Cell C’s board has already begun the process of looking for a new CEO, its chairman Simon Duffy says. The company surprised the industry on Wednesday when it said Lars Reichelt, its CEO for the past two-and-a-half years, was resigning for personal reasons.

Duffy, who will step in as acting CEO with immediate effect until a replacement for Reichelt has been found, tells TechCentral that Cell C has already begun putting out feelers in the market, but that the search for a successor will now begin in earnest.

Because perceptions about Cell C have improved markedly in the past 18 months, largely as a result of the work done by Reichelt, Duffy believes it will be easier to attract a high-calibre CEO to fill the role. “Cell C is a much more attractive proposition to an incoming CEO,” he says.

Duffy says Cell C conducted market research 18 months ago that found the majority of SA consumers didn’t believe that the company even operated its own network. The aggressive roll-out of a third-generation mobile broadband network and a high-profile rebranding and marketing exercise has changed perceptions, he says.

He points to the recent advertising spat with Vodacom over which company has the better network. “What a staggering achievement [that has been] … contending for who has the best network. It’s a tremendous achievement for Lars and Cell C.”

Duffy says Cell C’s principal shareholder, Oger Telecom, remains fully committed to the SA market and the company will continue investing heavily in its broadband network. There will be no change in the strategy spearheaded by Reichelt and approved by the Cell C board.

“The board and Oger Telecom were intimately involved in approving that strategy,” Duffy says. “I think it’s one of [Reichelt’s] achievements and legacies he has put in place … and we’re fully committed to it. We are halfway through the investment and ‘rebooting’ programme and we intend to complete it.”

The SA market is still largely untapped when it comes to broadband, especially given the country’s poor penetration of fixed lines, he says.

Duffy declines to talk about the financial health of Cell C, saying the company will hold a media conference soon at which it will discuss its performance in detail. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral