Dubbed Red Bull Mobile, the new entrant will unveil its offering at an event to be held in Johannesburg, on 8 February. Details such as pricing and device range have yet to be disclosed.
Red Bull Mobile will join Virgin Mobile to piggyback off Cell C's infrastructure backbone. However, the industry has cautioned that Virgin Mobile has experienced limited growth from this model.
Last year, Virgin Mobile, already a seasoned traveller on Cell C's backbone, conceded its original aim of getting to 10% of market share was unrealistic. The company had set that target when it entered the local market, four years ago.
After revising its target from 10% to 1% market share, the company seemingly scrapped its market share aspirations, saying this wasn't its aim.
Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Spiwe Chireka says Virgin Mobile banked on mobile number portability at its inception, but this did not pay off, because South Africans are seemingly reluctant to change service providers.
Chireka predicts that if a new company tries to enter the market, positioned as nothing more than a mobile operator, without offering a value-added service, such as free SMSes or media content, “they will fail”.
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