Telkom has delivered an impressive set of interim results for the six months to 30 September 2025, underscoring the extent to which the company is outperforming its larger rivals, MTN and Vodacom, in South Africa’s fiercely competitive mobile market.
While the country’s two biggest operators are battling sluggish demand in prepaid services and have been forced into price cuts to defend market share, Telkom is growing faster and expanding its margins.
Group revenue rose 3.4% to R22.1-billion, powered by double-digit increases in mobile data and fibre-linked services. Data now accounts for almost 60% of Telkom’s revenue, a sign of how deeply the company’s long-term investment in a data-centric network is shaping its performance.
Telkom’s mobile service revenue increased by 7.9% in the period, significantly higher than the prepaid growth trends recently reported by both MTN and Vodacom, especially in prepaid. The operator’s mobile data subscriber base surged 26.7% to 18.5 million, and its mobile Ebitda margin widened to 27.6%. By contrast, its bigger rivals have repeatedly warned investors of margin pressure linked to promotional spending, falling effective data prices and a softer consumer environment.
Revenue from the consumer business increased by 6.4% despite what Telkom described as “an increasingly competitive landscape in the prepaid segment in mobile”.
Group Ebitda increased 7.4% on an adjusted basis to R6-billion, with the Ebitda margin improving to 27.2%. Headline earnings per share from continuing operations climbed 16.4%, supported by what management described as “quality earnings” driven by operational efficiency and targeted investment rather than aggressive pricing.
Data-led strategy
CEO Serame Taukobong said the results reflect the competitive advantage of Telkom’s data-led strategy, which has now produced market-leading mobile service revenue growth for 11 consecutive quarters. He said the group continues to benefit from the depth of its national fibre footprint, built over many years and now central to the company’s ability to deliver affordable connectivity without sacrificing margin.
Openserve, Telkom’s wholesale and fibre network division, provided a steady contribution. Revenue increased 2.7% while fibre-related data income rose 10.1%, helped by a fibre-to-the-home connectivity rate that remains the highest in the market at 52%.
BCX also delivered an improved performance despite subdued corporate ICT spending across the economy, growing cloud and fibre-related revenues and improving its profitability.
Read: MTN SA posts solid post-paid gains as prepaid stalls in fierce market battle
Taukobong said the company will continue to lean on its integrated “OneTelkom” strategy and extensive fibre assets to maintain growth in the face of tougher conditions. But if the first half of FY2026 is any indication, Telkom is emerging as the unexpected outperformer in South Africa’s mobile industry – and doing so without sacrificing profitability to chase market share. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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