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DFM quarterly update

Vodacom have released quarterly numbers this morning, they look pretty average. That is to be expected I guess. Local revenues getting squeezed, CEO Shameel Joosub had this to say in the commentary: There was a significant impact from the 50% decline in mobile termination rates in South Africa, increased competition and we're seeing increased pressure on consumer spending. Data spend continues to be the only bright spot in these numbers, data traffic grew a whopping 62 percent here and an astonishing (off a low base) almost threefold in their international operations. Active smartphones and tablets across the network here in South Africa is 9.5 million devices. Forget about broadband, the people have spoken, the continued investment in 3G and LTE networks will continue to see customers view the mobile networks as their goto for data.

And if the Neotel transaction goes ahead, the plan is to connect 1 million businesses and households with fibre. PLEASE!!! To illustrate the point about no fixed lines across our continent, look no further than Tanzania having 5.160 million data users out of the total of 11.810 million subscribers, when compared to South Africa, the ratio is about the same. The internet is empowering. Average Revenue per User (ARPU is measured per month) in the DRC, where Vodacom has nearly 11.5 million users is a paltry two dollars and seventy cents per month. Less than 10 cents per day airtime, average per consumer. Phew. In that lies a giant opportunity, the provisor is that the DRC "gets its stuff together". Major potential, a soft spot for the company currently. The stock is down over three percent to begin with.


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