Just two months after the official launch of cellular telephony in South Africa on 1 June 1994, cellphones were already making waves. In August 1994, the Mercury newspaper reported a surprising trend: toy shops were experiencing a surge in sales of plastic toy phones, with many buyers being ‘young businessmen in neat suits’. It was clear that, even as a novelty, cellphones had captured the imagination of the public and become the latest must-have status symbol.

This fascination with cellphones was not just a passing fad. MTN product manager Dane van Aswegen, quoted in the Mercury article, noted that while cellphones were intended for business use, they were quickly becoming ‘status tools’. He even mentioned an overseas company that offered a service to call cellphone users during meetings or events, creating the illusion of them being in high demand and indispensable.

The Financial Mail also highlighted the rapid adoption of cellphones in South Africa, noting their presence in the hands of executives, tradesmen, and yuppies in upmarket restaurants. MTN and Vodacom, the two major players at the time, reported an unprecedentedly fast uptake, with Vodacom claiming 50 000 subscribers while MTN was ‘estimated’ to have 20 000, though the latter remained tight-lipped about its actual figures.

Early challenges: Bill shock and dissatisfaction

However, the early days of cellular telephony were not without their challenges. As much as people loved their new phones, the first subscribers were notoriously hard to please. The Financial Mail quoted a disgruntled customer, Dennis Mashabela, the MD of advertising agency Mashabela Burrows, who voiced his frustrations with MTN through a humorous advert comparing the experience to the Hindenburg disaster, featuring the epochal 1937 picture of the airship ablaze in New Jersey with the words ‘Welcome back, Telkom. All is forgiven.’ The body copy of the advert said, ‘After a frustrating six weeks on the better connection, we are more than delighted to hit the ground. Proudly presenting the old-fashioned way of reaching us.’ This publicity stunt highlighted the dissatisfaction among early adopters, whose expectations often exceeded what the nascent networks could deliver.

Bill shock was another common complaint, with Business Day reporting instances of business subscribers racking up unexpectedly high bills of over R1 000, way more than the average of R300 per month the networks had predicted. The Financial Mail, in July 1994, just seven weeks after the official launch, noted that service providers seemed beset with administrative backlogs, with many users yet to receive their first bills. They predicted complaints would start when users saw how expensive cellular telephony could be.

M-Tel acquisition and lessons learned

MTN's acquisition of M-Tel in April 1996 further exposed the company to the challenges of meeting customer expectations in a rapidly evolving market. M-Tel's chief operating officer from 1997 and former MTN executive, Rob Reynolds, recalled how the whole of M-Tel came close to ‘meltdown’ and customers became so unhappy that they simply abandoned the whole cellular exercise. As Zunaid Bulbulia, who later became MTN South Africa CEO and was at the time M-Tel's Financial Director, put it: ‘People saw cellular phones as a personal extension and would get very personal, very heated up, when dissatisfied.’

These early growing pains ultimately shaped MTN's approach to customer service and network reliability, emphasising the importance of not only providing the latest technology but also ensuring a positive user experience. Within a year of the initial launch, the toy phone craze faded as real cellphones became more affordable and network coverage expanded at breakneck speed, marking a turning point in the evolution of mobile communication in South Africa – and putting real cellphones within reach of most young businessmen in neat suits.