The Vodacom Group recorded 33 million customers across its networks operating in SA, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique as at 31 December 2007.
This reflects a 4.7% increase in subscribers in the three months since 30 September, the company says in a media statement. "The growth in the customer base is a result of high gross customer connections of 4.8 million for the quarter."
The Vodacom Group's customer base increased from 28.2 million to 33 million since 31 December 2006, reflecting a 17.1% growth.
Revenue for the nine months ended this past December increased by 17.3%, to R35.7 billion, the company says.
Local operations
Vodacom SA's subscriber base grew by 4.1%, to 24.3 million, customers since 30 September 2007.
SA's customer base is made up of 3.4 million contract customers and 20.7 million prepaid customers. The contract customer base was almost static, growing 0.7%, from 3.409 million to 3.432 million subscribers in the reporting period.
By comparison, the prepaid customer base saw stronger growth, with local prepaid subscriber numbers growing from 19.79 million to 20.72 million, a 4.7% growth.
"Vodacom SA has retained its leadership position in a highly-competitive South African mobile communications market, with an estimated market share of 55.6%," the company says.
Vodacom SA's average revenue per user increased 3.4%, from R119 to R123. Churn dropped from 45.9% to 43.6%.
Non-SA operations
The group's non-South African operations comprised 8.8 million customers, or 26.6% of the total customer base.
Vodacom's non-SA operations saw stronger growth than the local operations, with the total customer base growing 6.3% within the reporting period.
"Satisfactory customer growth was achieved in all Vodacom's non-South African operations, most notably Lesotho, with a 9.9% increase, and Mozambique, with an 11.9% increase in its customer base," the company says.
Vodacom Tanzania's subscriber numbers grew 7.3%, from 3.678 million to 3.945 million, while Vodacom Congo eked out a 2.9% growth, from 3.178 million subscribers to 3.269 million subscribers.
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