Cell C is poised to introduce 5G services in South Africa within the next few months, marking a significant milestone in the company’s financial turnaround strategy. In an interview, CEO Jorge Mendes revealed that the company is in the advanced stages of preparing to roll out 5G services to its subscribers. The plan includes not only providing 5G connectivity for smartphones but also offering a variety of new fixed-wireless broadband solutions powered by 5G technology. These solutions will feature large data bundles that are designed to compete directly with traditional fiber-optic offerings.
The launch of Cell C’s 5G services follows a period of extensive negotiations with its network partners, MTN and Vodacom. These two companies manage the last-mile infrastructure that connects consumers to Cell C’s core network. Mendes expressed optimism about the progress of these discussions, stating that Cell C is confident in its ability to deliver a commercially viable 5G offering. He emphasized the positive relationship with both Vodacom and MTN, noting that there is a mutual respect among the three operators, despite their direct competition for consumer market share.
Mendes highlighted that Cell C’s strategic decision made several years ago to discontinue its own radio access network in favor of outsourcing this function to Vodacom and MTN has proven beneficial. This shift has not only significantly reduced the company’s capital expenditures but has also led to substantial improvements in network quality.
Over the past 18 months, Cell C has been working on deploying a Multi-Operator Core Network (Mocn) roaming system. This innovative approach has enabled the company to create a virtual representation of its network on top of the existing infrastructure provided by MTN and Vodacom. According to Mendes, this development has granted Cell C much greater control over user traffic management, resulting in lower operational costs and enhanced efficiency.
In addition to the 5G rollout, Cell C is actively transitioning voice calls from outdated circuit-switched technology to a more modern internet protocol-based system known as Voice over LTE (VoLTE). This technology allows voice calls to be routed over 4G/LTE networks, which Mendes described as a significant advancement. “This is very, very exciting and represents a marked improvement from where we were just 24 months ago in terms of technology,” he stated.
