(Telecompaper) South Africa mobile operator Cell C announced plans to invest ZAR 8 billion in its LTE network over the next three years. The operator said its LTE strategy will focus on metropolitan areas where people work and live. The primary commuting areas that fall outside the major metros will remain covered by HSPA+, said Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos. Cell C has signed supply agreements with both Huawei and ZTE, which will drive the rollout of the planned 4,000 LTE sites. The first areas to receive the expanded LTE network will be Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Gated communities and high-density residential areas where there is a great demand for high speed data will be one of the priorities. The operator plans to start upgrading areas in Rosebank and Sandton, and then move onto the northern Johannesburg areas. This will be followed by the northern Gauteng areas, including Pretoria and Centurion, and then Benoni, Boksburg, Johannesburg proper, Soweto, Lenasia, and Roodepoort. In KZN, Hillcrest through to the Dolphin Coast, Umhlanga, Chatsworth, Durban South, Pietermaritzburg, and Umlazi will benefit from the LTE rollout. Areas in the Western Cape which will be targeted include SeaPoint to Durbanville, the airport, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town through Constantia, Brakenfell, Somerset West, Mitchells Plain, and Paarl.