Ignore Trevor, but not Cell C’s 4Gs broadband

Hilton Tarrant

Hilton Tarrant is production editor at Moneyweb. He also project manages new website launches for the company and covers ICT issues, chiefly through his weekly...

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Ignore Trevor. It’s a great campaign, but I get the feeling Cell C’s thrown far too many millions at marketing its relaunch. You simply cannot move without seeing Trevor Noah and the same repetitive message over and over.

You can ignore the new logo too. I kind of like it (the operator was definitely overdue for a corporate identity refresh), but it’s the sort of logo that doesn’t really appeal to everyone.

But, despite Trevor, the operator has had over 29 500 responses to its “Tell Trevor” campaign so far and to its credit, Cell C is dealing with each of these individually. Try getting one of its competitors to do the same thing. There are certain advantages in being small.

And you can ignore the “4Gs” branding. Cell C took a lot of flack for announcing it would build a “4G” network, when it’s realistically building a 3.75G one (4G hasn’t been properly defined yet, but I digress).

But, Cell C has been smart in the one place where South Africans notice: pricing.

It (finally) launched BlackBerry recently, and the pricing is eye-opening. Its Blackberry All Week 100 package costs R199 per month. That means 100 free (anytime) minutes per month as well as the BlackBerry Internet Service (free browsing). Vodacom’s comparable product “BlackBerry 100 BIS” costs R349 per month. MTN offers an MTN AnyTime 100 package (with a BlackBerry Curve 8520) at R189 per month, but this only includes R100 worth of airtime, not 100 minutes. MTN’s AnyTime 200 would be more comparable to 100 free minutes (R200 worth of airtime), and those contracts start at R359 per month. So far, Cell C wins hands down.

But where Cell C really takes first prize is on its newly announced mobile broadband deals.

It’s been cautious, and will roll these out city by city. So far, only Port Elizabeth has coverage (when’s the last time PE got anything first, ever?!).

With its new data deals, Cell C has turned the entire 3G contract model on its head. None of this monthly contract stuff. Right now it offers two “contract” options (without a USB modem): a 24GB one (2GB of data per month) at R999 one-off, or a 60GB one (5GB of data per month) at R1 999 one-off.

The 60GB product translates to a rate of R33 per GB. Even on Vodacom’s higher-end data bundles (10GB +), you’re paying an effective R184 per GB).

This per-gigabyte rate is more comparable, in fact, to fixed-line broadband tariffs.

With a bundled USB modem (or “Speed Stick” as it calls it), the costs are R1 499 and R2 999. All of these offers are “while stocks last”, suggesting Cell C is covering its bases. Many of the existing Huawei USB modems are compatible with Cell C’s 21Mbps network (E160, E169, E1752, E180, E1820, E2010, E230, E5, K3520, K3520Z, K3565, K3715, K3765z).

The whole approach is refreshing. There’s no 24-month contract. You pay once, and you’re connected for a year. Cell C has been smart too in explaining what “2GB” or “5GB” actually means, how it translates to usage: a 2GB bundle lets you view Facebook 12 000 times a month (once every two minutes), download 500 songs or three movies. 5GB means you can view Facebook 27 000 times a month, download 1 250 songs, or seven movies.

Out of bundle, the rates are equally impressive at 39c per MB (versus the historically common R2 flatrate from the other operators). Some of those at the launch in PE on Friday suggested that Cell C’s network makes 4Mbps ADSL feel “really slow”.

Cell C is in danger of ending up as a victim of its own success though. It deliberately did not promise a nationwide rollout, and has tried as far as possible to temper the public’s expectations of when its network will be fixed (yes, Cell C CEO Lars P Reichelt actually admitted the operator knows its network is “not great and it needs to improve!”), but it risks not capitalising on the pent up demand from consumers.

Joburg residents are going to want mobile broadband at these prices (and they’re not going to want to move to PE to get it!). There are rumours that Bloemfontein and Durban are next in line. It’s been testing the 21Mbps network in six cities and you could quite easily guess that those would be PE, Bloem, Durbs, Joburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. Hopefully Cell C solves the problems it’s uncovered in Joburg before December.

MTN? Vodacom?

Your move.

Ignore Trevor, but not Cell C’s 4Gs broadband << Comments and views

* Hilton Tarrant contributes to “Broadband”, a column on Moneyweb covering the ICT sector in South Africa. As soon as Cell C launches its mobile broadband offering in Joburg, he’ll switch…