{"id":568391,"date":"2024-11-05T15:08:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T13:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=568391"},"modified":"2024-11-05T15:08:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T13:08:18","slug":"cell-c-explains-how-next-big-network-change-will-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/568391-cell-c-explains-how-next-big-network-change-will-work.html","title":{"rendered":"Cell C explains how next big network change will work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cell C is close to enabling Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) roaming with Vodacom, unlocking several benefits for its customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C chief technology officer Schalk Visser recently told MyBroadband that they expect to roll out the upgrade to the first sites before the end of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visser said they expect Vodacom MOCN roaming on Cell C to be fully implemented in the first quarter of next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MOCN roaming allows multiple core networks to share the same radio access network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This lets them coordinate with each other regarding interference, backhaul, traffic prioritisation, individual user authentication, and quality of service parameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a subscriber’s perspective, the most evident change will be that their phone’s cellular connection icon will no longer show that it is roaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once MOCN is live, Cell C subscribers roaming on Vodacom can disable data roaming on their smartphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is useful for international travellers who don’t want to worry about accidentally forgetting to switch off data roaming when they leave South Africa \u2014 a potentially costly mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enabling MOCN through its roaming agreement with Vodacom will also allow Cell C to more seamlessly move subscribers between its two network partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Cell C’s postpaid customers mainly roam on Vodacom, while its prepaid and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) customers use a network operated by MTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MOCN roaming has already been launched on the network MTN builds and operates for Cell C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C finished switching off its own tower network<\/a>\u00a0in June last year, with MTN providing a “virtual radio access network” for its prepaid and MVNO customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MVNOs using Cell C include Capitec Connect and Shoprite K’nect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the terms of its deal, MTN builds and operates a radio access network that uses Cell C’s frequency spectrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Cell C subscribers can roam on MTN’s towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In exchange, MTN gets access to a portion of Cell C’s spectrum, which it pools with its own<\/a> to achieve a large chunk of contiguous bandwidth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visser said that when their Vodacom MOCN roaming comes online, Cell C will be able to offer subscribers the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they will not be able to seamlessly handover between Vodacom and MTN towers, as that would be too taxing on Cell C’s core network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Cell C will continuously analyse which network performs best in a particular area and, based on the results, determine how subscribers will connect to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C said this would not only offer subscribers the best possible connection but also encourage even fiercer competition between Vodacom and MTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jorge Mendes, Cell C CEO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes has also revealed more details about the renegotiations of their agreements with Vodacom and MTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes said they secured a 5-year deal with Vodacom and a 9-year deal with MTN \u2014\u00a0both on much more favourable terms than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MTN deal went into effect on 1 January, and the Vodacom deal went into effect on 1 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These new agreements covered aspects like quality of service, spectrum usage, pricing, data allocations (measured in petabytes), annual price escalations, and anticipated traffic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes described the renegotiated agreements as “really, really good deals” that established sustainable contracts, ensuring the company’s viability for at least the next five to nine years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of Cell C’s financial turnaround plan, the operator abandoned notions that it could build a radio access network to rival Vodacom and MTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s two largest mobile operators each pump roughly R10 billion into their South African networks every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes said for anyone to compete, they would have to invest at least R35\u2013R40 billion and an additional R8\u2013R10 billion annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C is busy putting the finishing touches on its MOCN roaming configuration with Vodacom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":556192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[355,58256,70359],"class_list":["post-568391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-cell-c","tag-jorge-mendes","tag-schalk-visser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568391"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568425,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568391\/revisions\/568425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}