--- title: Cell C launches 5G | daily.dev description: Cell C's 5G network is live across South Africa, CEO Jorge Mendes confirmed, using roaming access to both Vodacom's and MTN's 5G sites on 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Cell C launches 5G | daily.dev og:description: Cell C's 5G network is live across South Africa, CEO Jorge Mendes confirmed, using roaming access to both Vodacom's and MTN's 5G sites on 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/5x8XJMwjv.png og:image:alt: Cell C launches 5G og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cell C launches 5G **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Cell C's 5G network is live across South Africa, CEO Jorge Mendes confirmed, using roaming access to both Vodacom's and MTN's 5G sites on 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands rather than building its own radio network. The company hasn't publicly launched or marketed the coverage, wanting to pair it with a distinctive commercial proposition, possibly fixed-wireless access, rather than coverage alone. Mendes also confirmed talks with Starlink and Amazon, and noted Cell C is migrating roughly four million customers to VoLTE, with about a million already moved. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Has Cell C launched 5G in South Africa? Yes, Cell C's 5G network is live and available to customers, according to CEO Jorge Mendes. Because Cell C operates on roaming agreements with both Vodacom and MTN rather than building its own radio network, any Cell C customer with a 5G handset in a 5G coverage area already gets 5G service, reaching sites on both operators' 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum bands. _Track how South African carriers roll out 5G coverage and pricing on daily.dev._ ### Why hasn't Cell C publicly announced its 5G launch? Cell C has not held a launch event or mentioned 5G in its first full-year results because CEO Jorge Mendes wants to pair the coverage with a distinctive commercial proposition rather than market coverage alone. He argues plain 5G coverage isn't a compelling consumer pitch since a video streams the same as on 4G, and fixed-wireless access is seen as the more promising angle, though its commercial structure isn't built yet. _Follow how telecom operators time feature launches around commercial strategy on daily.dev._ ### How is Cell C migrating customers to VoLTE? Cell C is migrating customers to voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), a high-quality voice-over-data calling technology, alongside its 5G rollout. Roughly one million customers have already moved to VoLTE, with about three million more expected to migrate in the coming months. _Developers tracking telecom infrastructure shifts like VoLTE migrations can follow updates on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Cell C in talks with Starlink and Amazon Leo](https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-in-talks-with-starlink-and-amazon-leo-23pgbwfz8) · TechCentral · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Vodacom squeezes more 4G and 5G capacity out of cramped sites](https://daily.dev/posts/vodacom-squeezes-more-4g-and-5g-capacity-out-of-cramped-sites-dbkdabhd7) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Vodacom claims African first with 254Mbit/s 5G uplink test](https://daily.dev/posts/vodacom-claims-african-first-with-254mbit-s-5g-uplink-test-yt0avb0sj) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [South Africa to get a new national 5G broadband network](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-to-get-a-new-national-5g-broadband-network-gorjjb34f) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The trap that stops MTN and Vodacom eating Cell C’s lunch](https://daily.dev/posts/the-trap-that-stops-mtn-and-vodacom-eating-cell-c-s-lunch-1jlt7mruc) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#tech-news](https://daily.dev/tags/tech-news) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Cell C launches 5G","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv"},"datePublished":"2026-08-21T13:39:26.475Z","dateModified":"2026-08-21T13:43:52.097Z","description":"Cell C's 5G network is live across South Africa, CEO Jorge Mendes confirmed, using roaming access to both Vodacom's and MTN's 5G sites on 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/a40acf3814ac63b5aee7035d71715f8b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/a40acf3814ac63b5aee7035d71715f8b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"tech-news","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Cell C launches 5G"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/cell-c-launches-5g-5x8xjmwjv#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Has Cell C launched 5G in South Africa?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, Cell C's 5G network is live and available to customers, according to CEO Jorge Mendes. 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