No new sim cards will be required for Cell C’s customers.
Cell C announced on Tuesday, 29 May 2018 that it has entered into a roaming agreement with MTN in order to complement Cell C’s own network.
Implementation of the agreement will begin in June and the bulk of the services will be transferred within two months.
Cell C will roam on MTN’s network in the country’s smaller cities and rural areas where MTN currently has additional capacity. Both MTN and Cell C will maintain their own networks in the larger cities.
“Cell C completed a comprehensive assessment of the wholesale offerings available in the market and based on MTN’s significant network investment in recent times, we concluded that MTN offered the best solution for our business going forward,” says Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos.
The agreement will see MTN providing both 3G and 4G services to Cell C in areas where Cell C has chosen to purchase coverage rather than self-build, mainly outside of the main metro areas.
“This deal will complement Cell C’s network offering and, with the introduction of roaming 4G services, our customers in those areas will benefit significantly,” says Dos Santos.
The rollout of this multi-billion-rand long-term roaming agreement will begin soon.
“The roaming agreement with MTN best meets our needs as a company and we are expecting to complete the implementation in the next few months,” says Dos Santos.
Ensuring an enhanced customer experience was the primary focus of executing the roaming agreement with MTN. Cell C is pleased that this includes a seamless handover for customers. This means that where a customer is on a call that happens to switch from a Cell C tower to an MTN tower, the call will not be dropped.
“MTN is committed to the continued roll-out of our network, across the country, to make sure all South African’s can reap the many benefits of mobile connectivity. This deal will help fund our ongoing network expansion while also immediately offering more South Africans in peri-urban and rural parts of our country greater connectivity, as they roam off MTN’s existing network,” said Godfrey Motsa MTN SA CEO.
Cell C’s network service offering is at 99% 2G population coverage, 96% 3G population coverage and with the implementation of this deal 4G population coverage will increase from 33% to 80%. “We look forward to the working with MTN on the implementation of this agreement,” says Dos Santos.
Edited by Neo Sesinye
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