Telkom has reported table growth in its active subscriber base for the quarter ended 30 June 2022. Active mobile subscribers were up 7,8% year on year to 17,3-million, with a blended average revenue per user (ARPU) of R88.53.
Post-paid subscribers grew 8% year on year to 2,8-million at an ARPU of R208.50. Pre-paid subscribers grew 7,7% year on year to 14,5-million at an ARPU of R64.77.
Telkom had solid growth in mobile data traffic, which was up 12,4% to 263 petabytes supported by a 2% growth in broadband subscribers to 10,7-million on a year on year basis.
It also sustained its fibre growth trajectory, with total fixed traffic increased by 18,9% to 452 petabytes. The number of homes passed with fibre grew 45,3% to more than 890 000.
The number of homes connected with fibre grew by 35,2% to 414 847, representing a fibre to the home (FTTH) connectivity rate of 46,6%.
The M&T portfolio, continues to be commercialised, productive portfolio up 2,7% to 3 935 year-on-year.
Telkom had a challenging financial performance on a year on year basis, reporting group revenue lower by 3,2% to R10 281-million.
Group EBITDA was down 15,2% to R2 334-million with EBITDA margin contraction of 3,2ppts to 22,7% impacted by topline performance and an annual salary increase of 65.
The BCX IT business reported growth and improved profitability after a challenging period; and the group made progress on its value unlock/creation strategy, with the separation of Openserve set to be concluded effective 1 September 2022.
Group CEO Serame Taukobong comments: “Telkom published its trading update for the first quarter of the year, demonstrating a challenging performance due to accelerated legacy migration, intense competitive landscape and consumers being under significant pressure due to rising fuel prices, interest rates and high unemployment rate.
“As Telkom Mobile value propositions remain attractive in the market to cater for affordability of our customers, its effective price per megabyte reduced by 14,8% year on year.
“The increase in the traffic growth, however, was not sufficient to offset the decline in effective pricing.”