Vodacom reaches 250 million customers as Egypt, Kenya and other African markets drive its growth
Half-year revenue rose 25.6% to R102.5 billion, helped by Safaricom, while Egypt's service revenue grew 36.3% in local currency.
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Johannesburg — Vodacom now serves a quarter of a billion customers across Africa, and its fastest growth is coming from markets outside South Africa, TechCabal reported after the group's interim results.
Revenue for the six months to 30 September 2026 rose 25.6% to R102.5 billion (US$6.2 billion), boosted partly by consolidating Safaricom, East Africa's largest telecoms operator, in which Vodacom raised its stake to 55%.
Where the growth is
Egypt grew service revenue by 36.3% in local currency and Safaricom by 13.1%, with Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lesotho also performing strongly. Vodacom's international business grew normalised service revenue by 13.7%. In South Africa, the prepaid business returned to growth on higher data use, and the EBITDA margin reached 37.4%, its highest in several years.
The group added 26 million customers in 12 months. "We exceeded our medium-term growth target on service revenue, EBITDA, and operating free cash flow, while also reaching the milestone of serving a quarter of a billion customers across Africa," said chief executive Shameel Joosub.
Money as well as minutes
Vodacom and Safaricom's financial services platforms, led by M-Pesa, served 108 million customers who made transactions worth more than US$575.5 billion over 12 months, generating pro-forma revenue of R43.1 billion. Joosub said M-Pesa is key to building a business that earns from more than calls, data and connectivity.
Source: TechCabal, 11 November 2026.
