UPDATE:Vodacom 1Q Revenue Flat As It Struggles In South Africa

22nd Jul 2010 08:59

(Adds detail.) By Robb M. Stewart Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES JOHANNESBURG (Dow Jones)--South Africa's Vodacom Group Ltd. (VOD.JO) said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter revenue was little changed despite the addition of almost 1 million customers in other parts of Africa as it struggled in its home market. Mobile operators are increasingly targeting the continent, one of the few regions of the world that still has low rates of mobile use. Africa's largest operator, MTN Group Ltd. (MTN.JO), is targeting an additional 20 million subscribers this year, while India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY) has plans to spend more than $1 billion upgrading newly acquired networks in Africa. Vodacom said its customer base declined to 37.7 million in the three months through June--a fall of 5.4% on the previous quarter and 8.7% on year--after it changed its disconnection policy and South Africa introduced strict registration laws for mobile users. Revenue for the period was 0.2% lower than a year earlier but up 0.7% on the quarter, at 14.41 billion rand ($1.91 billion), it said. Vodacom, which is majority owned by the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC (VOD), derives 87% of sales from South Africa, where it is the largest operator by subscribers. Vodacom grew its customer base almost 16% in Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania to 14.6 million, but said revenue from these countries fell about 15% to ZAR1.9 billion due to the strength of the rand. Johannesburg-based MTN, which has operations in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, increased its subscriber base 7% in the first quarter of the year to 123.58 million. It walked away from talks last month to expand its footprint with the acquisition of assets from Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (ORTE.CI) after running into regulatory hurdles. -By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; +27 11 783 7848; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 22, 2010 03:59 ET (07:59 GMT)