Reuters on Friday added to growing speculation that a sale of Cell C may be on the cards.
Repeating earlier reports that Goldman Sachs has been appointed to advise parent Oger Telecom on a possible sale, the news wire quoted Oger chairman Mohammed Hariri as saying that the company will sell its stake if the right offer is made.
“All options are open. If we get a good price, we will sell,” Reuters quotes Hariri as saying. He reportedly said that Oger had received approaches by several interested parties but that no firm decisions had been made.
Oger Telecom owns 75% of Cell C. The remaining shares are held by local black empowerment partners.
Hariri told Reuters that the decision to hire Goldman Sachs was triggered by a decision by communications regulator Icasa to amend termination rate regulations that previously had been strongly in favour of smaller network operators, including Cell C.
“For us, if we get a proper value, we’d rather not continue. If the termination rates were honoured as original, we would have stayed easily,” Reuters quotes him as saying.
Oger’s decision to explore its options comes despite Cell C making significant inroads against its bigger rivals over the past year. In the financial year, the operator grew its subscriber base by 44% to 19,6m. Prepaid growth was 45%.
The privately held Cell C doesn’t disclose its financial results, but CEO Jose Dos Santos told TechCentral last month that the company grew its revenues by 16% in the financial year ended 31 December 2014. Broadband customers increased by 29%, while data volumes grew by 106%. Data revenue growth was 76%. Voice revenue growth was 8%, while minutes of use climbed by 23%.
“Every one of our growth figures is better than the incumbents,” Dos Santos said. “We are making huge progress as a business, both financially and operationally.”
The company has budgeted R2,2bn for network expansion in 2015. Some of this money will be used to support the roll-out of a 4G/LTE network, which is expected to begin soon. Cell C is promising more details on the LTE project soon.
He told TechCentral that, contrary to reports, Cell C’s shareholders remain committed to the business. – © 2015 NewsCentral Media