Rift opens between MTN and Cell C

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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”.

TechCentral has sent questions to MTN and Cell C and will update this article as soon as feedback is received.

MTN SA and Cell C have engaged extensively on the terms of their longstanding commercial relationship but have not reached agreement on certain matters.

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.

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

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