Who makes the most money per user: Vodacom vs MTN vs Cell C vs Telkom

Results from the four major mobile operators in South Africa shows that Vodacom is winning the war when it comes to the revenue it makes from its average customer.

This mainly thanks to its contract customers where the average revenue per user (ARPU) is R408, killing its opposition, with Telkom’s contract customers next best at R181.41.

Both MTN and Vodacom have a similar number of contract customers in SA – a little more than 5.1 million.

Vodacom said in reporting its annual results for the year end March 2017, that the average usage per smartphone had increased 25.0% to 560MB. Active smartphones on its network also increased 22.5% to 14 million.

By contrast, the number of smartphones on MTN’s network was to 10.5 million in December 2016.

Cell C meanwhile, puts active data customers on its network at 12.5 million. The company,  which published its financial results for the year ending December 2016, in March, only provided a blended ARPU.

Telkom, which is playing catch up in its mobile division, said it observed growth of 45.7% in its smartphone base to 1.9 million.

The company also recorded 1.23 million contract customers for the year ended March 2017,  up 54.5% from 794,272 in the prior year.

 ARPU

Mobile subscribers

Telkom’s results for the year ended 31 March 2017 showed it had 3.999 million active mobile subscribers, comprised of 2.772 million prepaid users and 1.227 million post-paid users.

Cell C subscriber numbers from 14 March showed an active subscriber base of 15.3 million users.

Vodacom’s financial results for the year ended 31 March 2017 showed it had 37.1 million active subscribers.

MTN’s results for the quarter ended 31 March 2017 showed an active subscriber count of 30.2 million users in SA.

Read: Telkom mobile closes in on 4 million subscribers