African telecoms group Vodacom reported that its revenue increased 14.8% year-on-year to ZAR30.7 billion (USD1.8 billion) in the quarter ended 31 December 2022, positively impacted by its acquisition of Vodafone Egypt and the depreciation of the South African rand against its subsidiary countries’ currencies. The group noted that revenue grew 4.7% in ‘normalised’ terms – which strips out currency fluctuations and the impact of the Vodafone Egypt takeover, adding that this figure ‘underscores the ongoing resilience of the Group’s portfolio at a time when economic uncertainty prevails in the face of the war in Ukraine and the supply chain impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.’ Group service revenue was up 16.1% on a reported basis, with normalised growth of 3.5%, supported by growth in data revenue and financial services. South Africa service revenue grew 3.0%, to ZAR21.9 billion, underpinned by a strong performance in mobile pre-paid services.
International service revenue increased 18.0% (4.5% normalised) to ZAR7.1 billion, driven by data revenue growth and a weaker rand. Financial services revenue increased 30.6% (16.5% normalised) to ZAR2.6 billion, with ‘VodaPay super-app’ downloads reaching 4.5 million. Vodafone Egypt was consolidated from 8 December 2022, and Vodacom’s group report included ZAR1.9 billion Egypt revenue for the quarter.