Vodacom Group recorded R39.5 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2024. The company saw strong growth in mobile money and digital services.
The telecom giant released its trading update for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. Group service revenue grew 11.6% on a normalised basis, exceeding the company’s medium-term targets. Vodacom South Africa’s service revenue rose 3.2%, while Egypt saw a 44.3% increase in local currency.
“Key trends from Vodacom Group’s third quarter results support the confidence we communicated in November last year that the organisation is poised for a stronger second half performance. While currency headwinds continue to impact various markets where we operate, the focused execution of our strategy has resulted in a resilient operational response to the extent that we remain well on track to deliver on our medium-term financial targets,” said Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group.
Strong Growth in Mobile Money and Digital Inclusion
The company processed US$437.7 billion through its mobile money platforms in the past year. Vodacom’s financial services revenue increased by 5.7% to R3.6 billion. The company aims to connect another 100 million Africans to the digital economy.
“In line with our purpose of connecting people for a better future, the Group has celebrated a number of key milestones of late including partnering with Orange in DRC to accelerate rural coverage, launching M-Wekeza in Tanzania to make investments more accessible and introducing a cloud-based handset to reduce the cost of smartphone access in South Africa.
“As part of our digital and financial inclusion drive across our footprint, including Safaricom, we serve over 210 million customers with our sights firmly set on connecting the next 100 million Africans to the digital economy. Ethiopia, the continent’s second most populous country, is expected to play a significant role in this ambition and is already making impressive progress with our customer base increasing 63.6% to 7.1 million,” Joosub said.
Beyond mobile services now contribute 21.4% to total group revenue. Vodacom aims to increase this share to 25-30% in the medium term. Financial services remain the biggest driver of growth, processing US$1.2 billion daily.
Also Read: Vodacom Empowering Africa’s Youth with Digital Skills for the Future
Vodacom Performance Across Markets
Vodacom South Africa’s revenue was R16.2 billion, with prepaid services growing strongly. Data traffic increased by 40.6%, while beyond mobile services contributed R2.8 billion. The company invested R3.2 billion in the quarter and expects to spend R11-11.2 billion this financial year.
“Egypt’s strong performance was largely led by clear NPS leadership. Commercial momentum was strong in Egypt, with a 40.7% increase in financial services customers to 10.5 million and a 25.6% improvement in data traffic. With service revenue of R6.8 billion, Egypt now accounts for 22.3% of the Group’s total, closing the quarter with 50.7 million customers, up 6.2%,” Joosub added.
In the international market, DRC, Tanzania, and Mozambique delivered positive results. Data traffic rose 31.1%, while smartphone users increased by 1.5 million to 19 million. The company continues to invest in expanding its network.
Future Outlook and Strategy
Vodacom remains focused on expanding access to smartphones, financial services, healthcare, and education. The company is appealing a decision blocking its acquisition of fibre operator Maziv.
“Looking ahead, the continued execution of our strategy has the potential to create immense economic value in the markets where we operate, which in turn will help address inequality. In particular, we will continue to drive access to smartphones, financial services, healthcare and education to every person across our markets,” Joosub said.