South Africa: shareholder CellSAF opposes the transfer of licenses from Cell C to Blue Label
January 11th 2024
Blue Label Telecoms entered the capital of Cell C in 2017. Since then, the company has multiplied strategic actions to revive the telecoms company. In particular, it initiated a recovery strategy which led to the recapitalization of Cell C finalized in September 2022.
CellSAf, one of Cell C’s oldest shareholders, revealed to local press that it opposed the mobile operator’s plan to transfer control of its licenses to Prepaid Company (TPC), a subsidiary of Blue Label which holds a total of 63.19% of the telecoms company. The company says it was not associated with the decision and accuses Blue Label Telecoms of wanting to exclude the other shareholders of Cell C Télécoms in order to take control.
It was last December that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) revealed in the Government Gazette that Cell C had submitted an application to transfer its network operating licenses and radio frequency spectrum to TPC.
The reason behind this request has not been revealed. However, it came a few months after Cell C completed its migration to a virtual access network provided by MTN, abandoning its own network infrastructures. This migration is part of the recovery strategy initiated in 2017 and which led to the recapitalization of Cell C finalized in September 2022.
CellSAf holds a 25% stake in Cell C. Its objection could slow down or even cancel the process of transferring licenses from the telecoms operator to Blue Label. The telecoms regulator plans to evaluate the request on the basis of three criteria before giving its opinion on the matter. This aims to promote competition in the ICT sector, protect the interests of consumers and encourage the participation in capital of historically disadvantaged people.
Source: Agence Ecofin Back