Financial Services Power Vodacom’s Growth as Interim Results Beat Expectations

Vodacom Group  has announced a solid performance for the first half of its 2025 financial year, posting strong growth across its key financial and operational metrics. For the six months ended 30 September 2025, the Group’s revenue rose by 10.9% to R81.6 billion, while service revenue increased by 12.2% in rands and 13.6% on a normalised basis. EBITDA grew by 14.7% to R30.5 billion, demonstrating continued resilience and operational strength. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) climbed 32.3% to 467 cents, enabling the Board to declare an interim dividend of 330 cents per share—an increase of 15.8% compared to the previous period.

Vodacom now serves a combined 223.2 million customers across its markets, reflecting growth of 8.6%, while financial services users reached 93.7 million, including Safaricom on a 100% basis. The company’s financial services revenue rose by 20.3% to R8.0 billion, contributing 12.2% to Group service revenue, driven by rising demand for payments, savings, lending, and merchant solutions. These results underscore Vodacom’s success in executing its Vision 2030 strategy, which focuses on digital and financial inclusion, infrastructure expansion, and sustainable value creation.

Group CEO Shameel Joosub said the strong results reflect Vodacom’s resilience and agility in a more stable macroeconomic and currency environment. “We delivered robust growth—evidenced by the normalised 13.6% increase in Group service revenue to R65.8 billion, which is tracking above our medium-term target of double-digit growth,” he noted. He added that the company’s diversification strategy, with contributions from digital and financial services, fixed broadband, and IoT, now accounts for 21.8% of total service revenue.

During the period, Vodacom invested R9.4 billion in technology and network infrastructure, with plans to spend R23 billion across its markets by the end of the financial year. Year-to-date, the Group added 1,881 4G sites and 3,524 5G sites. Vodacom also reaffirmed its ambition to grow its total customer base to over 260 million and financial services customers to 120 million by FY2030, while sustaining double-digit EBITDA growth.

Regionally, Egypt was the standout performer with a 42.3% increase in service revenue in local currency, contributing 26.8% to Group total service revenue. Egypt’s customer base grew by 5.9% to 51.1 million, driven by data traffic growth of 21.9% and rapid adoption of Vodafone Cash. The launch of 5G services in Egypt during June is expected to further support future growth.

In South Africa, service revenue rose by 2.2% to R31.7 billion, supported by steady growth in the contract segment and increased demand for mobile data. The company’s investment of R54.1 billion over the past five years in network resilience contributed to a 31.1% increase in data traffic during the period. Vodacom confirmed that its acquisition of a 30% stake in Maziv is in the final stages of approval and announced that the long-running Please Call Me case has been settled out of court.

Vodacom’s international operations—which include the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania—reported 13.3% service revenue growth to R16.7 billion, with customer numbers rising by 13.6% to 63.7 million. The growth was driven by strong momentum in M-Pesa and data services, alongside improving commercial performance in Mozambique. All four international markets recorded accelerated growth rates in the second quarter.

Safaricom, Vodacom’s key associate, continued its strong performance with service revenue growth of 11.1%. Kenya’s revenue increased by 9.3%, supported by a 14.0% rise in M-Pesa revenue and a 13.3% increase in customers. In Ethiopia, Safaricom’s customer base surged by 83.7% to 11.1 million, while losses from the greenfield operation continued to narrow. Overall, Safaricom reported a net income growth of 52.1%, supported by scaling operations in both Kenya and Ethiopia.

M-Pesa, Africa’s largest mobile money platform, processed over US$476.8 billion in transactions during the period, including Safaricom’s operations. This demonstrates the strength of Vodacom’s expanding digital and financial ecosystem. The company’s commitment to inclusion is also reflected in its infrastructure partnerships, such as the recent agreement with Airtel Africa to share network infrastructure in Mozambique, Tanzania, and the DRC, and a tower-sharing collaboration with Orange in the DRC to deploy solar-powered base stations in rural areas.

Vodacom also achieved a major milestone in renewable energy with the successful operationalisation of virtual wheeling in South Africa in September 2025, marking a significant step in the country’s clean energy transformation. Joosub noted that these efforts align with Vodacom’s broader purpose-led approach of connecting for a better future—empowering communities, driving digital literacy, supporting youth skills development, and protecting the environment.

Looking ahead, Vodacom remains optimistic despite global economic uncertainties. Joosub said the company’s diversified portfolio, strong balance sheet, and commitment to sustainability provide a solid foundation for continued growth.

“Our purpose-led strategy positions us strongly to capture Africa’s structural growth opportunity—empowering people, protecting the planet, and delivering sustainable value for all stakeholders.”

– Shameel Joosub, CEO, Vodacom Group