Telecommunications giant Vodacom reported growth in revenue during the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Reported group revenue expanded 6.4% to R26.7-billion during the quarter under review, with revenue from South Africa growing 5.8% to R20.9-billion and the International operations achieving a 7.5% growth to R6.1-billion.

Service revenue for the quarter increased 5.3% to R20.67-billion on a reported basis, supported by sustained demand for connectivity and growth in new services such as financial and digital services.

On a normalised basis, service revenue increased 4.4%, in line with the group’s medium-term target and supported by a resilient performance in South Africa on the back of sustained investment into technology and its network to further enhance the customer experience.

South Africa service revenue grew 4.5% to R14.95-billion with “excellent” growth in Vodacom Business, said Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.

International service revenue increased by 6.7% to R5.91-billion supported by data and M-Pesa revenue growth.

“Financial services remain a clear strategic priority for the group and this business continues to gain momentum,” he said, highlighting a 12.5% increase in financial services revenue, breaching the R2-billion mark for the first time in a quarter.

The company reported strong adoption of the South African super-app VodaPay, which, since its launch in October, exceeded expectations with 1.4-million downloads and one-million registered users in its first three months.

The M-Pesa platform, including Safaricom, continued to scale with transaction values up 16.1% to exceed R430-billion a month.

During the quarter under review, Vodacom invested a further R2.3-billion into its South African network, which serviced 45.7-million customers, an increase of 3.3% year-on-year, and contributed to the 4.5% increase in service revenue.

“Supported by our continued focus on financial inclusion and accelerated capital expenditure, service revenue for our International operations grew 6.7% to R5.9-billion, or 3.5%, on a normalised basis,” Joosub added.

This reported growth was underpinned by a 12.9% increase in M-Pesa revenue and a 21.2% rise in data revenue.

“A key focus for our International portfolio is digital inclusion, which will be supported by our growing 21.5-million data customer base and driving higher smartphone adoption. International customers on smartphones stands at 12-million.”