South African mobile operator Cell C has partnered with Mirage Telecom and Comverse to launch the first ‘dedicated mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE)’ in Africa. MyBroadband.co.za reports that the deal means that banks, retailers, insurers, and other organisations will be able to offer clients cellular voice and data services using Cell C’s network and Mirage Telecom’s back-end infrastructure.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, there are currently only a limited number of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) operating in Africa, including Virgin Mobile in South Africa, K2 Telecom (Uganda), Kirene (Senegal) and Set’Mobile in Cameroon, which is owned by footballer Samuel Eto’o. The latter three MVNOs all piggyback on Orange networks in their respective markets, while Virgin utilises Cell C’s infrastructure.
In other news, acting Cell C CEO, Jose Dos Santos, has revealed that the cellco has achieved more than 1.2 million gross connections in October, with 400,000 net additions; the subscriber gains mean that the operator has passed the 13 million subscriber mark.