The wireless war dance

Last year, when I met Lars Reichelt, the new CEO of Cell C, for the first time, I knew the man was going to make waves in the industry.

Sure enough, a few days later he announced that Cell C was about to make a R5 billion investment in its mobile networks, which would finally bring it up to scratch for providing broadband.

Making good on that promise, Cell C then made the stunning revelation that it had hired Chinese telecommunications equipment provider ZTE to roll out its HSPA+ network. HSPA+ is a wonderful technology, providing technically up to 56Mbps download speeds and 22Mbps uploads.

Cell C's plans to deploy the fastest network in SA had many hopping from foot to foot, hoping it would happen soon. SA has a fantastically mature mobile market, and mobile broadband has become another part of daily life, with or without a wired service.

However, for too long, we have been offered the lowest possible speeds at the highest possible prices on mobile networks. Many users are still stuck on just over 1Mbps and the luckier ones taking a shot at 3.6Mbps.

While it is unlikely that Cell C will provide a broadband offering on the full capacity amount, looking at the possibility of 21Mbps is quite appealing to those of us who would like faster, cheaper Internet.

Cell C's announcement, while in and of itself is great, is not the best news. The fact that it is finally taking on the big boys with mobile broadband has MTN and Vodacom running around in circles.

Not even a week after Cell C released its information about its new network, Vodacom jumped on the bandwagon.

Candice Jones, telecoms editor, ITWeb

Not even a week after Cell C released its information about its new network, Vodacom jumped on the bandwagon, saying it already has its HSPA+ network in place, and will have 100 sites ready with 14.4Mbps by the time the World Cup rolls around.

Vodacom has been sitting on a 7.2Mbps upgrade to its network for over a year, and has only recently started migrating its sites to the new technology, considered 3.5G. MTN has also decided to join the dance around the fire.

It claims it will have 50 sites live in time for the World Cup so that “international tourists can access the faster 3G speeds”. While MTN has traditionally had a stronger network for broadband, it also has only recently managed to provide the 7.2Mbps speeds it promised over a year ago.

Without Cell C's announcement, one wonders how long it would have taken for either Vodacom or MTN to make their new high-speed network upgrades known. Would they have kept us all on the lowest possible speeds for as long as humanly possible?

There is no doubt that the two mobile giants would have at some point managed to produce a statement to proudly announce their new broadband offerings, but it is more likely that Cell C's newly invigorated business plan has set a spark under some, now red, rear ends.

Cell C will be the company to watch this year, with Reichelt making some impressive and bold choices for the company's future. Not in the least its new focus on broadband. Mobile companies in SA have in the past missed the mark on the possibility of Internet access for customers.

With such high cellular phone penetration, you would have thought that the operators would have long ago cottoned on to the value-add that mobile broadband gives users. But it has never seemed an important part of their business plans.

It may well be that Cell C's renewed interest in the possibilities of wireless Internet access could bring in some interesting and possibly more affordable offerings in mobile Internet.

Ultimately, it boils down to competitive market conditions. MTN and Vodacom have had little to worry about with each other. If one does something, the other will follow and it has never meant anything for the consumer at large.

However, for the first time, the companies are now looking at a company that could feasibly provide competition in the Internet space, and Cell C is not sitting down.

Whether the new competition will make a difference to the price of mobile broadband remains to be seen. But looking at the competition around ADSL capacity, we could possibly expect the wireless war dance to turn into a wireless price war.