This archive report was first published on 12 May 2020.
On May 12, 2020, Vodacom Group, a South African mobile operator, announced an 8.9% increase in annual earnings. The company attributed this growth to strong customer expansion and the benefits of diversifying its portfolio.
Group Chief Executive Shameel Joosub stated, "The past year has been characterised by strong customer growth - we now connect 116 million customers across the group, including Safaricom – and the benefits of prudent portfolio diversification."
Despite the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Vodacom's growth in South Africa was driven by an increase in data elasticity and usage following sharp data price reductions in the first quarter. The company also improved its fibre roll-out in the second half of the year, more than doubling the total number of homes and businesses connected to 61,427.
As a result, service revenue in South Africa rose 2.3% in the year ended March 31, with a 21.5% jump in financial service revenue and a 6.7% rise in enterprise service revenue.
