{"id":328723,"date":"2019-07-11T17:40:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T15:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=328723"},"modified":"2019-07-11T17:40:29","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T15:40:29","slug":"blue-label-moves-to-allay-fears-over-cell-c-open-letter-after-its-shares-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/328723\/blue-label-moves-to-allay-fears-over-cell-c-open-letter-after-its-shares-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Label moves to allay fears over Cell C open letter &#8211; after its shares tank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Label Telecoms has moved to allay fears around network operator Cell C, after the mobile operator published an open letter discussing the many difficulties the group faces.<\/p>\n<p>In the letter, Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson was open about the problems the telco was facing, saying\u00a0that company faces financial and other challenges, and will implement a new business plan which will simplify its business model.<\/p>\n<p>In the plan, Cell C would also:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pursue a recapitalisation to optimise the capital structure.<\/li>\n<li>Extract greater value from its roaming agreement; and<\/li>\n<li>Optimise network revenue and usage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThe goal for Cell C is to become significantly better focused on operational performance, sound business ethics and accountability throughout the business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shares in Blue Label Telecoms &#8211;\u00a0 which led a recapitalisation of Cell C almost two years ago and holds a 45% stake in the carrier &#8211; fell more than 15% to their lowest since 2008.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Blue-Label-shares.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-328725\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Blue-Label-shares.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"706\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Blue-Label-shares.png 1020w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Blue-Label-shares-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Blue-Label-shares-768x511.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 100vw, 706px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In response to shareholder concerns raised as a result of Cell C\u2019s open letter, Blue Label issued a statement on the JSE news service to reassure shareholders that &#8220;no material concerns or issues have been uncovered as a result of Cell C\u2019s new management conducting a deep dive into the business practices of Cell C in a drive for efficiencies&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The group said that this is an ongoing process and shareholders will be updated as progress is made.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In anticipation of the transaction resolving the liquidity position at Cell C, and launching the new, improved operating model, Cell C\u2019s management and board are ensuring that Cell C is sufficiently geared to run the business as required,&#8221; Blue Label said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Blue Label and the Buffet Consortium are fully apprised of Cell C\u2019s drive to effectively and efficiently utilise all of its network, technology and human capital assets, and are supportive of management\u2019s initiatives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cell C was recently downgraded by ratings agency S&amp;P Global, which announced that it had lowered its rating on Cell C to SD (selective default) from CCC.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/328607\/cell-c-wants-to-delay-payments-as-its-looks-to-restructure-its-debt\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Cell C wants to delay payments as it looks to restructure its debt<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Label Telecoms has moved to allay fears around network operator Cell C, after the mobile operator published an open letter discussing the many difficulties the group faces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":302306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[6064,42,26],"class_list":["post-328723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-blue-label","tag-cell-c","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328723"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328731,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328723\/revisions\/328731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}