IT'S difficult not to be impressed with the progress Cell C has made over the last year.
During that time SA's third cellular operator has halved its debt, grown its subscriber base, outsourced its customer service, redefined its distribution channel, made progress in revolutionising its network and launched a smart new marketing campaign.
Cell C's most recent trick has been to shed its terrible old red logo and launch a new black and white look, with homage paid to the South African flag via a strip of colours below the logo.
The new logo looks a lot like the copyright symbol - © - and because of that has attracted criticism from people with too much time on their hands. I like the logo, for what it's worth, and I think its resemblance to the famous mark of legal right is a stroke of genius, whether intentional or not.
The new look is fresh and clean. Cell C has also roped in comedian and all-round cool kid Trevor Noah as a form of brand ambassador who will be the go-between for the operator and its customers. The advertising campaign that launched this association was another whack of brilliance.
Cell C has outsourced its customer service operations to Dimension Data's Merchants subsidiary and its marketing to the Smollan Group. More moves in the right direction.
Then there's the network. Cell C already has many towers throughout South Africa and these are being upgraded with the latest HSPA+ technology, running at 900MHz for improved range and quality. The new network equipment has been acquired from Chinese vendor ZTE and Nokia Siemens Networks. It will allow Cell C to provide mobile broadband at speeds up to 21Mbps under the brand "4Gs".
While there is debate over what qualifies as 4G, and most industry experts would agree that HSPA+ does not make the grade, this is just more clever marketing from Cell C which knows full well that the general public doesn't give a stuff about technical metrics and just wants faster internet connections.
Cell C is also in the process of brokering a deal to sell its dormant network infrastructure - the physical towers themselves - to a leasing company. In so doing the operator will generate cash to further reduce its debt and upgrade its network.
Behind all of the recent activity at Cell C is its relatively new CEO Lars Reichelt, an industry stalwart with two decades worth of experience that includes being CEO of Telefonica 3G Mobile in Zurich and head of Yahoo! Europe's wireless division. His career has taken him from London to Dhaka to Johannesburg, where his competitors should be losing sleep.
And what about the competition?
Vodacom Group [JSE:VOD] is South Africa's largest cellular network and will remain so for the time being. MTN Group [JSE:MTN], on the other hand, has been losing ground in its home country with declining subscriber numbers and an ongoing billing debacle that is nothing short of embarrassing.
MTN is certainly a company SA can be proud of, being one of the biggest emerging market telecoms players in the world. But we can't ignore its faults.
And then there's Telkom which is about to launch its cellular services with Telkom Mobile. Somewhere between Telkom starting up and MTN slowing down we find Cell C, which in my books looks fitter than either contender.
While Reichelt will get the honours for making a success of the company - and let's not count his chickens before they hatch - we must also mention Jeffrey Hedberg who started the turnaround at Cell C before leaving to join Telkom and now finding himself temporary CEO of that incumbent network operator. The position may well be cemented when Telkom decides on who Reuben September's successor will be.
Should that happen, Hedberg will be steering the group that is set to go head to head with Cell C. It's going to be an interesting battle.
My money, for now, is on Cell C. The company is fresh and exciting with a new look to boot. Most importantly, Cell C is focused on the customer and uses this as a focal point for its marketing. In a country where consumers are sick and tired of poor service and little regard from cellular service providers, this will gain Cell C new friends.
Cellular operators have replaced banks as South Africa's most hated companies. Any journalist knows this from the vitriol that is expressed in comments whenever we mention them. Communication, like money, is personal and something people take very seriously. They want companies taking care of these things to act like they give a damn. Cell C knows this, and may even actually care about its customers.
With four operators in the mix South Africa's cellular market is picking up steam. The dark horse in this race is Cell C. And should the company list, I'd be first in line to pick up shares.
- Fin24.com