Cell C has announced a new strategy to support South Africa’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The strengthened SME connectivity strategy follows extensive research into South Africa’s small and medium enterprise landscape. The study, conducted with research house Kantar, confirms that connectivity now underpins core business operations.
The study reveals that SMEs – who form the backbone of South Africa’s economy – are facing rising pressure as connectivity directly impacts their ability to operate, serve customers and grow. SMEs describe downtime not as a “technical issue” but a business failure, with connectivity underpinning sales, bookings, payments, delivery management, and staff coordination.
Other studies reinforce this picture: infrastructure gaps, unreliable internet access, and rising operating costs are weakening SME competitiveness, with many business owners concerned about long term survival if connectivity challenges persist.
While the research focuses on SMEs, the pressures are equally felt across growing mid‑market corporates, sectoral operators and small enterprise clusters whose operations depend on reliable connectivity.
In response, Cell C Business has repositioned its SME offering around a single, powerful conviction: Nothing should stop a South African business because of connectivity.
“SMEs cannot afford downtime, not even for a moment,” says Chris Lazarus, chief officer: sales, regions and customer care. “They told us they want reliability, simplicity and affordability. They want solutions that work every time, are simple to manage, and come with real human support.
“We’ve redesigned our entire SME offering around these priorities to mirror their realities and remove the barriers that slow growth.”
SMEs do not all look the same, neither do their challenges. Recognising the differences in not only size but digital maturity and operational, Cell C has structured its offering to meet businesses exactly where they are:
- Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) (one to nine people): Affordable, integrated mobile voice and data propositions, fibre-to-the business.
- Small Businesses (10 to 50 people): Business grade mobile voice and data connectivity, cloud-based time and attendance solutions, fibre-to-the business.
- Medium Businesses (51 to 500 people): Business grade mobile voice and data connectivity, digital pen and Formflow solutions, fibre-to-the business, cloud PBX, time and attendance.
- Corporate/Large Enterprises: Business grade mobile voice and data connectivity, digital pen and Formflow solutions, fibre-to-the business, cloud PBX, time and attendance; scalable, multisite connectivity supported by dedicated account management.