Cell C's highs and lows

[Paul Hjul]

Cell C's number one priority is sustainability - that is a moral responsibility to shareholders, staff and customers and if they have to raise tariffs to achieve that, it must be done. That hurts me too (with 4 contracts with them).

They need to continue to innovate and differentiate and in this respect there are big opportunities - it is a case of getting face time with the right people at Cell C to share some of these (potentially game changing) ideas. I think AKC was open to looking at these and going a bit further than the standard SA model of promo product and price specials.

The problem is that CellC's sustainability doesn't depend on raising their tariffs - in fact raising prices could kill the business - but rather ensuring that revenue exceeds costs and reinvesting sensibly. That sounds a lot easier than it is obviously but the conundrum's complications kick in when there is a

CellC unfortunately have decided to steer on a game course that depends on the company benefiting from regulatory intervention which is never good. There is at least one solution which none of the operators will like but which would be in everybody concerned (including the general public) interests from an objective long view - to implement it though would require some actual leadership from the MNOs.

 

[Shimmeringshadow]

I have been a staunch supporter of and subscriber to Cell C from the beginning and was an overall satisfied customer. However, maybe for the last 8-10 months, if not more, network reception in my area has been atrocious. It has become so bad that I cannot make calls through Cell C anymore, and when people phone me, I call them back on my landline. I'm sitting with hours and hours of unused minutes and hundreds of unused smses. Only by way of exception do I get a good signal.

However much I would like to remain with Cell C, I have to transfer to another provider as I cannot go on paying money for a service every month that is non-existent. So, I will be reluctantly moving over to Vodacom on a permanent basis as I have already tried them out and I am happy with their performance so far.

I find it quite telling that the CEO did not mention anything about improving network connections and this, I am afraid, is a major gripe Cell C customers have with the company at the moment.

 

[jmak]

I don't get this. When I got my first phone about 15 years ago (when they still only had 083 numbers), I remember the chap at the MTN shop boasting how they had close to 4 million subscribers. Even with such a small number, they still had good coverage and were profitable?

I think is is all about the revenue per subscriber. And from what I recall CellC was successful in grabbing the market that focused on price and that is tge market that does not give you a lot of cash in hand. And then there is the question if CellC could keep up in optimising their network properly at the speed that they rolled it out, and if they did focus on proper designs which cost more compared to cheapest and quickest way to add coverage.

Personally I feel the RSA market should have a maximum of 3 providers. Trying to cut the pie to thinly will be to the detriment of the market.