Vodacom’s local numbers dropped in December
The cellphone network attributed its drop in SA customer numbers to its efforts to reduce the one-off use of SIM cards
Vodacom lost about 337,000 prepaid customers while gaining 86,000 contract customers over the three months to end-December. “Prepaid customer growth was resilient, while efforts to reduce once-off use of SIM cards started to take effect, resulting in lower gross additions in the quarter,” Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said in a quarterly update on Thursday morning. Sacrificing prepaid customers resulted in an overall 0.6% quarterly decline in SA customer numbers to 43.8-million, which was offset by growth in other countries to help its total subscriber numbers grow 0.25% to 79-million from the September quarter. The cellphone network provided revenue figures that were complicated by a change in accounting rules. Under Vodacom’s new accounting rules, its December quarter revenue came to R22.2bn, down from R22.6bn in the matching period in 2017. But under the old accounting rules, its December quarter revenue was nearly R23bn, showing 1.5% growth. Even using the old accounting rules, its...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.