Vodacom CEO\u00a0Shameel Joosub says that the group aims to\u00a0accelerate network investment in order to cater for projects including\u00a0fibre to the home, and fibre to the business.<\/p>\n
In announcing improved interim results for the six months ended September 2013 on Monday (11 November),\u00a0Joosub said:\u00a0\u201cTo cater for continued growth, we plan to accelerate network investment and we are currently in the process of determining the investment allocation per country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joosub said that Vodacom would benefit from Project Spring – a programme initiated by its parent company,\u00a0Vodafone<\/a>, after it\u00a0sold its stake in\u00a0Verizon Wireless<\/a>\u00a0for $135 billion – aimed at establishing \u201cfurther network and service leadership\u201d through network upgrades and increased capacity.<\/p>\n In a conference call on Monday, Joosub said that Vodacom put together a\u00a0programme of how it wanted to grow in South Africa, noting that Project Spring helped in getting those projects approved.<\/p>\n “We want to notch that up (capex) a couple of levels\u2026things like fibre to the home, fibre to the business. We are doing something similar country by country,” Joosub said.<\/p>\n In South Africa, Joosub said that the group invested R3.1 billion in the network during the period and increased 3G coverage to 88.9% of the population.<\/p>\n Joosub said that capex on an annual basis amounted to approximately R7 billion, with plans to increase spend to between\u00a014-17% of revenue.<\/p>\n MTRs<\/strong><\/p>\n Joosub warned that current plans by regulator, Icasa, to slash mobile termination rates, may have an affect on its capital investment plans.<\/p>\n Icasa announced in October 2013, that it aims to cut the costs of terminating a call on a mobile network to R0.10 over the next three years.<\/p>\n A termination rate is the money networks pay to each other for connecting a call.\u00a0MTRs have declined from R1.25 in 2009 to a current price of 40 cents.<\/p>\n He said that MTRs under current porosals would have\u00a0“knock on effects in the business” which may force a “rejig”.<\/p>\n Earnings<\/strong><\/p>\n Vodacom on Monday (11 November) reported a 9.7% rise in group active customers to 53.8 million for the six months ended September 2013, with revenue also up 6.6%, driven by\u00a0data revenue growth of 29%.<\/p>\n Vodacom pointed to net connections of 949,000 active customers\u00a0for South Africa and 2.3 million in its international operations for the six months period.<\/p>\n It highlighted an 11.5% rise in operating profit for the six months ended 30 September 2013, from R9 billion in 2012.<\/p>\n Revenue climbed 6.6% to R36.7 billion, from R34.4 billion in 2012, while headline earnings per share was up 10.9% to 439 cents\u00a0as a result of strong operating profit growth, Vodacom said.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s capital expenditure for the period was R4.850 billion, 2.9% higher than in the prior year.<\/p>\n Vodacom announced an interim dividend per share of 395 cents.<\/p>\n Vodacom customers up 10%<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Vodacom and MTN\u2019s rude awakening<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Data revenue: MTN vs Vodacom<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Vodacom<\/h3>\n