A report on Tuesday suggested China Mobile may be about to swoop to the rescue of embattled mobile operator Cell C. Telkom is also rumoured to be circling.
Browsing: Buffet Consortium
Shares in Blue Label Telecoms enjoyed a rare upswing on Friday, a day after it issued a trading update that showed its core business continues to perform well despite the ongoing woes at Cell C.
From inception, no one has made an equity return from investing in Cell C. It’s doubtful whether Jonathan Beare and his Buffet Consortium will be any different.
The JSE warned on Tuesday that Blue Label Telecoms failed to submit its annual financial results on time and that if it fails to do so by month-end, its shares may be suspended from trading.
Net1 UEPS Technologies has become the second JSE-listed company, after Blue Label Telecoms, to delay publication of financial results because of the ongoing financial woes at Cell C.
Cell C has moved to justify its decision to terminate its wholesale fixed-LTE offering, saying customers of the service made up just 0.5% of its base but were using 20% of its data network capacity.
S&P Global Ratings has downgraded Cell C’s debt to “D”, or “default” – its lowest-possible “junk” rating – after the mobile operator “failed to make interest payments on certain bilateral loan facilities” due last month.
Cell C’s largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, will delay publication of its full-year financial results until late September to deal with various issues related to the mobile operator’s recapitalisation and restructuring.
Regulators, including Icasa and the Competition Commission, will have to be pragmatic and lenient about a looming expanded tie-up between Cell C and MTN South Africa if the former isn’t going to go to the wall.
Cell C’s largest shareholder, JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, has moved to reassure nervous investors about the mobile operator’s prospects.