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Vodacom South Africa Boosts Profits |
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June 26 2004 Strong customer growth helped Vodacom grow net profits 36.9 percent, the mobile communications group said on Monday. Net profits were posted at a satisfying R3-billion, with operational profit expanding 20.9 percent to R5.2-billion. Revenue rose 18.7 percent, to R23.5-billion, with revenue from African operations up 21.1 percent. The group's customer base increased by 29.7 percent over the year to 11.2 million customers. In South Africa its customer base grew by 23.5 percent to 9.7 million, with the majority of the growth coming from the prepaid market. Despite strong competition in South Africa, Vodacom said its estimated market share, as at March 31, was 54 percent. "Although we have been highly successful in defending our market share, this competitiveness of the market had inevitably resulted in margin squeeze," the group said. Operations in Tanzania and Congo have significantly grown its market share while Vodacom Lesotho has "positioned itself to capitalise on any future market growth and minimise the impact of competitive activity", the group said. Vodacom launched commercial operations in Mozambique on December 15, 2003, and said initial indications are promising. CEO Alan Knott-Craig said the company would not rule out investing in Nigeria in the future, following a highly-publicised fallout with Nigeria’s Vee Networks, but said Vodacom would not pursue an equity stake in Vee. Gadget-lovers pricked up their ears, however, when Knott-Craig said his company would be ready to demonstrate 3G (third-generation) cellphone technology by the end of the week. Vodacom will work with part-owner Vodafone, and Knott-Craig said commercial availability of 3G would not be far off
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