Telecommunications group Vodacom on Wednesday posted double-digit revenue growth for the first quarter of 2025 on the back of a surge in its Egypt operations.

During the three months to June 30, group revenue increased 10.6% to R40-billion, with group service revenue increasing 11.4% to R32.3-billion, supported by group financial services revenue growth, which expanded 18.1% to R3.9-billion.

“Encouraging trends from Vodacom Group’s first-quarter performance . . . include strong revenue and service revenue growth in rand terms, a healthier performance trajectory by our International business, good growth in the contract segment and beyond mobile services in South Africa and another all-round excellent performance by Egypt,” said Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.

“Despite an uncertain global environment, our strategy to diversify our revenue growth by product and geography continues to pay dividends.”

Egypt remains a star performer, having grown service revenue by 43.8% in local currency, well above the rate of inflation, with Egypt financial services revenue up 55.1% during the first quarter of the year under review.

South Africa service revenue increased 3%, while the International business service revenue increased by 9.7% – 12.4% on a normalised basis – with Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Lesotho significant contributors.

“Service revenue from our beyond mobile services was a key growth driver and contributed R6.9-billion in the quarter, which equates to 21.4% of the group, and is well on track to reach our target contribution of 30% by 2030,” he said.

Financial services remains a clear strategic priority for the group and is the largest component of beyond mobile services.

Including Safaricom, Vodacom reported a 14.9% increase in mobile wallet transaction values to $460-billion, which underscores the impact and scale of this business.

“The sustained growth of our financial services is particularly pleasing as this seeks to deepen financial inclusion through an increasing portfolio of services that already includes insurance, loans, savings, international money transfer and merchant services.”

The group financial services revenue of R3.9-billion was supported by strong growth from Vodacom’s insurance business in South Africa, excellent growth in Egypt of 44.3% (55.1% in local currency) and a 17.4% (20.8% normalised) increase from International business on the back of an improved performance in Mozambique.

“Looking at our geographic segments, South Africa’s results were supported by strong performance in the contract segment and good growth in financial services, fibre and cloud services, offsetting a marginal decline in our prepaid segment,” Joosub continued.

Supported by additional data allocations, good growth in smart devices and significant investments in its network, data traffic grew 32.7%.

“Having invested R1.6-billion in the quarter, we expect to invest around R12-billion of capital expenditure in the current financial year to further enhance customer experience.”

Egypt’s financial services customers increased 37.3% to 12-million and data traffic grew 23.6%.

With service revenue of R8.5-billion, Egypt now accounts for 26.3% of the group’s total, ending the quarter with 52.2-million customers, up 6.4%.

“Across our International business, our network investment of R1.2-billion contributed to the 20.7% increase in the number of 4G sites across the portfolio, resulting in strong data revenue growth and the 9.7% growth in service revenue to R8.1-billion.”

Data traffic increased by 35.4% while smartphone users increased by 900 000 in the quarter to reach 21-million.

Growth in Lesotho improved to 11%, while DRC returned to double-digit US dollar service revenue growth of 12%. While service revenue in Mozambique decreased 2.5% in local currency, this is an improvement from prior quarters and paves the way for a return to growth in the 2026 financial year.

“Looking ahead, we are focused on delivering on our Vision 2030 targets, which include growing our customer base to 260-million and our financial services customer base to 120-million.

“Core to this strategy will be accelerating mobile and fixed connectivity, scaling handset financing and the roll-out of innovative digital and financial services in all our markets.”

Vodacom also plans to expand partnerships across Africa to power its growth, drive infrastructure sharing to increase rural and fibre connectivity and expand the reach of its Tech for Good solutions.

Meanwhile Joosub said he was encouraged by South Africa’s Competition Commission's decision to no longer oppose Vodacom’s acquisition of a 30% stake in Maziv ahead of the Competition Appeal Court hearing on July 22, 2025, given expanded conditions agreed to by the merger parties.

“Should the transaction receive the requisite approval, I am confident that it will enable us to accelerate fibre network expansion, help bridge the digital divide and contribute meaningfully to job creation in South Africa.”