Vodacom Group profit surges 33% as Africa operations offset home-market pressure

Tuesday, 11th November 2025

by inAfrika Newsroom

Vodacom profit jumped 33% in the six months to September as faster growth in its Africa portfolio offset a softer home market, the company said. The stronger result, delivered alongside a reviewed interim dividend, reflects higher data usage, expanding mobile-money services and tighter cost control across international units.

Management reported broad service-revenue gains, with double-digit contributions from markets outside South Africa. Moreover, the group highlighted resilient customer additions and improved monetisation of data bundles and financial services. Consequently, Vodacom profit benefited from scale effects in Egypt and steady execution in Tanzania, DRC and Mozambique.

Operating trends supported cash generation even as currency volatility and energy costs remained headwinds. The company said network modernisation and sharing deals helped curb opex growth, while targeted 5G rollout focused on high-traffic corridors. In addition, capital discipline kept spend aligned to revenue opportunities, particularly in urban clusters and enterprise routes.

International operations again leaned on M-Pesa and adjacent services. Group disclosures showed mobile-money revenue rising at a healthy clip, underpinned by merchant payments, platform reliability upgrades and new use cases in transport and utilities. Analysts said diversified fintech lines reduce exposure to pure connectivity cycles and add stickier, fee-based income.

South Africa remains competitive and price-sensitive. However, management argued that investments in quality of service, spectrum refarming and energy resilience are stabilising churn. Meanwhile, enterprise demand for cloud on-ramps and SD-WAN kept contract momentum intact despite tighter budgets. As the half-year closed, the board paired the stronger print with a cash dividend, signalling confidence in medium-term cashflows.

Investors will watch three levers through March: traffic growth versus pricing pressure; further normalisation in Egypt; and Ethiopia exposure via Safaricom at the associate level. While FX can swing reported numbers, underlying trends—data elasticity, digital payments and cost discipline—still point to margin support. Therefore, Vodacom profit guidance implies continued focus on scale markets and selective 5G densification.

For consumers, the story shows up as steadier networks and broader payments acceptance. Faster sites, more capacity and higher platform uptime reduce dropped calls and failed checkouts. For merchants, lower settlement latency and richer APIs help integrate tills, apps and inventory systems. These small frictions add up; remove them and usage rises.