Origin of M Net, M Cell

[magicfoot]

Does anyone know the history of M Cell and how it started? I understand that M Cell was turned into M Net eventually.

What was the core business of M Cell? Who or what was the founder of M Cell. Did they start off as a paging company and gradually convert to cell towers ? How did it all start ?

There is not much info about this on the web at all. Very curious.

 

[Hamster]

Does anyone know the history of M Cell and how it started? I understand that M Cell was turned into M Net eventually.

What was the core business of M Cell? Who or what was the founder of M Cell. Did they start off as a paging company and gradually convert to cell towers ? How did it all start ?

There is not much info about this on the web at all. Very curious.

MNet was started by Naspers in 1986
M-Cell turned into MTN Group Limited in 2002

The M-Cell Limited name change to MTN Group Limited is effective from Monday, 14 October 2002.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/m-cell-is-now-mtn-group-limited-76210497.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTN_Group
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Net

Not that difficult to Google :/

The history on MTN's site: https://www.mtn.com/MTNGROUP/About/Pages/History.aspx


Then there is this thread on MyBroadband:

Founded in 1994
M-Cell incorporated in South Africa and owned 25% of MTN Holdings.

1995 - 1996
M-Cell converted to a public company with investments that include a 25% shareholding in MTN Holdings and a 60% shareholding in M-Tel (now MTN Service Provider)
MTN Holdings acquired Service Provider M-Tel
MTN International expands into Africa, acquiring licences in Uganda, Rwanda and Swaziland

1997 - 1999
MTN International expands into Africa, acquiring licences in Uganda, Rwanda and Swaziland
MTN South Africa awarded ISO 9001 accreditation for network
MTN South Africa awarded ISO 14001 accreditation for environmental management
M-Cell increase its stake in MTN Holdings to 72%

Between 2000 - 2001, MTN acquired licences in Cameroon and Nigeria
2002 M-Cell was renamed as the MTN Group Limited to reinforce African presence and awareness of the brand
In 2004 MTN celebrated 10 years of operation recording over 10 million subscribers
In 2005, MTN recorded more than 20 million subscribers and 11 cellular network operations (10 in Africa and one in the Middle East)
One of six listed companies in the emerging markets index for Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Market capitalisation of around US$ 17 billion
The MTN Group's total global assets were R44.8 billion as at 31 December 2005

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/226943-MTN

 

[bradrap]

Sherlock'd.

/thread

 

[magicfoot]

Thanks for the detail, but all of this really says not much. I did my searches before I asked the question here and I trawled through the same superficial detail that you did. Did you actually read the history of MTN on the MTN website? It gives a few of the later milestones, but no founder information. Who bought what, and so on.

M-Cell bought into the MTN technology, but the technology did not originate with M-Cell, or MNet. Were the first cell antenna and cell switch imported to SA for instance ? Was the decision to erect these cell towers a business decision made by the MTN management, or was it a smart decision by some technicians or engineers in Johannesburg ? Was MTN once a small startup company in Isleworth Rd in Brixton ? OR: was MTN created by a hardcore business decision at MNet?