South Africa's Cell C announced that it will be given a cash injection amounting to US $350 million from Oger Telecom, its major shareholder. The mobile operator, which is the third largest in South Africa, will also receive loans in the amount of US $222 million from the Development Bank of South Africa and Nedbank.
The additional funding would be utilized to help enhance its network quality and to improve its capital structure as it continues to serve its 11.5 million users. The company has vastly increased its clients over the last nine months. Consequently, it has taken away market shares of larger competitors MTN and Vodacom.
Cell C has also been requesting regulators of the industry to slash interconnection rates to permit more competitive tariffs.
"The company has a solid business strategy and we are confident that the regulator will make decisions that give smaller players a better chance of being sustainable competitors," said Mohammed Hariri, chairman of both Oger Telecom and Cell C, in a statement.
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