Cell C, Vodacom and MTN make 1 + 1 = 3?

South African mobile operator Cell C says it has captured 12% of the country’s wireless market since launching services in November 2001, however, with rivals Vodacom and MTN claiming market shares of 55% and 39% respectively, a total of 106%, the three operators methodology for calculating totals has been brought into question. By the end of 2003 Cell C claimed to have signed up 1.9 million accounts of which around 300,000 (16%) were post-paid and 1.6 million (84%) pre-paid. Despite the confusion over the accuracy of the market size, Cell C maintains that 51% of its base are new accounts with the remainder coming from those defecting from its rivals. It hopes to win 25% of the market by 2007.