South Africa has a dynamic MVNO industry. It has been some seven months since TechCentral last published a comprehensive list of all the mobile virtual network operators in the local market. The emergence of two new entrants in that short period shows the fluidity of the market, which is fast becoming fiercely contested.

Cell C, whose biggest shareholder is Blue Label Telecoms, still leads the charge as the MVNO infrastructure partner of choice. Both new entrants to the local market this year – C-Connect and Spot Mobile – are supported by the Cell C network.

By TechCentral’s reckoning, Cell C now has 13 of the 19 MVNOs that are active in the market, representing just over two-thirds of the total. Until a few years ago, the company had the market entirely to itself, but that’s changed with the active entry of MTN South Africa as a platform provider for MVNOs.

A notable shift took place in the MVNO landscape earlier this year when Standard Bank Mobile (now known as Standard Bank Connect) changed carrier partners from Cell C to MTN, a migration of some 300 000 customers. Kartik Mistry, head of Standard Bank Connect, discusses the rationale behind the move in a recent episode of the TechCentral Show.

Despite the industry showing signs of healthy competition, there have been calls from the telecommunications sector for additional regulatory support to foster faster growth.

The list

Now here is the list of all the MVNOs operating in South Africa and the network carriers supporting them:

MVNO	Carrier
C-Connect	Cell C
Spot Mobile	Cell C
Mr Price Mobile	Cell C and Vodacom
Me&You	Cell C
Trace Mobile	Cell C
Standard Bank Connect	MTN
PnP Mobile	MTN
Boxercom	MTN
TFG Connect	MTN
Uconnect Mobile	Cell C
Purple Mobile	Cell C
Capitec Connect	Cell C
FNB Connect	Cell C
Shoprite Knect Mobile	Cell C
Melon Mobile	MTN
Afrihost AirMobile	MTN
Clientele Mobile	Cell C
Hello Mobile	Cell C
Smart Mobile	Cell C