{"id":594532,"date":"2025-05-13T13:16:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T11:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=594532"},"modified":"2025-05-13T13:36:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T11:36:47","slug":"cell-c-close-to-5g-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/594532-cell-c-close-to-5g-launch.html","title":{"rendered":"Cell C close to 5G launch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes says they can now access 5G services through their roaming agreement with Vodacom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes said they have not yet gone to market with the service, but expect to do so in the next few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not far now,\u201d he said. Cell C previously told MyBroadband they are targeting a second-quarter launch<\/a> for 5G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes explained that the 5G functionality through Vodacom was possible after enabling Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) roaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In January 2025, Cell C said that they had nearly completed testing 5G with MTN and Vodacom, and were finalising activation schedules with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrent indications suggest that large-scale activations will commence in the second quarter of 2025,\u201d Cell C said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5G technology offers several benefits over 4G, including significantly lower latency, higher speeds, and enhanced network capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of South Africa\u2019s major mobile operators, except Cell C, currently offer the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C\u2019s push into 5G is significant, considering the mobile operator reiterated its position that it was in no rush to adopt the technology just under a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCell C is currently in the process of modernising its core network to the latest architecture necessary for 5G deployment and progressing discussions with the network partner,\u201d it said in late January 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its feedback at the time, Cell C said it had recently finalised its network migration. To do so, it had to establish agreements with its partners MTN and Vodacom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MTN currently provides Cell C with a virtual radio access network primarily for prepaid and mobile virtual network operator customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C\u2019s contract customers generally roam on Vodacom\u2019s network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Cell C also recently told MyBroadband that MOCN roaming now allows them to connect prepaid customers to Vodacom, and contract customers to MTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes previously said the mobile operator had to rework its wholesale and roaming agreements with its partners to launch 5G, which he said had been completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he noted that having access to Vodacom\u2019s and MTN\u2019s networks wasn\u2019t the only requirement for Cell C to adopt 5G \u2014 it also had to upgrade its core network to support the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes previously stated that the company was in no rush to launch 5G and claimed it \u201cunlocks nothing\u201d for customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He clarified that he wasn\u2019t knocking 5G as a technology, highlighting that it benefits operators by more efficiently supporting higher traffic volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, the benefits 5G unlocks for consumers is not obvious, not transparent,\u201d added Mendes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c2G to 3G unlocked data, 3G to 4G unlocked [streaming] video, 4G to 5G unlocks nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that despite 5G offering significant benefits at an enterprise level, mobile operators like MTN and Vodacom struggle to monetise their 5G infrastructure at a consumer level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he added that Cell C\u2019s partners won\u2019t charge more to let its customers roam on their 5G networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in their interests not to charge more,\u201d Mendes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because operators want as much traffic on their 5G networks as possible because it\u2019s more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C launching VoLTE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cell C also recently revealed its plans to launch Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in South Africa, which it will do through its partnership with Germany-based ng-voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It highlighted the recent completion of its first VoLTE call on Amazon Web Services (AWS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said the development of VoLTE will enable Voice over New Radio (VoNR) and Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through VoLTE technology, cellular subscribers can make and receive phone calls without the network first disconnecting them from the faster LTE data service and pushing them back to 3G.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendes said he believes they are the second operator in the world to launch this technology, and the first operator in Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes says that they now have access to 5G services through their roaming agreement with Vodacom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":594533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62528,14],"tags":[27543,355,58256,42,41,29712],"class_list":["post-594532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5g","category-cellular","tag-amazon-web-services-aws","tag-cell-c","tag-jorge-mendes","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom","tag-voice-over-lte-volte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594532"}],"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=594532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":594539,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594532\/revisions\/594539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}