South African cellphone operator Vodacom recorded 33-million customers across its networks operating in South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique as at the end of December 2007 — a 4,7% increase in the three months since end September 2007, the company said on Tuesday.
Vodacom said the growth in the customer base is a result of high gross customer connections of 4,8-million for the quarter.
The group’s non-South African operations comprised 8,8 million customers, or 26,6%, of the total customer base.
Year-on-year revenue for the nine months ended December increased by 17,3% to R35,7-billion, while total group customers grew by 17,1% since the end of December 2006.
Vodacom South Africa has retained its leadership position in a highly competitive South African mobile communications market with an estimated market share of 55,6% at end December 2007, it said.
“Satisfactory customer growth was achieved in all Vodacom’s non-South African operations, most notably Lesotho, with a 9,9% increase, and Mozambique, with an 11,9% increase,” it said. — I-Net Bridge