South African telecoms operator Cell C has reported that total subscribers across its mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) — virtual brands that sell mobile services under their own name while riding on a host carrier's network — now stand at 5.7 million, the combined customer count of all MVNOs that depend on its infrastructure. In financial results for the year ended 31 May 2026, released on Friday, the company said customers of virtual operators using its tower infrastructure rose 27.3% year on year, from 4.5 million to 5.7 million. The earnings report is the first since Cell C listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Africa's largest bourse, in November 2025. The listing marks a turnaround point for a company founded in 2001 as South Africa's third mobile operator, which spent years restructuring under a heavy debt load.

Beyond the wholesale business, Cell C's total subscriber base has closed in on 9 million, a 17.1% year-on-year increase from 7.6 million. The development signals how the operator is extending its dominance in hosting small operators, a typical reason MVNOs continue to grow across the country.

Cell C hosts an estimated 80% to 85% of South Africa's MVNO subscribers on its infrastructure. South Africa currently has the largest number of active MVNOs in Africa, with 23 operators having sold more than 7 million SIMs.

Although Cell C holds a smaller share of direct retail mobile subscribers than telecom giants Vodacom and MTN, it dominates the South African MVNO wholesale market. The operator powers the majority of the country's leading banking and retail virtual networks, including Capitec Connect, FNB Connect, Shoprite K'nect, Standard Bank Mobile, Nedbank Connect, and Mr Price Mobile — brands that typically use low-cost connectivity as a loyalty tool to keep banking and shopping customers inside their own ecosystems.

The performance reflects a deliberate strategic pivot away from the traditional battleground for retail subscribers and the tower-infrastructure spending that characterises head-to-head competition with Vodacom and MTN. Cell C has repositioned itself as a wholesale infrastructure enabler: it decommissioned its own physical tower network to operate a Virtual RAN model — partnering with MTN for radio access — while maintaining its core network and database to power MVNOs.

In its audited full-year results, the telecom operator said revenue increased 13.5% year on year to R12.6 billion ($786.1 million), while service revenue was up 5.6% to R11.1 billion ($692.7 million).

Data remained the core driver of revenue and growth, with data traffic increasing 47% year on year. The company has not been spared the ongoing, industry-wide transition from voice to data: voice traffic declined 4%, a reflection of consumer behaviour. Profit after tax for the year stood at R4.2 billion ($262.1 million) after growth of 87.6% year on year — the first full-year profit picture against which the company's new public shareholders can measure progress.

"Operationally, the business moved from recovery toward more deliberate growth. Prepaid delivered a stronger performance, supported by a recovery in the customer base and the normalisation of historical airtime discounts," the company said in the financial statement.

Cell C also revealed that it spent R810 million ($50.5 million) on expanding its infrastructure, building towers, and improving the network quality offered to users — modest next to the multibillion-rand annual network budgets of Vodacom and MTN.

Separately, a barometer report on mobile internet connectivity in South Africa published in May by nPerf, a France-based network measurement firm, showed Cell C and MTN as the joint leaders among MVNOs in overall mobile network performance. Cell C achieved an nPerf score of 48.016 nPoints, while MTN recorded 48.153 points, with Vodacom and Telkom in third and fourth place on 45.488 and 27.627 points, respectively.

MTN posted the highest download speeds at 41.26 Mbps and led upload speeds at 11.19 Mbps, while Cell C led in latency, recording the top rating in this segment for the fifth consecutive year. Cell C also led performance in web browsing and video streaming metrics.