MTN South Africa and Cell C have failed to agree on “certain matters” in their longstanding commercial relationship, and those matters will now be dealt with through the mechanisms set out in their agreement.
“MTN SA and Cell C have engaged extensively on the terms of their longstanding commercial relationship but have not reached agreement on certain matters,” MTN said in a trading update for the nine months to September, published on Monday. “These will be addressed through the mechanisms provided for in the parties’ agreement, while engagement on the terms of the relationship going forward continues.”
MTN did not say which matters are in dispute or which mechanism will apply. It said it would “provide a further update when appropriate”.
Asked for further clarity on its statement, MTN South Africa said via e-mail: “MTN will not be commenting further on the Cell C matter beyond the trading update issued this morning. However, we wish to reassure customers that these discussions will have no impact on the continuity or quality of services provided by MTN.”
Cell C, also responding to questions from TechCentral, said it “operates under reciprocal infrastructure-sharing agreements with MTN and Vodacom, alongside its own licensed spectrum, to deliver nationwide coverage to its customers. The MTN agreement is a longstanding agreement, as previously advised, and runs to 2032. Both agreements remain in force on their existing terms, and no amendment has been agreed or signed. There is no impact on the network services we provide to our customers and business partners.”
MTN SA and Cell C have engaged extensively on the terms of their longstanding commercial relationship but have not reached agreement on certain matters.
MTN Group
Cell C added that it is “not in a position to provide further detail beyond confirming that no changes to the terms of either agreement have resulted from any engagement to date”.
The relationship is critical to Cell C. South Africa’s fourth-largest mobile operator does not run its own radio network. It relies on roaming agreements with MTN and Vodacom, which also give its customers access to both operators’ 5G sites. Wholesale, which includes the mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that run on Cell C’s network, such as Capitec Connect, is its fastest-growing segment.
MTN reports the national roaming revenue it earns from other operators in its wholesale business. MTN South Africa’s wholesale revenue grew 10.4% in the nine months, driven by national roaming (up 13%) and international roaming (up 41.5%), but growth slowed to 3.9% in the third quarter “on lower traffic from major wholesale customers”. MTN did not name those customers.
A deal already under review
The arrangement between the two was already being renegotiated. MTN builds and operates a radio access network that runs on Cell C’s spectrum and carries Cell C’s prepaid and MVNO traffic, and in exchange gets access to a portion of that spectrum, which it pools with its own, TechCentral reported in September. MTN did not say whether Monday’s disclosure relates to that arrangement.
The relationship also sits at the centre of a contest for wholesale business. Cell C reckons it hosts 80-85% of South Africa’s MVNO market, and its wholesale division grew revenue 20% to R1.76-billion in the year to May, reaching 5.71 million MVNO lines.
MTN wants more of that market, on its own terms. It has said it wants to be South Africa’s leading MVNO wholesaler, and MTN South Africa CEO Ferdi Moolman told TechCentral in September that it is rebuilding its wholesale pricing so that MVNOs can buy capacity more cheaply at deliberately lower quality. “If you want high quality, you need to pay a premium price,” he said at MTN’s capital markets day in June, where he also warned that some players treat telecoms as a loss leader in a way that risks “value destruction”.
Mendes argued in August that MTN and Vodacom are structurally constrained from competing hard for MVNO hosting, because aggressive wholesale pricing would cost them retail customers.
Monday’s disclosure comes as MTN South Africa tries to restart growth. Its service revenue was flat in the third quarter and up 1% for the nine months, below its target of low-to-mid single-digit growth, and its prepaid base fell 6.9% year on year to 27.4 million. Cost cuts lifted its third-quarter Ebitda margin to 38.1%.
Cell C, which listed on the JSE in November 2025, has been rebuilding under CEO Jorge Mendes, who bought R20.8-million of the company’s shares in September. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
