead of the average growth rate countrywide."In the past year, Vodacom, which has the most cellphone subscribers in the country, had increased the coverage of its data network from 44% of the population to 80%, Delport said.The growth is due to a wider uptake of smartphones and tablets priced below R1000.Last year, 19million smartphones were in use. This is projected to grow to 23.6million this year, according to research published by World Wide Worx last month.Chris Lazarus, Vodacom's managing executive for Gauteng, said public payphones remained popular in townships, but it surprised Vodacom that even low-cost tablets and smartphones were favoured. "We can't make any of these stereotype decisions anymore."Vodacom unveiled a specially adapted base station this week to connect these devices to the network.The first of five base stations in the pilot project will go live in Johannesburg's Alexandra. They cover a radius of up to 1.5km and can service 5000 subscribers at peak times.The smaller base station has been adapted to suit township terrain where space is generally limited.It fits into a steel structure and is bolted on the roof of a shop contained in a shipping container.Vodacom said these base stations did not require airconditioning, and cost half of the R1.5-million paid for one traditional base station. The township version can be rolled out in weeks compared with the normal 12 to 18 months.Last year, rival MTN rolled out base stations on city street lamps to increase coverage. But this week it said: "This project has been put on hold."Telkom Mobile, which reported data growth of 78% for the 12months to last September, has also announced the expansion of its high-speed network primarily in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.Cell C is investing R8-billion over the next three years in a high-speed network that will cover townships such as Soweto, Lenasia, Umlazi, Chatsworth and Mitchells Plain, among other areas...