Four major mobile networks are battling it out for their place in the South African market — Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, and Cell C. According to their latest available results, these four networks had over 112 million active SIMs in the country. Two operators — Vodacom and MTN — have been around for almost three decades...
Spare a thought for Douglas Craigie Stevenson. The Cell C CEO is leading one of the most complex and difficult business turnarounds in South African corporate history. Craigie Stevenson tells TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod in this episode of TC|Daily that it’s been a stressful few years for the company’s management team, but that the long-delayed but recently...
Cell C released its latest financial results last week, revealing that it remains technically insolvent following the Blue Label Telecoms recapitalisation deal. On 22 September, Blue Label concluded a deal to restructure and refinance Cell C and reduce its debt to give the mobile operator a healthier balance sheet. New money will also be injected into Cell...
Cell C’s long wait for relief is over, as the debt-laden mobile operator has finally secured fresh funding to recapitalise the business. The painstakingly-long cash-raising exercise was led by the telco’s largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, which today announced it had concluded binding agreements with key financial backers. The deal will see new money flow...
Blue Label Telecoms, the largest shareholder in Cell C, said it Thursday that the recapitalisation of the mobile operator has finally been completed after years of negotiation. The news comes after Blue Label concluded “binding long-form agreements) with Cell C and various Cell C financial stakeholders, including certain shareholders and creditors of Cell C”. All conditions...
The long-awaited Cell C recapitalisation is finally coming to an end, with the telco’s biggest shareholder announcing the process is expected to close by mid-September. Blue Label Telecoms, which holds a 45% stake in Cell C, says “binding long-form agreements” are expected to be completed in their entirety shortly. The JSE-listed company presented its performance...
The worse may just be over for Cell C. Lenders to the troubled mobile operator have approved a “compromise offer” that will place the company into a more sustainable debt position and able to compete more effectively in South Africa’s mobile industry. “Cell C’s secured lenders, who formerly held publicly listed bonds or notes, have voted...
A meeting for Cell C’s priority creditors to vote on whether they will take an 80% haircut on their debt to facilitate the operator’s recapitalisation plan has been postponed. Cell C has not been able to pay its debts, and should the recapitalisation not succeed it is not expected to survive. The company has to...
The long-delayed recapitalisation of debt-laden mobile operator Cell C is inching forward, with secured lenders set to vote on a “compromise offer” next month. Blue Label Telecoms, Cell C’s largest shareholder, said on Wednesday that this latest phase of the recap project involves a bond process to get approval of the compromise offer that has been...
As telcos celebrate the allocation of spectrum at the just-ended auction, Cell C is seeking answers as to how the regulator will parcel out the wholesale open access network (WOAN). Commenting on the just-concluded spectrum allocation process by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), Cell C says in many respects, the outcome was...
