{"id":347098,"date":"2019-10-17T10:44:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T08:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=347098"},"modified":"2019-10-17T10:44:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T08:44:24","slug":"mtn-says-it-is-committed-to-cell-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/347098\/mtn-says-it-is-committed-to-cell-c\/","title":{"rendered":"MTN says it is committed to Cell C"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MTN South Africa chief executive officer Godfrey Motsa says that the company is committed to working with struggling operator Cell C.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the MyBroadband Conference in Midrand, Johannesburg, Motsa stated that MTN would retain its new, expanded roaming agreement with Cell C.<\/p>\n<p>This expanded roaming agreement allows Cell C to rely more heavily on MTN\u2019s infrastructure and reduce its capital expenditure while retaining nationwide coverage and high-speed data services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere is the bottom line \u2013 we are committed to working with Cell C,\u201d Motsa said. \u201cWhatever we do with Cell C first and foremost should be in the best interest of MTN shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCell C wants to consolidate its infrastructure with ours \u2013 this is not something you would do in two weeks, it takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Motsa added that MTN is in discussions with Cell C to extend its roaming agreement into urban areas as well.<\/p>\n<p>Cell C CEO Craigie Douglas Stevenson <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/323364-radical-plan-to-save-cell-c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>previously said<\/strong><\/a> that the mobile operator was looking to completely move its network to MTN and function similarly to a high-level mobile network virtual operator (MVNO).<\/p>\n<p>Craigie Stevenson said Cell C is negotiating a new roaming deal with MTN which will see it carry all of Cell C\u2019s traffic.<\/p>\n<p>This new roaming agreement will also see Cell C hand all of its towers over to MTN, which means it will no longer run its own network.<\/p>\n<p>This will remove the need for Cell C to invest billions in its network and allow it to use this money for operational expenses.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Sharing infrastructure<\/h3>\n<p>Running an MVNO-like network on another operator\u2019s infrastructure is an effective way to cut down on expenses \u2013 something which Cell C is certainly looking to accomplish.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about the benefits of infrastructure sharing, Motsa highlighted the following advantages of this practice:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reduced capital and operating expenditure<\/li>\n<li>Lower barriers to entry, which allows for increased competition<\/li>\n<li>Lower asset duplication<\/li>\n<li>Expansion of network and coverage<\/li>\n<li>Lower service prices<\/li>\n<li>Reduced environmental impact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cBy opening our infrastructure and allowing other MNOs to roam on the best network in the country, we are able to stimulate competition and reduce prices,\u201d Motsa said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are open for business for MNOs and MVNOs. We have MNOs on our network, and we are also certainly open to MVNOs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Motsa stated that all of these factors lead to an increase in connectivity and adoption by consumers, which results in vast economic and social benefits.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/347066\/mtn-to-relaunch-mobile-money-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MTN to relaunch mobile money in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MTN South Africa chief executive officer Godfrey Motsa says that the company is committed to working with struggling operator Cell C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":347112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[42,26,28,12406],"class_list":["post-347098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-mybroadband-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347098","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\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347108,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347098\/revisions\/347108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}