{"id":824540,"date":"2025-05-19T09:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T07:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=824540"},"modified":"2025-05-19T09:08:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T07:08:40","slug":"vodacom-wants-50-million-more-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/824540\/vodacom-wants-50-million-more-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom wants 50 million more customers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vodacom plans to massively expand its customer base as per its latest five-year plan, Vision 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its latest financial results for the year ended 31 March 2025 marked the end of the group\u2019s Vision 2025, with the group expanding its geographic and product diversification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vodacom\u2019s customers increased from 115.5 million in FY2020 to 211.3 million in FY2025. The group\u2019s financial services customers rose from 53.2 million to 87.7 million, including Safaircom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s new Vision 2030 sees it increase its customer base to 260 million and its financial services customers to 120 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub added that the group expects the contribution from beyond mobile to increase from 21% today to 30%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of Vision 2030, we upgrade our medium-term targets for Group service revenue and EBITDA from high single-digit to double-digit growth,\u201d said Joosub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CEO was also pleased by the recent currency market stability, especially in Egypt, which bodes well for the group\u2019s performance for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also pleased with South Africa’s resilient performance and Egypt and Tanzania’s continued growth, even though extreme instability impacted Mozambique and the DRC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After acquiring a majority stake in Vodafone Egypt in 2022 for R41 billion, the group was pleased by the subsidiary’s performance, which saw a 45.2% increase in local currency service revenue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back home, Vodacom was disappointed by the Competition Tribunal’s decision to prohibit its proposed acquisition of a stake in Maziv. The group has appealed to the Competition Appeal Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven that fibre is a critical enabler of inclusive economic growth, we remain steadfast in our belief that this transaction holds significant public interest and pro-competitive benefits,\u201d said Joosub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group expects to invest heavily in infrastructure, with R20 billion in capital expenditure expected in the new financial year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial results<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Looking at the results, the group\u2019s South African business, while stable, only saw minimal growth in revenue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s service revenue increased by 2.3%, led by a recovery in the prepaid segment, sustained data traffic growth of over 36%, and increasing contribution beyond mobile services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the growth in service revenue could not match the relatively low 2.7% inflation figure seen in March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s EBITDA also increased by a low 2.3% in South Africa, thanks to the successful execution of seasonal campaigns and its response to power grid instability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also invested R11.6 billion to enhance network resilience and spectrum efficiency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has also approached the Competition Commission to advance meaningful sharing opportunities with MTN, under the provisions of the government\u2019s Energy Users Block Exemption regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These regulations allow energy users to collaborate to secure a backup or alternative energy supply and reduce energy costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking internationally, the group\u2019s international business achieved 7.1% normalised service revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanzania was the standout performer, achieving 20.5% service growth and EBITDA growth of 25.2% in shillings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In local currency, Lesotho and the DRC also increased service revenue by 10.4% and 8.2%, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is also hoping for a recovery in Mozambique and a sustained resolution in the DRC, where fighting with M23 Rebels has devastated the eastern part of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s total revenue only grew by 1.1% to R150 billion. Its net service revenue declined by 0.1% to R120.7 billion on a rand basis despite an 11.2% increase on a normalised basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group reported headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 857 cents per share, a slight 1.3% increase from the strong second half performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the group\u2019s dividend policy of paying at least 75% of HEPS, the board has declared a total dividend of 620 cents per share, an increase of 5.1%. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Source: Vodacom<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodacom has kickstarted its next five-year plan, with the group looking to significantly expand its customer base as part of its Vision 2030. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":793390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[28,5246,27],"class_list":["post-824540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-mtn","tag-safaricom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824540"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824551,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824540\/revisions\/824551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}