Vodacom Group has issued a trading update for the quarter ended 31 December 2019, reporting that group revenue was up 6,6%, supported by service revenue growth of 5,7%.
The network added 484 000 customers in South Africa, supported by a successful Summer campaign. In its international, it added 1,7-million customers during the period.
South Africa revenue and service revenue growth rates improved to 5,9% and 4,6% respectively, supported by increased data uptake as we continue to transform pricing as well as improved performance from its Summer campaign.
International operations continued to perform well, delivering service revenue growth of 9%, with strong growth in data and M-Pesa revenues.
Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO comments: “Our sustained investment programme, aimed at delivering a better experience for customers in each of the countries where we operate, continues to yield results.
“This is reflected in the additional 2-million customers that we connected during the quarter, contributing to growth of 6,6% in revenue for the Vodacom Group. We now serve over 117-million customers across the Group.”
He adds that, as expected, growth trends improved across a number of metrics in South Africa following the significant impacts over the past year from the group’s ongoing pricing transformation strategy.
“These included substantial cuts in out-of-bundle tariffs and lower bundle prices, resulting in a circa 50% decline in effective data prices since March 2016.
“A highly successful Summer campaign, which delivered 334-million free rewards to 17-million customers, contributed to an uplift in activity across our customer base.”