Telkom posts impressive full year results

South Africa’s national PTO Telkom has reported a 48% surge in net profit to ZAR6.8 billion (USD1.1 billion) for its full fiscal year to the end of March 2005. The result comes on the back of operating revenues of ZAR43 billion, up 6.5%. Commenting on the results, Telkom’s CEO Sizwe Nxasana put the impressive results down to “acceleration in the uptake of data services, robust growth in mobile arm Vodacom’s South African customers and reduced finance charges”. Vodacom – 50% owned by Telkom – enjoyed subscriber growth of over 4 million customers – three million of which came from South Africa – taking the total to 15.5 million. Telkom’s fixed access lines in service remained unchanged at 4.8 million but ADSL subscribers jumped 188% to 58,532.