Telkom said on Thursday it had grown its “revenue-generating” customer base in mobile to 882 235 by the end of August, an increase of 86,3% since the start of the financial year on 1 April.

At the same time, it has incurred a loss of about R900m in mobile services in the five months to the end of August.

Telkom says the business is “progressing satisfactorily and is in line with our expectations”.

Post-paid customers grew by 490%, while prepaid customers grew by 56%. “The growth in prepaid customers was lower than expected because of suboptimal distribution channels, which have now been expanded.”

Average revenue per user at the end of August was R61,97, an increase of 174% compared with 31 March.

Telkom, which launched consumer mobile services under the 8ta brand last year, earlier this month launched its first business mobile services under the Telkom Business Mobile brand. It is the country’s fourth mobile operator. — Staff reporter, TechCentral