Cell C riding two lions
Cell C is busy developing a feature that will allow it to seamlessly and transparently transfer subscribers between MTN and Vodacom towers, depending on which offers the best connection in an area.
It aims to offer the best of both South Africa’s major mobile network operators, competing against them using their own cellular networks.
The functionality is enabled through Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) roaming, which allows multiple core networks to share the same radio access network.
It also enables cores to coordinate with each other regarding interference, backhaul, traffic prioritisation, individual user authentication, and quality of service parameters.
MOCN roaming is already available on the network MTN builds and operates for Cell C.
Cell C finished switching off its own tower network in June last year, with MTN providing a “virtual radio access network” for its prepaid and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) customers.
MVNOs using Cell C include Capitec Connect and Shoprite K’nect.
Under the terms of its deal, MTN builds and operates a radio access network that uses Cell C’s spectrum. Cell C subscribers have access to this network and can roam on MTN’s towers.
In exchange, MTN can roam on a portion of Cell C’s spectrum. This arrangement is the subject of a legal complaint brought by Vodacom against industry regulator Icasa.
At the same time, Cell C has a traditional roaming agreement with Vodacom. Cell C’s postpaid subscribers are currently roaming on Vodacom.
Cell C chief technology officer Schalk Visser told MyBroadband in a recent interview that getting MOCN working with Vodacom would be a major milestone for them.
“We’ve got the MOCN on MTN, and we’re moving away from the traditional roaming on Vodacom to MOCN as well,” Visser said.
“So then you will have that ability to give customers the best of the best.”
Cell C balancing the need to negotiate partnerships with Vodacom and MTN while competing directly against them is reminiscent of a story Steve Ballmer tells about the early days of Microsoft.
Ballmer, who served as Microsoft CEO from 2000 to 2014, said in Robert X. Cringely’s documentary Triumph of the Nerds that they referred to their early partnership with IBM internally as “riding the bear.”
IBM was a dominant force in the computing world until the 1990s, and everyone — including Microsoft — feared being mauled by “the bear”.
Ballmer said a little company like Microsoft had no choice but to do business with IBM, which in this case meant licensing an operating system, PC DOS, and other software for the IBM personal computer.
However, at the same time, Microsoft was supplying its functionally identical MS-DOS software to the sea of IBM PC clones and compatibles that had sprung up.
Later, Microsoft worked under contract to co-develop IBM’s OS/2 operating system, which was exclusive to IBM PCs, while simultaneously working on its non-exclusive Windows product.
Ballmer and Microsoft founder Bill Gates said that they played open cards with IBM about this, and while Big Blue didn’t like it, their business relationship continued for a time.
However, in 1992, the feud between the two companies over Windows reached a boiling point, and they severed ties.
In Cell C’s case, it isn’t trying to ride just one bear, but two telecommunications “lions”.
When asked if Cell C was worried about its long-term relationships with MTN and Vodacom, CEO Jorge Mendes said he wasn’t.
He said that besides the issue of business ethics, the partnership was in everyone’s best interests.
“They love the money too much, so they’ve put themselves in this position,” Mendes joked.
“And I’m so grateful that they love money that much because they’ve allowed a technical solution to happen here that they’ve never seen before.”
“But this is actually good for everyone. It’s a great partnership.”
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