Number portability to break cellphone duopoly

"We already offer customers a better deal and value for money," Hedberg says.

"But until now we have battled to penetrate the massive market share held by Vodacom and MTN. The playing fields have just not been level. Vodacom with its Telkom parent was given a massive head start by being allowed to be first to this market. They were followed into the market by MTN and the two of them cosily divided the market up amongst themselves.

"Whilst we have grown enormously we have had to penetrate a market in which customers are robustly tied into contracts by the big two players. We want to break this duopoly and end the stranglehold and we believe that Mobile Number Portability is one of the tools we can use to do so as customers will no longer have to stick with a networks just to keep their cellphone number."

Best value

Cell C focuses on individuality, choice, flexibility and value for money.

"Cell C carries more than 84% of its customers' calls on its own networks and in addition offers cellphone users some of the cheapest call rates in the country. We continue to offer the best value for individuals and corporations.

"Although our competitors try to pretend that our coverage is poor, we have coverage on our own network of over 85% of South Africa. Amongst our many firsts were the launch of instant SMS rewards; Cell C Mobile email for corporates in collaboration with Microsoft; mobile banking with all four big retail banks and Cell C data bundles.

"We own the weekend with our Woza Weekend packages - which at 50 cents per minute are simply the cheapest in the country. We offer the lowest anytime, any destination off-peak per-second pre-paid rate of 98c on a subscribers seven most-often-used numbers - our Friends & Family rates. We are the only network that offers these discounts.

Additional benefits

In addition. Hedberg says Cell C is the only network that offers per-second billing benefits across all of its packages both post and pre-paid

"We have the lowest international rates and the lowest rates for calls to Telkom. We have the best starter pack in the country.

"These are just some of our benefits - so whether you are an individual or a business, it will be wise to use mobile number portability to move to us. It is your opportunity to put us to the test and we look forward to the challenge," Hedberg concludes.