Cell C may get a big network improvement, thanks to Vodacom

Considering these facts, it is not clear why Vodacom would want to expand its roaming partnership with Cell C, as it will give a competitor better access to its biggest selling point.
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It's very clear. More money coming to Vodacom from Cell C's side keeping them entrenched for longer. Cell C should be doing the opposite and reduce reliance on Vodacom so that they can upgrade their own network faster.
 
I am just speculating here - The one reason that Vodacom might want to do a deal with Cell C is spectrum. Maybe Cell C makes some spectrum available to Vodacom - it might be Vodacom's plan B if the Neotel deal fails or gets delayed. Cell C probably got more spectrum than capital.

Or maybe it is just a notmal roaming agreement.
 
So bad news for Vodacom customers as their network will be more congested.
 
DanH said:
So bad news for Vodacom customers as their network will be more congested.
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Unlikely to be the case

The congestion Vodacom has is pretty exclusively related to limited access to spectrum. Any arrangement between VC and CellC that would see CellC getting VC provisioning data is going to have to involve CellC rendering spectrum available. I really can't see Vodacom adopting any sort of commercial agreement that doesn't effectively amount to VC acting in a similar vain to ATC who hold towers for CellC
 
supersunbird said:
Yeah :(

And Cell C don't need it anyway according to Swa.
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No they need it alright. But they also need to invest in their own network. Just paying money over to Vodacom hampers that and makes them more reliant in the long term.
 
Paul Hjul said:
Unlikely to be the case

The congestion Vodacom has is pretty exclusively related to limited access to spectrum. Any arrangement between VC and CellC that would see CellC getting VC provisioning data is going to have to involve CellC rendering spectrum available. I really can't see Vodacom adopting any sort of commercial agreement that doesn't effectively amount to VC acting in a similar vain to ATC who hold towers for CellC
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Yes. If cellc is to make spectrum available as part of the deal then this would benefit users of both networks.
 
Spectrum can't be reassigned.
 
Swa said:
Spectrum can't be reassigned.
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Neither has a lot of spectrum but the idea might be to open their towers to subscribers of both networks. Congestion is more of a problem in heavily populated areas where Cell C has denser tower spread to avoid over-utilisation in any single area. At least for data since voice is not so versatile.
 
Swa said:
Spectrum can't be reassigned.
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no need to re-assign

re-assignment entails a licence holder handing over reigns of the spectrum licence to another party

All that is required is for the spectrum holding party to utilize another parties equipment and for that utilization to be managed by the other party

exactly the same thing would happen with respect to Neotel's spectrum post transaction
and is probably what is going to happen with the MTN - TM agreement

So far CellC has been making a noise claiming such agreements would be illegal - they aren't and the point is adequately canvassed in the record at ICASA on the Neotel acquisition. I suspect that CellC will drop its nonsense if it gets in on the party. I also expect an announcement from the Posts and Telecom's ministry ...
 
jansdejager said:
Neither has a lot of spectrum but the idea might be to open their towers to subscribers of both networks. Congestion is more of a problem in heavily populated areas where Cell C has denser tower spread to avoid over-utilisation in any single area. At least for data since voice is not so versatile.
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That would require a mutual roaming agreement. Cell C roaming on the Vodacom network and Vodacom roaming on the Cell C network.

Paul Hjul said:
no need to re-assign

re-assignment entails a licence holder handing over reigns of the spectrum licence to another party

All that is required is for the spectrum holding party to utilize another parties equipment and for that utilization to be managed by the other party

exactly the same thing would happen with respect to Neotel's spectrum post transaction
and is probably what is going to happen with the MTN - TM agreement

So far CellC has been making a noise claiming such agreements would be illegal - they aren't and the point is adequately canvassed in the record at ICASA on the Neotel acquisition. I suspect that CellC will drop its nonsense if it gets in on the party. I also expect an announcement from the Posts and Telecom's ministry ...
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Not sure what Cell C terms illegal. Roaming is utilising another party's network. Not illegal as it's still the other party using the equipment and spectrum. The MTN-TN agreement would simply facilitate mutual roaming as used to be the case with MTN and Vodacom. Gaining access to another party's equipment and using that as an excuse to use their spectrum not legal. Not anything Cell C is looking to be a party of.
 
Swa said:
It's very clear. More money coming to Vodacom from Cell C's side keeping them entrenched for longer. Cell C should be doing the opposite and reduce reliance on Vodacom so that they can upgrade their own network faster.
Click to expand...

That is all great, but if Cell C can't retain customers due to a poor network they will not be around long enough to get all those new towers online.

I have moved back to VC despite their pricing as Cell C where I am has gone terribly downhill and surprisingly VC really has improved their network - I have less dropped calls on VC than I did two and a half years ago when I was last with them.
 
So Cell C is signing up virtual operators like crazy, only to end up roaming on Vodacom.

lol.
 
3G data roaming is a must. With LTE devices spreading fast, such agreement will be not very usefull for Cell C for long.

However more important is seamless roaming. It requires that neighbouring towers of different network know each others and can arrange forced handover. Lack of seamless roaming is the biggest drawback of the existing arrangement and the source of big problems on Cell C voice and data network - like "Full signal, no throughput" sydrome when Vodacom 3G tower with strong signal allows to register Cell C user, but subsequently blocks all traffic.

The article doesn't say whether the new roaming agreement will be "seamless". Telkom Mobile is roaming seamessly to MTN from the beginning and it works. I predict there will be other clever tricks by Vodacom aimed to disrupt their roaming partner services. With such partner it is better to "no roaming", they will not be able to disrupt services if SIM is blocked from the network.
 
tht 8bn network improvement is the Vodacom agreement lololololol
 
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