Telkom on Tuesday reported a 46.7% jump in half-year profit, boosted by lower depreciation charges and growth in core profit.
Telkom, majority owned by the government, said its headline earnings per share rose to R1.95 in the six months ended 30 September0 from a restated profit of R1.33.
Group revenue grew 2.5% to R21.8-billion, driven by growth in mobile traffic, monetising fibre roll-outs and growth of the IT business, Telkom said.
Telkom also saw good growth in mobile service revenue, driven by value-compelling propositions, with total external revenue from mobile operations rising 4.1% to R11-billion.
Next-generation revenue growth in its fibre business, Openserve, was at 6.9%, due to the growth in fixed data revenue.
Telkom has been investing in migrating customers away from copper-based technology to faster technologies such as fibre and LTE as customers seek faster internet for richer content.
Telkom said its cost-reduction initiatives partially offset inflationary pressures and resulted in operating expenses increasing 2.4%, adding its profit was also boosted by lower depreciation charges, without giving additional details.
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Despite the higher operating expenses, however, group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by 1.7% to R5-billion rand, Telkom said. — (c) 2023 Reuters