As Cell C refreshes its brand image CEO Jorge Mendes is confident that SA’s fourth-largest mobile operator has improved its network quality enough to effectively compete with its larger rivals, while setting the foundation for other areas of business beyond mobile.
This week, the Johannesburg-based company unveiled a new brand identity which incorporates a refreshed logo and new musical jingle, among a host of items.
Businesses periodically look to refresh, reposition or rebrand their businesses. In recent corporate memory, such moves have been seen from FNB, Absa, MTN, Showmax and Liquid. In other cases, this results in a complete change in brand identity, as seen by Net1 UEPS’s rebranding to Lesaka.
Beyond the visual and stylist element, Cell C is looking to shift negative perceptions that had been driven by poor network quality.
“We were the fourth-best network, so last, in terms of network quality on upload and download speeds, from a data point of view in July last year,” Mendes told Business Day. “We are now first or second everywhere in the country and that is a phenomenal shift. That is the basic foundation, the ingredients that you need to be able to take propositions to market.”
He said Cell C had managed to do this by shifting away from owning and operating its own network infrastructure in favour of roaming agreements with MTN and Vodacom. As such, customers get a better network experience underpinned by the two larger rivals.
These network partnerships have vastly expanded Cell C’s coverage, improving access from 5,500 base stations to about 28,000 across SA.
According to the company, “by investing in cutting-edge technology and adopting an industry-first approach, Cell C is now on SA’s best networks to deliver quality connectivity and the best value with the affordable pricing for which the telco is known. Customers can now enjoy the best of both worlds.”
With this in place, Cell C is hoping to aggressively improve and expand its offerings.
“We’ve been largely focused on mobile. [But] on mobile broadband ... we’ve got products like Home Connector Flexi. Those are growing in double digits and have been for a while, in spite of the network quality, [which has] been acceptable and usable, with great prices. Now with improved quality, we should see that product fly even more,” said Mendes.
“Fixed wireless services is certainly something that we’re looking at. We already have certain products, but we want to expand a little bit more.”
The former Vodacom executive is also using the better network quality to appeal to businesses that want to offer mobile services without having to invest in their own networks.
These mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) constitute about 3% of total mobile subscribers in SA. By December 2023, the number of MVNO SIMs surged to 4.3-million, marking a “remarkable” annual growth rate of 51%, according to a report by ICT research firm African Analysis.
Now, there are 17 operational MVNOs in the country, with the MVNO retail market achieving R4.3bn in 2023, “underlining the sector’s economic significance”.
For a number of years, the largest player has been FNB. According to Africa Analysis, rival Capitec Mobile has emerged as SA’s largest MVNO, followed by FNB Connect. Both players boast more than a million SIM cards in the market.
Cell C had been the largest MVNO provider for a number of years but is facing growing competition from MTN, which has been mandated by the government to offer similar services.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.