Telecommunications giant Vodacom reported 6.6% growth in group revenue to R23.6-billion for the quarter ended December 31, as two-million customers were added to the network.
The South African operations recorded 5.9% year-on-year growth in revenue to R18-billion, while the international operations achieved revenue growth of 9% during the three months under review.
Overall group service revenue expanded by 5.7% to R18.8-billion, with South Africa reporting growth of 4.6% to R13.5-billion, supported by increased data uptake and improved performance from its Summer campaign.
The international operations delivered 9% growth to R5.6-billion, with strong growth seen in data and M-Pesa revenues during the December quarter.
“Our sustained investment programme, aimed at delivering a better experience for customers in each of the countries where we operate, continues to yield results,” Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said in a trading update on Tuesday.
Vodacom added 484 000 customers in South Africa and 1.7-million customers in its international operations, bringing the total number of connected clients to 117-million across the group by December.
“As expected, growth trends improved across a number of metrics in South Africa following the significant impacts over the past year from our ongoing pricing transformation strategy,” he continues, highlighting substantial cuts in out-of-bundle tariffs and lower bundle prices.
This led to a 50% decline in effective data prices since March 2016.
“I am particularly pleased with the consistency in the performance of our international portfolio, which produced solid results on the back of strong demand for data and M-Pesa services, resulting in a 9% growth in service revenue,” Joosub adds.
Vodacom’s operations outside South Africa now contribute more than 40% to group service revenue.