Revenue from Vodacom's network was boosted due to an increase in lower-margin data services, while voice use continued to slow in its largest market.
Group data revenue gained 29%, to R6 billion, in the first six months of the year, displaying a far faster rate of growth than overall revenue, which gained 6.6% to R36.7 billion. The group, which presented its results to the market this morning, said service revenue grew 2% - or 3.2% if normalised to strip out foreign exchange movements.
Service revenue is income the operator earns from its network. Vodacom has been investing in growing the data capacity its network can handle, as it is seen as the next growth area because voice is under pressure.
CEO Shameel Joosub says, in the future, there is no reason why voice will not be delivered over long-term evolution (LTE) technology. During the period, voice costs - on average - dropped 16.9% to 59c, while data per MB declined 16%.
Despite the cheaper data prices, data revenue gained traction, while voice use slowed in South Africa, although it grew in Vodacom's other geographies. Locally, voice revenue dropped 2.6%, but gained 27.1% in Vodacom's international markets.
Growing contribution
In South Africa, data revenue gained 20.6% and now accounts for 21.5% of South African revenue. Customers actively using data grew 13.4% to 15 million - half of its total subscriber base of 30.1 million.
Smartphones, buoyed by Vodacom's handset financing scheme, gained 24% to 6.6 million and average use is now 220MB a month. Joosub says growth in data was aided by the number of bundles sold more than doubling.
Vodacom currently has 727 LTE sites in South Africa, a number that should reach 1 000 at the end of the financial year. Joosub adds the group aims to have all its sites LTE-ready by the end of March, but needs more spectrum before making the fast connectivity broadly available.
The group, which has approved an accelerated capital spending programme of between 14% and 17% of revenue - from next April for the next three years - also wants to have 3G connectivity everywhere it has voice coverage, and ramp up fibre installations.
Internationally, data revenue more than doubled, as volumes gained pace. Subscribers to data services leapt 41% to 6 million of Vodacom's 23.7 million international customers.
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