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Vodacom South Africa It enjoyed a 64% year-on-year increase in data consumed by “smart devices,” including smartphones and tablets, driven by the Covid-19 crash, parent Vodacom Group said on Monday.
The group reported the staggering growth figure in its interim results through the end of September 2020.
Data traffic increased 86% year-on-year, while the South African unit’s data customers grew 4.1% to 22.3 million and smart devices increased 9.5% to 22.2 million.
“The number of 4G devices on our network increased 28.8% to 14.2 million, while the average usage per smart device increased 64% to 2.2 GB / month,” said Vodacom. Since launch, a cumulative 10.9 million unique users have accessed the company’s zero-rating platform called ConnectU.
South Africa’s Average Revenue Per User, or ARPU, increased 20.8% to R64, supported by higher usage and a reduction in the average customer base over the period.
In the contracts segment, customer service revenues increased 3.9% thanks to Vodacom Business, which “responded quickly to the changing needs of work and educational connectivity.”
Fiber
“Despite the difficult economic scenario, we added clients in the contracts segment, to grow 2% to 6.1 million. The segment additions were driven by Vodacom Business customers, which increased 14.8%, ”said Vodacom. “The overall Arpu for the contract increased 0.3% and 2.8% quarter-over-quarter.”
The company also accelerated its fiber deployment in the six-month period, more than doubling the number of homes and businesses connected to 95,258 (on its own fiber and as an Internet service provider on the infrastructure of other providers). Its own fiber passed through 128,213 homes and businesses as of September 30, 2020.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for the South African operation grew by almost 10%, supporting the 0.6 percentage point margin expansion.
R5 billion capex increased 5.3% year-on-year, with increased spending on batteries to “increase network resilience and availability, and investment to support incremental capacity.” – © 2020 NewsCentral Media
