Cell C’s 4G network: CEO explains

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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In January this year Cell C CEO Lars P. Reichelt announced that “few would have predicted that Cell C would ever lead the industry as far as network infrastructure is concerned but it is a fact that Cell C will be the first South African operator to roll out HSPA+ technologies incorporating download speeds of up to 21Mbit/s – three times faster than anything currently available.”

Vodacom and MTN however launched commercial 21 Mbps HSPA+ services earlier this year, which means that Reichelt’s claims were less than prophetic. 

In the same January 2010 press statement Reichelt said that they are “on track to deliver a 4G network that will offer the kind of connectivity that South Africans have been craving”.

Reichelt’s claim that Cell C is rolling out a 4G network drew sharp criticism from tech-savvy consumers and industry players, and the Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys even poked fun at Reichelt’s claims calling his 4G network an urban legend.

Despite numerous attempts to get Reichelt to explain why he classifies his network as a 4G network, the Cell C CEO would not engage in a discussion on the matter. 

The truth is that it is currently impossible to roll out a 4G network as the 4G standards have not been ratified yet.  To call a network 4G means that it must support a peak data rate of 100Mbps for high mobility applications and 1Gbps for low mobility applications such as nomadic/local wireless access.

What 4G means to Cell C

At a recent media event Reichelt discussed the 4G network debate, and while the Cell C CEO did not admit that he wrongly used the term, he did concede that it is impossible to build a 4G network as the standard is not yet there to do it.

Reichelt however explained that the term is currently used to show that their new HSPA+ network will offer ‘For Great Support’ and ‘For Great Speed’ – hence 4Gs means ‘For Great Speeds’ and ‘For Great Support’.

This 4Gs network description forms part of a larger Cell C marketing campaign which will see the company being re-branded as a consumer centric operator with a comedian Trevor Noah as their new customer experience officer.  The company also got a new logo and branding which is being rolled out to all Cell C outlets.

New look company with new network and new goals

While the 4G marketing term may be debated in months to come, it is clear that Reichelt has a strategy for Cell C which is likely to benefit broadband and telecoms consumers in South Africa.

Cell C is investing R5 billion in its new 900 MHz HSPA+ network, with another R2 billion spent on IT systems to support this network.  Reichelt added that they are also planning to spend a few billion more next year on their network rollout.

Cell C currently has over 1300 HSPA+ 900 live transmitters, with a fibre backbone and IP access secured.  Cell C is however not stopping here, and is planning to have 30% HSPA+ population coverage by the end of this year.

It took Vodacom nearly 5 years to reach 50% 3G population coverage using 2100 MHz, and Cell C’s strategy to use 900 MHz – which provides three to five times better coverage and better in-building penetration – makes it far easier for the company to reach consumers.

Reichelt added that Cell C is also looking at building its own fibre network to alleviate the reliance on other providers where the cost of bandwidth and capacity can become future obstacles in their broadband growth.

Cell C’s new 21 Mbps HSPA+ network, coupled with its drive to put the customer at the centre of its operations, is likely to make Vodacom and MTN sit up and take note.  To date Cell C has not been a significant threat to the two incumbent mobile operators, but if Reichelt’s strategy succeeds consumers may see significant improvements in both service levels and competitive pricing.

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