Mobile giant Vodacom has reported that its local data revenue growth accelerated 34.8%, to R3.9 billion, with a 45.7% growth in data traffic, during the quarter ended 30 June 2015.
According to the operator, this was building on the improved data monetisation and efficiency trend that it saw in the fourth quarter of 2015.
"Wider coverage, together with higher smart device penetration and increased sales of data bundles, underpinned the strong growth in data revenue and more than offset a reduction in the effective price per MB [megabyte]," Vodacom states.
Data revenue now accounts for 33.8% of service revenue (2014: 25.8%), with active data customers (excluding M2M) of 17.7 million, representing 53.3% of active customers, the company says.
LTE/4G customers increased 117.4%, to 1.8 million, and M2M customers increased 16.9%, to 1.8 million, during the period under review.
The number of active smart devices on the network increased 31.9%, to 11.9 million and Vodacom says it continues to see upward migration to larger data bundles within its customer base, as reflected in the 24.8% increase in the average monthly consumption of data per smartphone.
Smartphones and tablets used on average 408MB and 774MB per month, respectively. The average number of data bundles sold per month more than doubled year-on-year, to over 23 million.
"Smart devices remain extremely popular, with approximately 12 million active on the network in South Africa, which is almost three million more than a year ago. The average amount of data used per smartphone in South Africa increased 24.8%, to 408 MB per month," says Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub.
International growth
Meanwhile, international data revenue grew 36.9%, to R871 million, during the period under review, says Vodacom.
The company reports that the number of active data customers increased 23.8%, to 10.3 million, and data traffic grew 140.4%, on the international front.
"We continue to focus on our commercial and network offering to drive data growth, ensuring our customers have access to better low-cost smart devices, such as Vodacom Kicka and SmartTab, expanding 3G network coverage and driving the adoption of data bundles. Data contributes 22.1% of [international] service revenue," says the company.
Local capital expenditure of R1 721 million for the period was focused on expanding 3G and LTE/4G sites to increase data capacity and provide customers with the best network experience, says Vodacom.
During the quarter, the operator added 229 3G sites to total 9 031 sites and 572 LTE/4G sites to total 3 172 sites, respectively, covering 96.4% and 40.9% of the South African population.
"We invested another R2.4 billion in the network this quarter as part of the accelerated capital investment programme started towards the end of the 2014 financial year, resulting in wider coverage and faster connection speeds," says Joosub.
"The increased capacity supported data traffic growth of 45.7% in South Africa and 140.4% in our international operations, which in turn led to group data revenue increasing 35.2%. Vodacom's 3G service covers 96.4% and LTE/4G service covers 40.9% of the population in South Africa. We increased the number of 3G sites in our International operations by 49.8%."
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