I call marketing BS, MTN alone spent something like R7bn in 2009 and 2010 to beef up its network for WC 2010, cell C only spent half that on its entire "4Gs" rollout.....nice try AKC
HSPA 900 is a lot cheaper to deploy than traditional 3G. The Cells are much bigger, meaning less base stations, greater coverage, greater indoor penetration, etc. How do you know how much Cell C spent? They sold all their towers to American Tower Corp, and are leasing it back from them. This provided them with a huge capital injection in the billions. Cell C is also privately owned (not listed) and received capital injections from their shareholders.
strange, I also travel around Jo'burg a lot and I very seldom have problems
I also have very few problems with Cell C. When I switched from MTN to Cell C, I was a bit concerned that my 3G coverage would not be so great. But so far so good.
I remember reading a while back that CellC had sold it's infrastructure to a 3rd party? Was I imagining it? Surely this is a way of ensuring the network is maintained according to SLA's etc and rollout commitments?
Yes, it was sold to American Tower Corp, and they are leasing it back from them with SLA's in place.
This may not be such good news .. Vodacom insists that in order to maintain a 'superiour network' prices have to double at least. Cell-C is going to have to price itself out of the market like Vodacom in order to survive.
I think Cell C's business model going forward is to do high-volumes at low margins, rather than the traditional model adopted by MTN and Vodacom of low usage, high margin. I think AKC has hit the nail on the head with this business model, as it is very successful and sustainable in the first world. People just want to communicate, when they want to, when they need to, without worrying about costs. Low cost price plans help to achieve this. Once people stop worrying about the costs, and that they might get fleeced by their network operator, once they start trusting them, they will start to use way more, without even thinking about the costs. You've got to win the consumers trust first, and I think this is where AKC will kill Vodacom and MTN.
Think about it. Any new deal, package, promo, contract, etc from Vodacom and MTN leaves you ALWAYS thinking:
- what's the catch?
- what are they not telling me?
- how much does this REALLY cost?
- will they be able to screw me over?
Truth is Vodacom and MTN are always trying to screw you over with their smoke and mirrors approach. AKC is on to a whole NEW ball game, and I believe him when he says that someone is going to hurt, and that he has only JUST started throwing jabs.
