Vodacom’s customer base soars

Johannesburg-based Vodacom has announced that its customer base increased to 12.4 million by the end of June, a rise of 10.8% on the previous quarter. Its South African customer base grew by 8.8% to 10.58 million, of which 9.04 million were pre-paid and 8.28 million on contracts, while customers at its foreign operations totalled 1.85 million, a 23.7% increase in the quarter. ARPU, on the other hand, declined both in South Africa and the other African countries, a fall which the group has blamed on the higher proportion of pre-paid customers in the total base, seasonal fluctuations in customer spending patterns and a higher proportion of inactive customers.