Alan Knott-Craig, the CEO of mobile operator Cell C, has confirmed that he has held discussions about consolidation opportunities with rival Telkom.
In an interview with Talk Radio 702, Knott-Craig said that consolidation is “one way to solve a lot…
Alan Knott-Craig, the CEO of mobile operator Cell C, has confirmed that he has held discussions about consolidation opportunities with rival Telkom.
In an interview with Talk Radio 702, Knott-Craig said that consolidation is “one way to solve a lot of problems” in the South African mobile market, which currently has four operators.
He did not provide further details about the merger talks but added that with “120% saturation”, the only way smaller operators can attract new customers is by taking them “from the larger networks and the only way they do that is by bringing prices down”.
It is however very difficult for small operators Cell C and Telkom to achieve sustainability, said Knott-Craig called for regulatory changes to support the third and fourth-largest players respectively.
A few days ago, Cell C secured financial backing of US$572m, split between a US$350m equity investment from parent Oger Telecom and a R2.2bn (US$222m) loan from Nedbank and DBSA.
Commenting on the equity injection, the CEO said it will strengthen the company’s balance sheet but added that “Cell C needs aggressive and proactive regulatory support to continue its drive to reduce the cost to communicate in South Africa and remain sustainable in the process”.
