Vodacom prepaid is rocking

The Vodacom Group has released a trading statement for the quarter ended 31 December 2024, revealing service revenue growth of 3.2% for Vodacom South Africa.

Vodacom South Africa generated service revenue of R16.2 billion, up from R15.7 billion for the same period the year before.

The mobile operator said stronger performance in the prepaid segment and good growth outside mobile services supported its service revenue growth.

“The improved Vodacom South Africa performance was underpinned by a variety of factors, including successful seasonal campaigns, improved consumer environment in the prepaid segment, and a 40.6% increase in data traffic,” said Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.

“Service revenue from beyond mobile was another highlight, increasing by 11.3% and contributing R2.8 billion to South Africa’s total of R16.2 billion.”

Vodacom South Africa reported a capital expenditure of R3.2 billion in the three months ending 31 December 2024, up from R2.4 billion for the same period in 2023.

Joosub said Vodacom South Africa expects to invest between R11 and R11.2 billion this financial year.

The mobile network operator recorded a 3.9% increase in mobile contract customer revenue to R6.1 billion, supported by a price increase in the year’s first quarter.

Vodacom South Africa’s average revenue per user (ARPU) from mobile contract customers increased 2.3% to R306, which it also attributed to the price increase.

“We added 61,000 contract customers in the quarter, to reach a contract base of 7.0 million, up 2.0%,” said Vodacom South Africa.

The mobile network operator attributed much of the success in its prepaid segment, which delivered growth of 5.6%, to its seasonal campaigns.

It noted that the “V-UP” summer campaign resulted in 13.7 million customers actively engaging to win rewards and prizes.

“The seasonal campaigns helped capture an improved consumer spend environment with prepaid data revenue of R3.8 billion in the quarter, up 15.5%,” said Vodacom South Africa.

Data traffic on Vodacom South Africa’s network increased 40.6% year-on-year. It notes that the 27.6 million-odd data customers were unchanged over the same period the year before.

Average data usage per smart device increased by 37% to 5.3GB, while the number of 4G and 5G networks on Vodacom’s network increased by 4.9% to 24.5 million.

Vodacom South Africa’s fixed service revenue was up 8.5% over the same period the prior year, or 16.3%, excluding low-margin wholesale transit revenue.

“This result was supported by good fibre revenue growth in both the consumer and Vodacom Business segments,” it said.

“Homes and businesses connected reached 189,000, while our own fibre passed 166,000 homes and businesses.”