{"id":42054,"date":"2013-07-16T09:39:30","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T07:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=42054"},"modified":"2013-07-16T09:59:51","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T07:59:51","slug":"cell-c-gets-r3-5-billion-cash-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/42054\/cell-c-gets-r3-5-billion-cash-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Cell C gets R3.5 billion cash boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mobile operator Cell C<\/a> has announced two significant inflows of long-term capital, including an initial equity investment of\u00a0$350 million\u00a0which it says will enable the company to continue offering “competitive and innovative products and services” and ultimately lower the cost to communicate in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The company says it now also has over 11.5 million customers.<\/p>\n

Having surpassed 10 million customers in the second half of 2012, Cell C CEO,\u00a0Alan Knott-Craig<\/a>\u00a0has expressed his desire to attain a\u00a0quarter of South Africa\u2019s mobile market share within four years, from approximately 13%.<\/p>\n

Questions have been raised about the quality of\u00a0Cell C’s network with\u00a0subscribers citing poor connectivity on the cellular network.<\/p>\n

According to Cell C,\u00a0Oger Telecom<\/a>, the Lebanese-controlled firm which has an indirect 75% holding in the SA operator,\u00a0has earmarked an equity investment of $350 million (about R3.5 billion at the current exchange rates) into Cell C.<\/p>\n

The injection follows the Independent Communications Authority of SA<\/a>\u2019s announcement in June to conduct a market review of the remedies under the Call Termination Regulations and other programmes aimed at addressing the high cost to communicate in South Africa, Cell C said.<\/p>\n

The cash boost, according to Cell C, “will unlock the potential of the business and lead to lower prices for consumers”.<\/p>\n

The equity investment of $350 million for 2013 is in addition to the $200 million equity invested in 2012 and a further significant investment scheduled for 2014, the group added.<\/p>\n

\"Cell<\/a>

Cell C Alan Knott Craig Senior<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cUnder the leadership of Alan Knott-Craig, Cell C has gone from strength to strength. The company has a solid business strategy and we are confident that the Regulator will make decisions that give smaller players a better chance of being sustainable competitors. It is on this basis that we as shareholders are fully committed to the company and the country,\u201d said Mohammed Hariri<\/a>, chairman of both Cell C and Oger Telecom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIcasa\u2019s decision to conduct a market review of the remedies under the Call Termination Regulations has bolstered our shareholders\u2019 confidence in the future of Cell C and the industry,” said Cell C CEO, Alan Knott-Craig.<\/p>\n

“The equity injection also strengthens our balance sheet. But 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.”<\/p>\n

Cell C said that Icasa’s\u00a0review of Call Termination Regulations in South Africa is a positive move by the regulator.<\/p>\n

The operator pointed to a number of possible remedies, “of which the most important are aggressive and sustained asymmetry, mandatory flat rates and lower mobile termination rates for operators with significant market power”.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this financial injection and a regulatory outcome that promotes sustainable competition for smaller players, Cell C will lead the way in lowering the cost to communicate and further expand its network coverage,\u201d said Knott-Craig.<\/p>\n

In addition to the shareholder injection, key lenders – including Nedbank<\/a> and DBSA<\/a> – have just concluded a long-term financing package of R2,2 billion to Cell C, in a transaction arranged by Nedbank, the operator said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNedbank has again shown its support for Cell C and we thank the institution for working on this package for us. The financing package also carries partial guarantees from Oger Telecom, in a further indication of its support,\u201d says Knott-Craig.<\/p>\n

The combined funding, of equity and loans, will provide the company with a sizeable pool of liquidity to continue investing in its network quality, customer base and product offerings.<\/p>\n

In addition, the funding structure ensures the company maintains an appropriate capital structure and balance sheet to sustain its drive to offer compelling tariffs and services to its customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur shareholders have indicated a willingness to inject further equity in 2014, if, as anticipated, the review by the Regulator facilitates a more competitive industry where smaller players like Cell C can remain sustainable,\u201d said Knott-Craig.<\/p>\n

More on Cell C<\/h3>\n

Cell C talking to MVNO players: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom dismisses Cell C merger talks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cell C reveals mobile app plans<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Red Bull Mobile subscriber numbers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cell C network quality complaints<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C has announced two significant inflows of long-term capital, including an initial equity investment of $350 million from its major shareholder, Oger Telecom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[43,42,26,1799,1186],"class_list":["post-42054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-alan-knott-craig","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-nedbank","tag-oger-telecom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42054","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=42054"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42060,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42054\/revisions\/42060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}