Vodacom Group reported revenue for its fiscal first quarter ended 30 June up 4.2 percent to ZAR 21.55 billion. Service revenue also increased by 4.2 percent, to ZAR 17.81 billion, and was up 5.2 percent excluding currency effects.
The mobile operator added 2.5 million customers during the quarter, including 1.5 million in South Africa and 1.0 million in International operations, to reach 76.5 million customers across the group, up 10.3 percent year-on-year.
In its home market South Africa, Vodacom grew the customers base 9.5 percent year-on-year to 43.1 million at the end of June. The firm added 1.4 million prepaid customers and 75,000 net contract additions in Q1. Prepaid customer revenue growth reached 5.5 percent, supported by continued strong customer growth, slightly offset by lower ARPUs as it attracts new customers with lower spend levels, on average, than the current base.
Total service revenue in SA increased by 4.9 percent to ZAR 13.8 billion, despite a subdued macroeconomic and consumer spending environment, said Vodacom. Contract customer revenue growth recovered from declines in previous quarters, to grow at 0.8 percent. The growth was supported by improved performance in the Enterprise segment, reflecting customer and ARPU gains from recent contract sign-ups and improved usage.
Data revenue grew 9.4 percent to ZAR 6.1 billion, contributing 44.1 percent of service revenue in South Africa, and fixed-line revenue growth was 22.0 percent. Internet of Things connections increased 25.2 percent to 3.9 million. Vodacom SA spent ZAR 2 billion on capital expenditure, focusing on new sites, upgrades and capacity to improve network quality and performance.
At the International operations, revenue increased 4.1 percent to ZAR 4.42 billion. Tanzania service revenue growth was in line with the previous quarter, despite continued pricing pressure. DRC, Mozambique and Lesotho made solid progress on their M-Pesa businesses, and data continues to perform well, the company said. Customer growth was led by the DRC and Mozambique.
Data revenue at the international business increased by 11.3 percent, supported by a 17.3 percent increase in data customers to 17.5 million. The demand for data remains strong, with data traffic up 53.3 percent. M-Pesa revenue was up 18.1 percent to ZAR 634 million, up 18.1 percent, and mobile money customers increased by 26.0 percent to 12.7 million. Tanzania celebrated ten years of M-Pesa with 6.8 million customers, up 14.7 percent.
Capital expenditure increased 8.2 percent to ZAR 552 million at the international business.
