Vodacom’s Egypt bet paying off

The third quarter of Vodacom’s 2026 financial year is expected to see strong revenue growth, supported by a standout performance in Egypt.

Offsetting a more modest contribution from Vodacom’s home market of South Africa, the telecoms giant’s Egyptian and other international businesses led to a strong overall performance.

On Wednesday, 4 February, Vodacom released a trading update for the quarter ended 31 December 2025.

This update outlined Vodacom’s revenue growth for the quarter compared to the three months ended 31 December 2024.

On a group level, Vodacom’s revenue grew by 11% to R43.90 billion, while service revenue surged by 12.7% to R34.61 billion.

The company’s largest segment, South Africa, grew revenue and service revenue by 0.6% and 1.4%, respectively, contributing R24 billion and R16.42 billion to the total.

Vodacom explained that this modest growth was despite a challenging consumer environment and was supported by robust growth in financial services, fixed connectivity, and IoT.

The telecoms giant’s international businesses performed better, with 14.4% revenue growth to R9.36 billion and 12.6% service revenue growth to R8.81 billion.

However, the standout performer in this quarter was Vodacom’s Egypt business, which grew revenue by 43% to R11.11 billion and service revenue by 39% to R9.51 billion.

This was driven by strong commercial momentum, enhancements to integrated connectivity and content packages, and continued traction of Vodafone Cash.

Vodacom said financial services revenue in Egypt grew by 59.4%, supported by a 28.9% increase in active customers to 13.5 million. In addition, data traffic expanded by 25.1%, with data customers up 8.9% to 33.9 million.

The telecoms giant attributed this growth to consistent network investment, including the roll-out of 5G services, which underpinned healthy growth in average revenue per user.

“The quarter benefited from sustained growth in Egypt and our International business – including a strong performance in DRC – while South Africa delivered modest but satisfactory revenue growth against a particularly strong comparative quarter last year,” CEO Shameel Joosub said. 

“Including Safaricom, we passed the 100 million financial services customers mark during the quarter, illustrating our purpose-led impact on people and economies across our markets.” 

“We continue to invest in quality and resilience, modernising networks, scaling 4G and 5G where appropriate, and expanding fibre to bridge the digital divide.”

He noted that this quarter was marked by two notable milestones that are set to strengthen Vodacom’s long-term growth profile and accelerate inclusive connectivity across the company’s footprint. 

In December 2025, the company announced an agreement to acquire an additional 20% stake in Safaricom, reinforcing its commitment to the high-growth East African markets of Kenya and Ethiopia. 

A month prior, in November 2025, Vodacom’s acquisition of a strategic stake in South African fibre business Maziv also received ICASA’s final approval.

This deal is set to unlock the opportunity to accelerate fibre deployment and expand access to high-quality connectivity, particularly in historically underserved communities in South Africa.

“Looking ahead, we remain focused on delivering our medium-term targets, advancing financial inclusion, and executing with discipline across products and geographies,” Joosub said. 

“With a strong platform and a clearer line of sight to key strategic milestones, I firmly believe the group is well-positioned to capture structural growth while staying true to our purpose of connecting people to a better future.” 

“Continued execution of our strategy has the potential to create immense economic value in the markets where we operate, helping to address inequality.”