Vodacom revenue surges 20.8% to €2.9 bn in first half of fiscal

Vodafone said Vodacom revenue increased by 20.8 percent to €2.9 billion and reported Adjusted EBITDAaL increased by 19.2 percent during the first half of fiscal 2022.
Vodacom Africa investmentVodacom’s service revenue grew by 5.4 percent as compared with 7.9 percent in Q1 and 3.1 percent in Q2.

Growth across Vodacom’s international markets accelerated in the first 6 months following significant growth in financial services platform M-Pesa.

Vodafone Group Chief Executive Officer Nick Read said: “Our performance in Africa and Europe puts us on track to be at the top end of our guidance for this year, as well as firmly within our medium-term financial ambitions.”

UK-based Vodafone owns 60.5 percent stake in Vodacom. Vodacom currently has number 1 market positions – based on revenue share — in seven countries.

Vodacom said it’s the leading provider of mobile data and mobile payment services in Africa. Vodacom has 186 million mobile customers in 8 markets. M-Pesa financial services platform processed over 9 billion transactions during the first six months of FY22 and has 49 million customers.

South Africa

Vodacom said its service revenue in South Africa grew in the first half (April-September of 2021), supported by demand, incremental wholesale services and growth in new services such as fixed, IoT and financial services.

Vodacom added 1.1 million prepaid customers and 140,000 mobile contract customers. Financial Services revenue in South Africa increased by 15.0 percent to €75.9 million, reflecting the expansion of service offerings, and 70 percent of mobile customer base now uses data services.

International markets

Service revenue in Vodacom’s international markets rose during the half year supported by an increase in M-Pesa transaction volumes and data revenue. This benefit was partially offset by the introduction of mobile money levies in Tanzania during Q2.

M-Pesa transaction value increased by 49.7 percent, while M-Pesa revenue as a share of total service revenue increased by 3.4 percentage points to 22.8 percent. 64.3 percent of customer base is now using data services.

Vodacom’s Adjusted EBITDAaL increased by 5.6 percent supported by revenue growth, and positive operational leverage in Vodacom’s international operations. The Adjusted EBITDAaL margin decreased by 1.0 percentage point and was 36.3 percent.