Cell C becomes positive

South African mobile operator Cell C says that it reported a monthly positive EBITDA in May 2004 for the first time, two and a half years after launching services. The cellco – which had a 12.5% share of the country’s mobile market at the end of the first quarter of 2004 – has erected 1,800 live base stations to date and plans to roll out a further 500,000 by mid-2005. The operator’s licence requires it to install 12,000 community service telephones (CST) connections by the end of 2004; by the end of June it had rolled out 10,000. Cell C is now expected to be cash positive by the end of next year.