| Wed 27 Jul 2005, 7:31 | | Vodacom surpasses 17 million customer mark |
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Telkom SA Limited - Vodacom quarterly update - Vodacom surpasses 17 million
customer mark
Telkom SA Limited
(Registration Number 1991/005476/06)
ISIN ZAE000044897
JSE and NYSE Share Code TKG
(`Telkom`)
Vodacom quarterly update - Vodacom surpasses 17 million customer mark
Vodacom Group (Proprietary) Limited (`Vodacom` or `Vodacom Group`) (unlisted),
South Africa`s leading mobile communications group, in which Telkom has a 50.0%
holding, announced today announced a quarterly update for the three months ended
June 30, 2005.
As at June 30, 2005, Vodacom Group recorded 17.2 million customers on its
networks operated in South Africa and other African countries, an 11.2% increase
in the three months since March 31, 2005. The Group`s international operations
comprise
2.9 million customers, or 17.0% of the total customer base.
Vodacom South Africa increased its customer base by 11.3% since
March 31, 2005 to 14.3 million customers. Vodacom South Africa`s customer base
increased to 2.0 million contract customers and 12.3 million prepaid customers,
increases of 5.8% and 12.3% since March 31, 2005, respectively. The rapid
growth in the South African customer base is a result of high gross customer
connections, combined with low churn for the quarter caused by a clean up of the
customer base in March 2005. South African ARPU declined by 8.0% to R150 per
month for the three months to June 30, 2005. The ARPU was negatively impacted by
the increasing proportion of prepaid customers in the total base, as well as
lower usage per average customer.
Vodacom was the first operator to introduce a commercial 3G offering into the
local market in December 2004. The take up by customers during this initial
period of deployment continues to be encouraging, with the number of active 3G
users on the network as at June 30, 2005 being 26,341 (March 31, 2005: 10,853).
The 3G launch included a number of innovative products such as the Vodafone
Mobile Connect Card, and, Vodacom currently has 10,516 users (March 31, 2005:
5,105). The number of Vodacom 3G base stations has increased to 964 (March 31,
2005: 487).
Customers, year-to-date ARPU, 3-month inactive statistics and churn as of June
30, 2005 compared with March 31, 2005 for Vodacom South Africa are as follows:
Vodacom South Africa March 31, 2005 June 30, 2005 % change
Customers (thousands) 12,838 14,289 11.3
Contract 1,872 1,980 5.8
Prepaid 10,941 12,282 12.3
Community services 25 27 8.0
ARPU (ZAR) 163 150 (8.0)
3-month inactive customers as 7.9 9.0 (1.1 pts)
% of total customers
Contract 1.5 1.7 (0.2 pts)
Prepaid 9.0 10.5 (1.5 pts)
Churn (%) 27.1 12.4 14.7 pts
Contract 9.1 8.6 0.5 pts
Prepaid 30.3 13.0 17.3 pts
Vodacom`s other African operations increased its total customer base by 10.7%
since March 31, 2005 to 2.9 million customers. Satisfactory customer growth was
enjoyed in all Vodacom`s other African operations, most notably Tanzania with a
14.9% increase in its customer base. However, customer growth has also been
negated by higher churn, with the exception of Tanzania.
In real terms, ARPUs have declined in all the other African operations, offset
by the depreciation in the Rand. The decline in ARPUs is due to the penetration
into the lower spending prepaid market, as well as continued high levels of
competition in all of these markets.
Vodacom`s other African operations` customers; year-to-date ARPU and churn as of
June 30, 2005 compared to March 31, 2005 are as follows:
Other African operations March 31, 2005 June 30, 2005 % change
Vodacom Tanzania
Customers (thousands) 1,201 1,380 14.9
Contract 5 6 20.0
Prepaid 1,193 1,371 14.9
Public phones 3 3 -
ARPU (ZAR) 81 69 (14.8)
ARPU (TSH) 14,130 11,980 (15.2)
Churn (%) 29.6 26.9 2.7 pts
Vodacom Congo
Customers (thousands) 1,032 1,091 5.7
Contract 10 11 10.0
Prepaid 1,010 1,070 5.9
Public phones 12 10 (16.7)
ARPU (ZAR) 98 86 (12.2)
ARPU (US$) 16 13 (18.8)
Churn (%) 23.1 31.8 (8.7 pts)
Vodacom Lesotho
Customers (thousands) 147 157 6.8
Contract 4 3 (25.0)
Prepaid 142 152 7.0
Public phones 1 2 100.0
ARPU (ZAR) 92 75 (18.5)
Churn (%) 17.3 22.5 (5.2 pts)
Vodacom Mozambique
Customers (thousands) 265 299 12.8
Contract 4 4 -
Prepaid 261 295 13.0
ARPU (ZAR) 52 41 (21.2)
ARPU (MZM) 177,954 146,300 (17.8)
Churn (%) 11.3 32.4 (21.1 pts)
Total other African 2,645 2,927 10.7
customers (thousands)
Johannesburg
27 July 2005
Date: 27/07/2005 07:29:15 AM
Produced by the JSE SENS Department
