{"id":42319,"date":"2013-07-18T15:08:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T13:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=42319"},"modified":"2013-07-19T10:09:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T08:09:52","slug":"cell-c-confirms-telkom-mobile-merger-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/42319\/cell-c-confirms-telkom-mobile-merger-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Cell C confirms Telkom Mobile merger talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cell C<\/a> CEO Alan Knott-Craig<\/a> has confirmed that the mobile operator has addressed talks of consolidation with Telkom Mobile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Stephen Grootes<\/a> on Talk Radio 702’s Midday Report, the Cell C CEO answered questions about his claims that Vodacom<\/a> is to blame for his company’s network problems, the recent R3.5 billion injection into the company, and the possiblity of consolidation in the market.<\/p>\n

When specifically questioned on the matter of consolidation in the market, Knott-Craig said that it makes perfect sense and “we (Cell C) talk about it a lot”. He was, however, less certain that it will actually happen.<\/p>\n

When pushed as to whether talks of a potential merger (vis-a-vis, consolidation) had happened between Telkom Mobile and Cell C, the chief executive conceded that “I have addressed it with them, yes”.<\/p>\n

Knott-Craig has long said that there is no room for four mobile operators in South Africa, and that consolidation between firms was inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cMargins are thinning and smaller operators\u2019 ability to compete is being hampered by lack of scale,\u201d he previously told BusinessTech.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my view, there will be some form of consolidation or partnership in the industry in the near future. However, any decisions on consolidation or future partnerships involving Cell C would be for our shareholders to decide upon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speculation surrounding talks between Cell C and Telkom propped up early in 2012, after Business Day reported that the companies were currently \u201cworking on the finer details of a potential merger\u201d, citing a source close to the matter.<\/p>\n

However, both former Telkom<\/a> CEO, Pinky Moholi<\/a>, and current CEO, Sipho Maseko<\/a>, dismissed claims that the company was looking at a merger deal with Cell C.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not in talks (with Cell C) ,” Maseko told BusinessTech following the group\u2019s results presentation on Friday (14 June).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken with all the operators, not specifically Cell C,\u201d Maseko said. \u201cAll options are on the table,\u201d he added regarding possible future acquisitions.<\/p>\n

More about Cell C and Telkom<\/h3>\n

Telkom\u2019s modest mobile numbers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cell C looking for partner: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom and Cell C merging?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

No Cell C deal on the table: Telkom CEO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig has confirmed that the mobile operator has addressed talks of consilidation with Telkom Mobile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[43,42,26,1075],"class_list":["post-42319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-alan-knott-craig","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-telkom-mobile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42319","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=42319"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42328,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42319\/revisions\/42328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}