South Africa’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers Cell C has reported a net loss of ZAR588 million (USD41.7 million) for the first six months of 2017, compared to a net profit of ZAR3 million in the corresponding period of 2016. The operator generated revenues of ZAR7.7 billion in 1H17, up 11% y-o-y, while service revenue climbed by 12% to ZAR6.3 billion. Data revenue increased by 33% to ZAR2.6 billion in the six months to end-June 2017, with data traffic rising by 84% y-o-y. Capital expenditure reached ZAR561 million in 1H17, a sharp decline from the ZAR1.7 billion the company spent in the first half of 2016, though the figure is expected to rise again, following the recent recapitalisation of the business, which saw its interest-bearing debts reduced to ZAR6.1 billion (ZAR23 billion previously).
In operational terms, Cell C reported 12% year-on-year growth in the number of active subscribers on its network to 15.7 million by 30 June 2017, up from 14 million reported in mid-2016.