TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

      30 June 2022

      Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

      30 June 2022

      Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

      30 June 2022

      Eskom is killing the rand

      30 June 2022

      Eskom ramps up load shedding as crisis deepens

      30 June 2022
    • World

      Graphics card prices plummet as crypto demand dries up

      30 June 2022

      Bitcoin just had its worst quarter in a decade

      30 June 2022

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      Samsung beats TSMC to 3nm chip production

      30 June 2022

      Napster plots crypto comeback

      29 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Vodacom data revenue tops voice for first time

    Vodacom data revenue tops voice for first time

    News By Duncan McLeod13 November 2017
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    Revenue from data at Vodacom South Africa, the telecommunications group’s biggest market, has topped voice revenue for the first time, interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2017 show.

    Data revenue in South Africa grew by 15% to R11.4bn, contributing 42.6% of service revenue, surpassing the contribution from voice for the first time, Vodacom said.

    The group reported a 1.1% increase in headline earnings per share to R4.45 in the first half of the 2018 financial year, yet cut its dividend slightly. It increased normalised service revenue by 4.6%, boosted by a strong increase in customer gains in South Africa and significant gains in data and M-Pesa revenue internationally.

    In another significant development, the South African operation topped the 40m subscriber mark for the first time

    In another significant development, the South African operation topped the 40m subscriber mark for the first time, gaining 2.9m customers in the period. It had 3.3m Sim card connections on its Internet of things network at the end of September.

    Service revenue increased 4.7% to R26.7bn, supported by strong customer gains and growth in data and enterprise services, Vodacom said. Revenue growth was stronger at 7.7%, reaching R33.9bn, boosted by equipment revenue growth of 18.4%. The sale of smartphones grew by 18.3%, comprising 59.5% of total device sales in the South African operation.

    Prepaid customers increased by 2.8m to 34.8m, up 13.4%, driven by its “Just 4 You” offers and “customer segmentation”. However, prepaid average revenue per user (Arpu) was down 6.5% due to a large number of low-Arpu gross connections.

    Contract customers increased by 107 000 to 5.2m. Migration to the new “more data” contracts, which have a larger data allocation, accelerated to 25% of the base. Contract Arpu declined by 3.9% to R392 as a result of change in deal structures and due to a higher rollover of unused bundle allocations.

    Bundles

    Total bundles sold increased 64.8% to almost 1.1bn. Of these, 800m were voice bundles, with the effective price per minute falling by 10.9%. Voice revenue declined by 4.8%.

    Vodacom South Africa added 356 000 data customers to 19.9m, up 9.6% and now making up half the customer base. 4G customers increased 62.8% to 6m, while the average monthly data usage on smart devices increased 19.5% to 776MB. Data bundle sales grew by 55.5% to 347m. Improved in-bundle usage has resulted in a 24.2% reduction in the effective price per megabyte, it said.

    Vodacom invested R3.9bn in its network and IT systems in South Africa in the six-month period. It now claims to have 76.7% 4G and 99.3% 3G population coverage, compared to 68.7% 4G coverage a year ago.

    Without new spectrum, we are forced to build more base stations to meet data growth demand

    The group warned that the lack of new radio frequency spectrum is starting its push its costs up. “Without new spectrum, we are forced to build more base stations to meet data growth demand. Additional spectrum will allow us to invest more efficiently and accelerate our rural coverage programme.”

    In its international operations, normalised service revenue rose by 5.5%, with the number of customers climbing by 1.4m to 31.1m. M-Pesa, its mobile money platform, continued to perform well in these markets. “We expect that the Safaricom transaction will further drive M-Pesa development and penetration outside of South Africa,” it said. Vodacom acquired 34.9% of Kenya’s Safaricom from parent Vodacom during the period. Net profit increased by 7%, boosted by Safaricom acquisition.

    Group revenue grew by 4.6% to R42bn, while normalised growth, excluding currency translation effects, was 6.9%. Group service revenue grew 2% to R34.7bn. Normalised revenue growth was 4.6%.

    Customers across all regions grew to reach 71m, up 11.8%.  — © 2017 NewsCentral Media

    Safaricom top Vodacom Vodacom South Africa
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleTelkom: the good, the bad and the ugly
    Next Article Ramaphosa says he will target 5% economic growth

    Related Posts

    Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

    30 June 2022

    Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

    30 June 2022

    Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

    30 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Billetterie simplifies interactions between law firms and clients

    30 June 2022

    Think herding cats is tricky? Try herding a cloud

    29 June 2022

    How your business can help hybrid workers effectively

    28 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.