Vodacom today announces that it has more than 10-million customers in South Africa - just over a month before it celebrates the tenth anniversary of the commercial launch of its cellular network.

This further strengthens the company's leading market position in the highly competitive local market. Vodacom and MTN launched their South African cellular networks on 1 June 1994.

Vodacom has since expanded into the African continent in countries such as Tanzania, Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, where it has a total of 1.5-million customers.

Vodacom is also continuing to consolidate its network coverage by extending it to yet uncovered areas and to increase capacity and quality. It has built up in excess of 5000 base stations countrywide providing coverage to more than 95% of the population.

Vodacom has also deployed 25 000 active community service telephones in underdeveloped areas run by 1800 entrepreneurs that record 80-million call minutes a month.