Vodacom customers up to 50m revenue grows

By AGENCIES

VODACOM, the South African unit of British mobile operator Vodafone, has reported a 9.3 percent rise in first-quarter revenue, buoyed by growth in data and customers.

Vodacom said on Thursday revenue totalled just over 17 billion randin the quarter to end-June.

Vodacom, which has operations in South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and Lesotho, said its customer numbers totalled 50 million at the end of June, compared with 47.8 million at the end of March.

"I am particularly pleased with the sustained high growth delivered by the International operations. Data demand in this segment is accelerating, with active data customers increasing 152 percent and data revenue up 150 percent," chief executive Pieter Uys said.

Group data revenue was up almost 17 percent.

Although Vodacom has the largest subscriber base in South Africa, it is dwarfed on the continent by MTN Group.

Vodacom and its rivals are fighting to extract more revenue from data as the market for mobile voice usage stagnates.

The company said this month that Uys would step down in March, to be replaced by Shameel Joosub, a Vodacom veteran who is currently head of Vodafone's Spanish unit.

Vodacom shares are up 2 percent this year, compared with a 4 percent rise in the benchmark Top-40 index.