Staff Reporter
MASERU — Vodacom Lesotho’s subscriber base is about to breach the one million mark, according to quarterly results released by the Vodacom Group, the local mobile network’s parent company, this week.
The Vodacon Group said for the three months ended June 30, Vodacom Lesotho’s subscriber base grew by 5.2 percent to 904 000, up from 859 000 in March.
In June last year Vodacom Lesotho had 722 000 subscribers.
That figure represents a 25.2 percent annual increase in the company’s subscriber base. Tšabiso Letsoela, the Vodacom Lesotho’s managing executive, said they were now hoping to reach one million subscribers by next March.
“We are pushing towards that target and we hope that by the end of our financial year we would have reached that mark,” Letsoela said.
The average revenue per user dropped slightly by 1.8 percent in the last quarter, the statement said.
At group level Vodacom Group reported consolidated revenues of R15.6 billion (USD2.3 billion) for the three months ended 30 June 2011.
This figure represents an increase of 8.1 percent year-on-year.
Vodacom’s domestic unit, Vodacom South Africa accounted for R13.5 billion in sales (up 7.7 percent year-on-year), with the firm’s international operations accounting for R2.1 billion (up 10.2 percent year-on-year).
The company has yet to release figures for EBITDA or net profit.
Of Vodacom South Africa’s revenues, mobile voice traffic was responsible for the lion’s share of the takings, generating R7 billion, whilst mobile interconnection fees contributed R1.5 billion, mobile data R1.9 billion and mobile messaging R743 million.
Data exhibited the largest increase year-on-year, growing 35.4 percent.
In operational terms, Vodacom South Africa remains the firm’s largest unit by subscribers, with 27.7 million customers reported at the end of the second quarter.
Elsewhere, Vodacom units in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique all increased their subscriber bases in the three months ended 30 June.
Tanzania grew its subscriber base to 9.3 million subscribers up from 8.7 million. Mozambique added 195 000 more subscribers to end the quarter with 3.3 million.
The DRC’s subscriber base grew by 2.2 percent in the quarter to reach 4.5 million users.
Vodacom Group ended the quarter with a consolidated wireless subscriber base of 45.4 million, representing quarterly net additions of around 1.9 million customers.
“This quarter started on a high note with our team delivering a really well-executed brand refresh.
Internally we used the opportunity to signal a new direction and culture, involving all our employees in how we approach our vision of making every customer smile,” said Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys.
“The positive sentiment from the refresh was mirrored by good performances from both the South African and international operations.”
With additional information from TeleGeography
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