In its trading update for the quarter ending in 30 June 2019, Vodafone Group announced a revenue of €10.7 billion, down by €0.2 billion due to foreign exchange rate effects. Sequential progress was registered in Europe, with service revenues -1.7% as market conditions continued to improve in Italy and retail growth in Germany remained robust, offsetting the impact of competitor promotions in Spain. The other regions of the world grew 5.3% as the impact of regulation introduced in March in South Africa was offset by strong growth ahead of inflation in other markets.
Vodacom Group service revenue grew 1.1% as growing demand for data and M-Pesa supported good growth at Vodacom’s International operations, which offset regulatory and macro pressures in South Africa.
In South Africa, service revenue declined by 1.2% reflecting regulation introduced in March affecting out of bundle charges, rollover and transfer of data, a proactive pricing transformation including a 50% out of bundle rate cut, and customer bundle spend optimization amid macroeconomic pressures.
Prepaid customers declined by 793,000 in Q1 as Vodacom continued to drive a reduction in one-off SIM card usage, taking its total prepaid customer base to 46.0 million. The active prepaid customer base increased in the quarter, and the operator added 86,000 contract customers.
Vodacom’s International operations outside of South Africa grew by 8.6%. Growth was strong across all markets, but slowed in Mozambique following the cyclones in Q4.