According to local reports, Jose dos Santos, CEO at Cell C, said that the group had “survived” intense competition in the country from the likes of MTN and Vodacom over the past few years, and managed to increase its customer base to approximately 19.5 million users.
Dos Santos said that this year and moving forward, Cell C would put “a lot of emphasis on data”.
“We are enhancing our network quality and redefining who we are,” he added.
Dos Santos did not disclose when Cell C’s network would be launched but said it was imminent.
Cell C has been struggling with debt and agreed to €160 million worth of debt restructuring in August 2014, in order to free up investment for a network expansion.
In December last year, the mobile operator completed its radio access network (RAN) upgrade in partnership with Nokia Networks, upgrading outdated network equipment on 1,215 base stations in Gauteng, South Africa.
Despite Cell C pledging R 2.4 billion to network upgrades this year, rivals MTN and Vodacom are thought to be spending more than double that each year on enhancing their networks.
