Cell C Apologizes to South African Customers for Poor Mobile Services

Cell C (Pty) Ltd., South Africa’s third-largest mobile phone-operator, apologized to customers for poor service and said it was taking steps to fix the problem.

“Criticism about spotty coverage, dropped calls and overall lack of delivery is not unfounded,” Cell C Chief Executive Officer Lars Reichelt said in a full-page advertisement published in Johannesburg’s Sunday Times newspaper today. “We know how frustrated South Africans are with the cellular industry, which is why we are so very serious about turning things around.”

The closely held company, which is based in Johannesburg, was responding to complaints aired on social-networking website Facebook Inc. Cell C is building a faster network and new customer-care and billing systems, and had made major changes to its sales and logistics operations, Reichelt said.

MTN Group Ltd. and Vodacom Group Ltd. are South Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operators.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net.

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email