Vodacom Group counts 48 million subscribers, up 30% YoY

South Africa’s Vodacom Group reported a 7.8 per cent rise in service revenue year-on-year for Q1 2012, having added 11 million subscribers over the period, representing a growth rate of 29.9 per cent to the end the period with 47.8 million users.

The telco reported a 48.6 per cent increase in group active data subscribers in the 12 months to end-March 2012, topping 15.1 million. In its home market of South Africa, the company reported that its active data customers increased 35.4 per cent to 12.2 million, while the number of active smartphones on the network increased 55.4 per cent to 5.1 million.

With respect to its international operations, Vodacom reported that service revenue was up 27.5 per cent year-on-year, while active M-Pesa customers in Tanzania alone grew to 3.1 million from 1.8 million a year earlier.

“Our first year of trading as the new red Vodacom has been a big success. Our customer base has expanded 30 per cent to 48 million, we’ve invested ZAR8.7 billion (US$1.04 billion) in our networks and we’ve achieved the number one net promoter score in South Africa and in two out of our three measured international markets,” commented Pieter Uys, Vodacom Group CEO.