Telkom post R29.8 billion in six months

South Africa’s fixed line operator, Telkom has reported that its revenue increased by 9.8 per cent in revenue, to a whopping R29.8 billion, for the six months which ended on September 30.

The company released a statement on Monday, saying that it wanted to take advantage of the future converged services environment that is fast becoming a global best practice.

As a result, it added that it was developing capabilities to offer the full suite of converged services that encompass fixed, mobile, data and multimedia services.

“The ability to pull traffic back onto the fixed-line network through mobile service and leverage the NGN (next-generation network) for full convergence and high-value data services will enhance Telkom’s core defend and grow strategy,” said the company’s Group CEO, Reuben September.

Telkom’s fixed-line business delivered revenue growth of 2.8 per cent, to R16.565 billion. This division also showed strong growth in data, with revenue increasing 12.2 per cent, to R4.4 billion.

Group EBITDA decreased by 2.8 per cent, to R10 billion, during the six months under review, while the group EBITDA margin decreased from 37.7 per cent to 33.4 per cent.

Cash generated from operations decreased by 0.5 per cent, to R6.4 billion, and headline earnings per share increased by 0.4 per cent, to 745.2c per share.

The group’s ADSL service experienced solid growth, with subscriptions growing to 491 774, an increase of 46.7 per cent, while Multi-Links also experienced a significant increase in subscriber numbers, from 813 392 to 1 780 985.

Telkom also added that it achieved a 96 per cent increase in Do Broadband subscriptions and a 17.9 per cent increase in Internet all access subscribers.

During the six months, ADSL average installation time improved to 17 days from 20 days, while 60 per cent of all ADSL installations are now done through the self-install option.

Telkom is now targeting 592 000 ADSL subscribers for the 2009 financial year, while also continuing to pursue opportunities outside South Africa.

Multi-Links’ impressive growth was attributed to its successful capital expenditure programme.

Mobile-based transmission stations have been increased to a total of 589 and optic fibre deployment now covers 3 800km, while a packet exchange has been commissioned in Abuja, Nigeria, for 300 000 subscribers.

Telkom, which has acquired MWeb Africa and a 75 per cent stake in MWeb Namibia, for $63 million adds that it is determined to move into the ICT market in Africa.

September added that, together with the ISP brands to be acquired with this deal, there are significant synergies to be extracted through Africa Online and Multi-Links.

September adds that the need for the re-positioning of fixed-line in the current competitive environment is urgent due to continuous pressure on Telkom’s voice revenue.

“The fixed-line’s strength in the data market and need to combat fixed-mobile substitution led to the board recommending to shareholders the sale of 15 per cent of Telkom’s stake in Vodacom to the Vodafone Group and the further unbundling of the remaining 35 per cent stake in Vodacom to Telkom shareholders.

By ITnewsAfrica.com