Vodacom subscriber base soars
SOUTH Africa-based Vodacom said its subscriber base around the continent had increased to about 38 million in the past nine months.
The company said the growth in subscriber base had increased its revenue by about 14 percent to R40,5 billion during the period.
“Vodacom Group revenue for the nine months ended 31 December 2008 increased by 13.7 percent to R40.5 billion compared to the prior year period, largely driven by a 14.3 percent increase in Group mobile customers to 37.8 million. The Group’s non-South African operations comprised 11.3 million customers, or 30 percent of the total customer base as at 31 December 2008. Group mobile customers as at 31 December 2008 increased by 5.8 percent in comparison to the previous quarter,” the company said.
The company said in South Africa, where it is based, customers increased by 4.8 percent to 26.5 million at 31 December 2008 from 25, 2 million as at 30 September 2008.
Mobile customers from Vodacom’s non-South African operations increased by 8.4 percent to 11.3 million at 31 December 2008 from 10.4 million at 30 September 2008, it said.
Commenting on these results, Vodacom Group Chief Executive Officer Pieter Uys said, “Expanding our African footprint beyond South Africa is one of the pillars of Vodacom’s growth strategy. I am pleased to say that this quarter we reached an important milestone with 30 percent of our total customer base now coming from our operations in Tanzania, the DRC, Lesotho and Mozambique. The acquisition of Gateway Communications was completed at the end of the quarter, and will help us to further build our business across the continent.”
