Vodacom has announced plans to inject billions to boost its South African network in the current financial year. During the release of the group's financial results for the six months ended September, chief executive Shameel Joosub said the capex injection was on top of the R47 bn the company had spent over the past five years in the domestic market.
“This is particularly relevant at a time when many of our customers continue to work, entertain, and educate from home,” Joosub said.
According to data from Vodafone's subsidiary Vodacom in South Africa, 1.1 million data customers were added during the half-year ending September, and revenue grew by 3.6% during the same period, “This was an impressive result given the demanding comparative associated with lockdowns in the prior period,” Joosub said.
Vodafone has welcomed the granting of provisional spectrum by South African authorities, saying it now has 129.9 million, including Safaricom, an increase of 6.2 million customers. The group said it generated revenue of R49.9bn up by 4.2 percent compared to a year ago and said strong normalized growth of 7.9% was partially offset by rand appreciation. In addition, the financial services offering continued to grow, and M-Pesa platform, the money transfer service, processed over $300bn of transaction valuation since last year, said Vodacom.
Vodafone is expanding its network rapidly, announcing it had acquired Vodafone Egypt, the country's largest mobile operator. Additionally, it will acquire a 30 %stake in South Africa's leading fiber business, Community Investment Ventures Holdings. There is an option to increase the stake to 40 percent.
