- \n
- Independent recognition of network quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- The completion of the CEC acquisition and integration, restoring full ownership and control of the postpaid base.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
“The turnaround delivered what it promised. We have built network credibility and rebuilt and grown the customer base,” Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have entrenched ourselves as South Africa’s leading wholesale platform and earned back customer trust.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Cell-C-header-1200x675.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLooking at Cell C’s subscriber growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In its results presentation, Cell C highlighted that its subscriber base increased by 19% to 8.884 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This excludes 5.713 million Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) subscribers recorded on the Home Location Register (HLR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first sight, this looks positive. However, delving into the 1.3 million new subscribers reveals a concerning trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basically, all of the growth came from Cell C’s prepaid segment, where subscriber numbers increased from 6.774 million to 8.068 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, the average revenue per user declined from R78.00 in the 2025 financial year to R71.20 in the 2026 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That means that the average revenue per user of the 1.294 million new prepaid subscribers was R35.61.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simply put, Cell C’s new prepaid subscribers spend 54% less than its existing subscribers. This is a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Declining ARPU is a red flag for mobile network operators. When revenue per user shrinks, fixed costs consume a larger share of gross revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lower ARPU also reduces customer lifetime value. If the customer acquisition cost remains stable or rises, the unit economics deteriorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is why financial markets view ARPU as a primary gauge of pricing power and customer monetisation. Sustained ARPU degradation leads to credit rating downgrades and lower equity valuations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-1200x721.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCell C tried to avoid this situation in the past<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The latest data is in stark contrast to Cell C’s strategy to shed low-end, low-ARPU customers as part of its turnaround plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, Cell C said that reducing its low-ARPU subscribers was a core pillar of its operational turnaround and financial restructuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, Cell C’s customer base declined by 4.5 million customers in a year and three months, which it said it was happy with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cell C explained that it deliberately focused on shedding low-value customers and retaining its more profitable customer base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of its turnaround strategy, Cell C said it wanted to rationalise its subscriber base, retain profitable customers, and increase its average revenue per user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson and new CEO Jorge Mendes said that Cell C was prioritising value over volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They said that losing market share in raw subscriber numbers to competitors like Telkom, Vodacom, and MTN may look alarming on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, they explained that it was necessary to stabilise earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) and eliminate bad debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This strategy seems to have been discarded, as Cell C has signed up 1.3 million new customers whose ARPU is 54% lower than that of its existing customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cell C\u2019s financial results for the year ended 31 May 2026 revealed a concerning trend in the mobile operator\u2019s new customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":660484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2104473946078822463","_sma_facebook_post_id":"120850204637381_1513391007479544","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18041054945834317","_sma_threads_post_id":"18010965296977597","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41906],"tags":[355,46291,35885,58256,42,109,41],"class_list":["post-668770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-telecoms","tag-cell-c","tag-douglas-craigie-stevenson","tag-ebitda","tag-jorge-mendes","tag-mtn","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668770"}],"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=668770"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669065,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668770\/revisions\/669065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- The completion of the CEC acquisition and integration, restoring full ownership and control of the postpaid base.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n