In a development that must be exercising the minds of Telkom’s management team, the telecommunications operator’s revenues from data fell by 1,7% in the 2012 financial year to the end of March.

Data is the fastest-growing area of the telecoms industry, so the decline in revenues is concerning.

Total data revenue decreased by 1,7% to R10,5bn. Excluding revenue related to the 2010 soccer World Cup, data revenue was up, but by only 1,6%.

Telkom explains that the slow growth is mainly a result of increased “self-provisioning” by mobile operators, which, until a few years ago, had to buy backhaul circuits to connect their base stations from the fixed-line operator. Lower Internet access revenue and pricing pressures have also contributed to the slowdown in the data business.

The number of ADSL subscribers increased by 10% to 827 091 compared to 2011.

“Data, however, continues to be an area of growth and we believe the point at which the contributions of data and of voice will be one-to-one is not far off,” Telkom says in notes accompanying its financial statements. “Telkom is also focused heavily on increasing broadband and data-related revenue to diversify its reliance away from fixed-line voice.

During the 2012 financial year, Telkom introduced uncapped broadband ADSL products and it now has just over 35 000 such users on its Internet service provider’s books. It also introduced a free three-month broadband trial, with 68% of trying the product remaining as subscribers.

“While this will not have much of an impact on the revenues for the year, it has contributed positively to the growth in subscribers we experienced in the current year with the resultant revenue benefit expected to follow in the 2013 financial year,” the operator says. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media