Telkom grew its ADSL customer base 661% in the year ended March 2004, on the back of targeted expansion into the data service provider market.
Figures released today showed that Telkom had 20 313 ADSL customers, up from 2 669 in the 2003 financial year.
Telkom`s Chief Executive Officer, Sizwe Nxasana, said: ``Telkom aggressively promoted data products to the consumer and SMME markets through campaigns in the past financial year that advanced the group`s strategy of becoming the data provider of choice.``
Telkom`s ISDN customer base grew 17% to almost 656 000 customers. The increased reach to ADSL customers was supported by a 44.1% growth in Internet subscribers to 142 208. Telkom also continued to sell value-added data services to corporate and business customers, showing 17% growth in managed network sites, and overall data revenue growth of 14%.
The increase in revenue growth was mainly due to higher demand for data services in the medium and small business segment, with leased line revenue growing 17.7% offset by a 2.2% decrease in mobile leased facilities revenue due to network optimisation initiatives by the mobile operators.
Telkom focused strongly on stemming the loss of fixed-line customers and traffic. The stimulation of fixed-line traffic through rate education campaigns and calling packages like Xtratime resulted in an increased usage of Telkom`s network.
Share
* Telkom is the largest communications provider on the African continent based on operating revenues and assets.
* Telkom`s current market capitalization as at 31 March 2004 is R43.9 billion (US$6.9 billion).
* The shareholding structure is as follows: 38.3% South African government, Thintana (SBC and Telekom Malaysia) 30%, and freefloat 31.7%.