The cellphone slugfest begins TechCentral
SA"s smallest motile operator, Cell C, has never had an easily done period of it. Launched a decade ago after a remarkably troubled birth, the operator has faced an uphill battle against governing incumbents MTN and Vodacom.
It has managed to secure approximately 10% of the market, on the other hand a crippling debt, incurred in building its network, left analysts with doubts that the convention would ever extent to much. Those analysts clearly hadn"t reckoned with Lars Reichelt.
Replacing the charismatic Jeffrey Hedberg, who had helped turn approximately Cell C"s fortunes operationally, Reichelt has locate the gathering on a contemporary order that could save it from its status as production laggard. Reichelt has wasted no clock identifying Cell C"s strengths and weaknesses.
He realised it needs to edit its double and assistance its network. It"s a ample and dicy profession he"s taken on. Cell C has never been a awash player at the high-spending top aim of the market. Rather, its leading successes retain come in the prepaid space, where consumers are disloyal and switch networks easily for bigger tariffs. In building a 3G network, Reichelt testament be hoping to tap consumers who enjoy tended to latest patriotic to incumbents Vodacom and MTN.
To cause that, Cell C will bear to proposal products and services its rivals can"t match or aren"t prepared to match. The company"s biggest strategic supply is that it"s building its 3G network in the 900MHz band, which has several benefits over the 2,1GHz band used by Vodacom and MTN.
At 900MHz, radio wavelengths are longer, acceptation cellphone signals are able to penetrate buildings even enhanced easily, resulting in more fitting and amassed steady coverage. Signals are very able to peregrination too from the mannequin station, forming it simpler to create 3G networks in rural areas profitably. Cell C is building the antecedent general network that can feed download speeds of up to 21 Mbit s.
The moment environment where Cell C can beat its rivals is in customer service. This is arguably harder to shop for true than building a robust network, and Cell C hasn"t done a largely crack business of it until now. Outsourcing to Didata"s Merchants subsidiary was an inspired start, though. Answering customers" calls promptly, and life able to add them with valuable answers to their questions, would surely cooperate Cell C cush share.
The company"s rivals are far from accomplished in this regard. Under Reichelt, then, Cell C is moulding all the correctly moves. There"s honorable one barn door far on its horizon: Telkom. The incumbent fixed-line operator is again spending billions of rand on a 3G network, with plans to set off consumer and corporate ambulatory services before the borderline of the year.
Telkom, double time led (in an acting capacity) by Hedberg, is not short of financial muscle and won"t be shy about investing burly to generate marketplace share. Reichelt and Hedberg, both ambitious and competitive men, could soon boast themselves busy in full-scale battle.
With two capacious players in Vodacom and MTN desperately defending their turf, the sheet is place for a very interesting showdown.
