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South African mobile operator Cell C says it is no longer technically insolvent, a milestone that follows years of restructuring under its biggest backer, Blue Label Telecoms, led by co chief executives and brothers Brett and Mark Levy.
Cell C’s first interim results as a separately listed company showed total assets of about 9.9 billion rand exceeding liabilities of about 7.4 billion rand, leaving positive equity of roughly 2.5 billion rand for the six months ended Nov. 30, 2025. The company said revenue rose to 5.7 billion rand and it reduced leverage, reporting a net debt ratio of 0.6 times.
The improvement comes after Blue Label’s long, expensive bet on the operator. Blue Label, through its subsidiary The Prepaid Company, bought 45% of Cell C in 2017 in a deal valued at 5.5 billion rand, stepping into a recapitalisation as the mobile network battled heavy debt and sliding market share.
That transaction was pitched as a way to pair Blue Label’s distribution strength with a mobile operator hungry for customers, but the years that followed were marked by repeated funding needs, renegotiated obligations and a shift in Cell C’s business model. Cell C moved away from building and running much of its own radio network, leaning more heavily on roaming and infrastructure sharing as it tried to cut costs and stabilize service.
Blue Label’s exposure was later reshaped through a major recapitalisation and broader restructuring that culminated in Cell C’s listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in November 2025, aimed at giving the company cleaner governance and access to capital as a standalone entity.
Chief executive Jorge Mendes said trends were improving, pointing to prepaid growth returning, wholesale momentum as its mobile virtual network platform scales and efficiencies expected from integrating the Comm Equipment Company.
The numbers also show pressure points. Cell C reported current liabilities above current assets by about 2.34 billion rand and said it faced liquidity constraints linked to seasonal working capital needs and continued investment in modernization.
The Levy brothers built Blue Label by turning prepaid airtime into a mass market product and expanding into distribution and fintech adjacent services. Their Cell C stake, once viewed as a high risk gamble, is now being framed as a slow rescue that is finally producing balance sheet breathing room, with the hardest work still in execution.
