Vodacom Group plans to invest about R12 billion in its South African network operations in the 2027 financial year, as the mobile operator looks to strengthen its network resilience, expand coverage and support rising demand for data services.
This emerged when Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile operator, announced its annual financial results and cash dividend distribution for the year ended 31 March.
The planned network investment follows capital expenditure of R11.9 billion in South Africa during the year, up 2.8% from the previous year, the company’s results booklet shows.
Vodacom says the spending was directed at improving network infrastructure, leveraging spectrum assets and upgrading IT platforms.
Vodacom South Africa’s service revenue increased 2.1% to R64.4 billion, supported by growth in contract customers and so-called “beyond mobile” services, including financial services, fixed connectivity and internet of things (IOT) offerings.
Beyond mobile services revenue rose 6.8% to R12 billion and accounted for 18.7% of total service revenue.
However, profitability remained under pressure for the mobile network operator. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in South Africa declined 1.7% to R33 billion, while operating profit was largely flat at R20.5 billion.
Vodacom attributes the EBITDA decline to a once-off cost incurred during the first half of the financial year, although second-half EBITDA recovered by 1.8% as the company tightened cost controls.
The operator notes that momentum improved in the fourth quarter, with service revenue growth accelerating to 2.8% from 1.4% in the third quarter, helped by stronger prepaid performance and contract customer gains.
Contract customer revenue rose 3.5% to R25.2 billion, supported by price increases introduced in February 2026. Vodacom South Africa added 28 000 contract subscribers during the year, taking its contract base to seven million customers.
Prepaid revenue declined 2.1% to R26.7 billion, although the rate of decline slowed in the fourth quarter, as data revenue improved. Vodacom said prepaid data revenue increased 5% to R14.9 billion.
Mobile data demand continued to grow strongly, with network traffic increasing 32.1% over the year. Smart devices connected to the network rose 10.6% to 35.7 million, while 4G and 5G devices increased 15.4% to 28.2 million.
Average monthly data usage per smart device climbed 24.6% to 6.3GB.
Vodacom’s financial services business in the country reported revenue growth of 8.1% to R3.7 billion, driven by insurance products, merchant services and lending offerings. The company says insurance policies reached three million across device, funeral, life and contract cover products.
Enterprise division Vodacom Business increased service revenue by 6.2% to R17.9 billion, supported by growth in cloud, hosting and security services, where revenue climbed 27.1%.
Vodacom points out that its beyond mobile portfolio, including fibre, cloud services, IOT and financial services, remains a key growth area as traditional voice revenue continues to decline.
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