According to Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos, a stock exchange listing for the company is on his “radar”.
Cell C, which is South Africa’s third largest network with 22m subscribers, has not been listed since its launch in 2001.
This means the operator is not obliged to publish its full financial results to the general public.
In May this year, Cell C did report that its year-on-year revenues grew by 3%, but the company did not detail exact figures concerning losses or profitability.
Asked in an interview this week if Cell C would consider JSE listing, Dos Santos said: “It’s certainly something that’s on my radar. I think that a legacy I’d like to leave is that we eventually have this company listed and unlock some real value.”
South Africa’s two biggest mobile networks, Vodacom and MTN, are both listed on the Johannesburg bourse.
Vodacom has about 30m subscribers and a market capitalisation of R211,6bn, according to Bloomberg data. MTN has 28m subscribers in South Africa and a market capitalisation of R331bn.
Dos Santos also said in a media briefing this week that Cell C is operationally profitable in 2015 for the first time ever. However, he was not willing to provide further details on the company’s profitability.
Also, reports have quoted Telkom executives as having expressed an interest in acquiring Cell C. This comes as Saudi Arabia’s Oger Telecom is said to be considering selling its majority stake in Cell C.
Dos Santos said on Wednesday that up to six companies have expressed interest in Cell C, but did not disclose the companies’ names. — Fin24
