Vodacom Group said its revenues increased by 6.4 percent to ZAR 25.13 billion in the three months to 31 December. Service revenue rose 3.9 percent year-on-year to ZAR 19.63 billion, supported by ongoing investment in connectivity, financial and digital services, the operator said.
Revenues from the M-Pesa mobile money services increased 10.1 percent, largely the result of a 7.7 percent increase in customers, with almost sixteen million people - or just under half of the International customer base - making use of the platform. Including Safaricom, monthly M-Pesa transactions were USD 24.2 billion, up 57.8 percent year-on-year.
International revenue outside the home market South Africa declined by 1.8 percent to ZAR 5.68 billion, as growth in data and financial services was offset by the weak economic climate. Service revenue fell 1.4 percent year-on-year to ZAR 5.54 billion, with M-Pesa supporting a sequential improvement in the year-on-year decline of normalised service revenue. The customer base increased 3.1 percent year-on-year to 39.4 million, with net additions of 815,000 in the quarter.
South Africa revenue was up 8.5 percent to ZAR 19.73 billion, reflecting strong demand for new services and connectivity. Service revenue increased 5.4 percent to ZAR 14.31 billion, supported by a successful summer campaign, Vodacom said. Data traffic increased 43.2 percent, as the growth trend normalised with eased lockdown restrictions for most of the quarter.
Mobile customers in South Africa decreased marginally by 0.1 percent year-on-year to 44.31 million at the end of December. Compared to September, the operator added 1.45 million new customers. Data customer net additions were 0.2 million in the quarter to reach 22.5 million, and smart devices on the network were up by 4.5 percent to 23.5 million.
Fibre customers more than doubled year-on-year to 110,000 homes and businesses connected. The owned fibre roll-out continued, and Vodacom passed 139,000 homes and businesses at the end of 2020, up 39.8 percent over the year. Capital investment of ZAR 2.7 billion was up 12.4 percent in South Africa, as the firm increased capacity to improve the customer experience. Total capex across the group reached ZAR 3.4 billion.
