{"id":384254,"date":"2021-01-27T09:20:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T07:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=384254"},"modified":"2021-01-27T09:21:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T07:21:40","slug":"cell-c-customer-migration-to-vodacom-and-mtn-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/384254-cell-c-customer-migration-to-vodacom-and-mtn-explained.html","title":{"rendered":"Cell C customer migration to Vodacom and MTN explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cell C is migrating<\/strong><\/a> its contract and broadband customers to Vodacom, which means they can soon expect the same coverage and service levels as Vodacom subscribers.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Cell C is building its own radio access network (RAN) on MTN\u2019s infrastructure and is migrating its prepaid subscribers to MTN.<\/p>\n

This subscriber migration forms part of Cell C\u2019s network strategy to switch off its old radio access network and reduce its network investment spend and improve operational efficiency.<\/p>\n

Cell C said its network strategy will enable it to provide network services to customers via roaming agreements with partner networks while still offering a full Cell C customer experience.<\/p>\n

Cell C said it signed a network roaming agreement with best-of-breed infrastructure players \u2013 MTN and Vodacom \u2013 which are being implemented over three years.<\/p>\n

Over the three years, Cell C will move its customers from its own network onto partner networks and decommission its own towers in the phased process.<\/p>\n

Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson said their plan is to differentiate themselves by focusing on innovative products and services without owning expensive network infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Cell C will therefore become South Africa\u2019s largest wholesale buyer of network capacity and infrastructure services from Vodacom and MTN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adoption of the network roaming model will promote more resourceful use of the telecommunications infrastructure capacity in the country, improve the overall network connectivity and provide Cell C customers with a better customer experience,\u201d said Craigie Stevenson.<\/p>\n

He added that this strategy will help Cell C with its turnaround process by creating \u201cmore flexibility and capacity to deliver the right quality of service to our current and future customers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Contract subscriber migration to Vodacom<\/h3>\n

Cell C started to migrate its contract and broadband subscribers to Vodacom in mid-December and expects the process to be completed in February.<\/p>\n

Cell C subscribers who are part of this migration process have already received SMSes about the process.<\/p>\n

The mobile operator asked subscribers to activate \u201cData Roaming\u201d manually on their phone settings to ensure a smooth transition.<\/p>\n

The good news for Cell C\u2019s contract and broadband subscribers is they will receive the same network coverage and quality as Vodacom\u2019s subscribers.<\/p>\n

Cell C will, however, maintain its own IMSI and number ranges and control over its transmission and core networks.<\/p>\n

It will also continue to differentiate itself from Vodacom through its own retail products and pricing.<\/p>\n

In simple terms, consumers will be able to buy contract products from Cell C and be served through Vodacom\u2019s network.<\/p>\n

Prepaid subscribers moving to MTN<\/h3>\n

Cell C started to build a virtual radio access network (RAN)<\/strong><\/a> on MTN\u2019s infrastructure on 1 January 2021. This is expected to be completed in three years.<\/p>\n

Cell C will use all its current spectrum in the 900MHz, 1,800MHz and 2,100MHz bands for its virtual network.<\/p>\n

During this period, Cell C will migrate its prepaid subscribers to its new virtual radio access network.<\/p>\n

Cell C told MyBroadband the migration of prepaid subscribers will be a seamless transition that will happen in phases over a three-year period.<\/p>\n

Cell C will have complete control over the coverage and network quality of its new virtual network.<\/p>\n

In areas where Cell C\u2019s virtual RAN does not have coverage, Cell C customers will continue to roam on MTN\u2019s network.<\/p>\n

MTN subscribers are also set to benefit from the agreement as Cell C has sold some roaming capacity to MTN on its virtual RAN\u2019s spare capacity.<\/p>\n

Cell C\u2019s agreements with MTN and Vodacom explained<\/h3>\n

Cell C\u2019s agreement with MTN and Vodacom significantly differ in scope and the experience which Cell C subscribers can expect.<\/p>\n

With MTN the focus is on Cell C\u2019s virtual RAN which will be used to service its prepaid subscribers.<\/p>\n

With Vodacom, it is a simple roaming agreement where Cell C contract and broadband subscribers will use Vodacom\u2019s network.<\/p>\n

The table below provides a summary of the agreement between Cell C, MTN, and Vodacom.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Cell C Agreements with MTN and Vodacom<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Agreement<\/strong><\/td>\nCell C and MTN<\/strong><\/td>\nCell C and Vodacom<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Agreement scope<\/strong><\/td>\nVirtual network and roaming<\/td>\nRoaming<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cell C customers<\/strong><\/td>\nPrepaid<\/td>\nContract and broadband<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Quality of service<\/strong><\/td>\nCell C has full control<\/td>\nLike for like to Vodacom<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Network coverage<\/strong><\/td>\nLike for like to MTN<\/td>\nLike for like to Vodacom<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spectrum licence holder<\/strong><\/td>\nCell C<\/td>\nVodacom<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Control over core\/backhaul transmission services<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Own voice interconnect agreements to terminate on other networks<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Own IMSI range<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Own number range<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Control over own retail products and pricing<\/strong><\/td>\nYes<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now read: Cell C starts to build its virtual network on MTN\u2019s infrastructure<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C is migrating its contract and broadband customers to Vodacom and its prepaid customers to MTN. Here is what to expect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":383174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[355,46291,35,42,41],"class_list":["post-384254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-cell-c","tag-douglas-craigie-stevenson","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384326,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384254\/revisions\/384326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}