Vodacom Spends a Record R5.8 Billion in South Africa to Combat Load Shedding and Increase its Network Quality

Vodacom Group has been seen spending a record R5.8 Billion on its network in South Africa to help fight load shedding and improve its performance and network quality.

The war in Ukraine, which followed hard on the heels of a global health crisis, continues to result in increased inflationary pressures and elevated living costs in many countries across the world, including markets where Vodacom operates.

Vodacom has attempted to absorb considerable inflationary costs from the dramatic increase in energy costs as far as possible and … has sought to accelerate various initiatives to deliver even greater value to financially strained customers.

These efforts, coupled with expected start-up costs associated with the recent launch in Ethiopia of a national telecommunications network through Safaricom Ethiopia, in which Vodacom holds a minority and which is accounted for as an associate, contributed to a 9.3% decline in earnings per share.

In the past two years, we invested over R2-billion in batteries alone to enhance the resilience of our network so that we keep customers connected during extended periods of load shedding.

At the same time, we continue to work closely with Eskom to find a renewable energy solution for the benefit of our planet and customers, having announced in September 2022 an in-principle agreement with South Africa’s energy utility to pilot a programme that would see Vodacom South Africa source its electricity from renewable independent power producers and contribute this into the national grid.

Shameel Joosub, CEO, Vodacom