Telkom Achieves 28% EBITDA Growth in Q3, Strengthening Profitability

Telkom has published a trading update for the third quarter that ended on 31 December 2024. In the update they have delivered a strong third-quarter result indicating operational efficiencies.

The highlights of the same include:

• Group revenue up 0.9% to R10 995 million
  – Mobile service revenue growth of 9.6% – outperforming South African mobile market
  – Fixed data revenue up 4.7%
  – Information technology service revenue up 3.2%
  – Year-to-date4 Group revenue up 1.6% to R32 377 million
• Group EBITDA up 28.0% to R2 986 million
  – Continued operational efficiency gains from cost optimisation initiatives
  – Group EBITDA margin up 5.8 percentage points (ppts) to 27.2%
  – Year-to-date adjusted4 Group EBITDA of R8 592 million with EBITDA margin of 26.5%
• Strong operational drivers – data-led strategy in action
  – Mobile subscribers up 21.6% to 24 million, with 17.3% growth in mobile data subscribers
  – Homes passed with fibre up 13.1% to 1.3 million with homes connected up 17.6%, leading to a
  49.8% connectivity rate, up 1.9 ppts
  – Mobile and fixed data traffic up 22.2% and 23.7% respectively
• Resilient financial position – R621 million of cash proceeds from disposal of properties in the first nine
  months
• Positive outlook – continued profitability improvement expected from disciplined execution of data-led
  strategy

We are pleased to report strong results for the third quarter, reaffirming our position as the backbone of South Africa’s digital future. Our data-led strategy continued to deliver impressive performance across key metrics, underscoring our competitive advantage in our diverse businesses working together to realise these results. With strong momentum across our business units, we remain confident in achieving our medium-term objectives as we continue to invest in our infrastructure, network and digital services delivering profitable growth.

The Group demonstrated continued operating gains with group EBITDA growing in strong double digits ahead of group revenue. As a result, group EBITDA margin expanded by a pleasing 5.8 ppts to 27.2% for the quarter under review, enhanced by non-core property sales.

– Serame Taukobong, Group Chief Executive Officer, Telkom (Excerpt from the Trading Update)