Telkom data boost

Telkom’s strong performance in the mobile data market and the sale of its assets will significantly benefit the company’s upcoming full-year results.

In a trading update released on Monday, 10 February, the telecoms giant outlined its strong performance in the third quarter of its 2025 financial year, which comprises the three months ended 31 December 2024.

The company reported a 0.9% year-on-year increase in revenue and a 28% increase in EBITDA. Telkom’s EBITDA margin rose by 5.8 basis points to 27.2%.

The company attributed this growth to its data-led strategy, which has seen the telecoms giant lean into its “core strength” – data connectivity.

Telkom’s mobile service revenue grew by 9.6% in the third quarter, outperforming South Africa’s mobile market.

Its fixed data revenue grew by 4.7%, while mobile data revenue achieved double-digit growth of 10.8%.

Telkom’s pre-paid segment also grew strongly by 25.0% to 21 million subscribers, with an average revenue per user (ARPU) of R61, which is a decrease from R66 the year prior.

“The key driver to this strong growth is the utilisation of channel and consumer behavioural insights to find the optimal spot and ensure relevance in targeting our offers,” the company said. 

“Furthermore, outside of the optimisation of Mo’Nice, we introduced affordable 4G smartphones at attractive price points, pre-loaded with WhatsApp and Facebook.”

The company said this proved to be an attractive drawcard to the mass market. 

“This positions us well in converting 2G customers. The managed pre-paid ARPU decrease is attributed to non-metro regions that attract lower ARPUs but increased volumes.”

Telkom’s post-paid subscriber base remained stable at 3 million with an improved ARPU of R185.

Mobile data subscribers expanded significantly by 17.3% to 14.9 million, representing 62.3% of the total subscriber base, driving mobile data traffic to grow by 22.2%.

Telkom CEO Serame Taukobong said the company is pleased to report strong results for the third quarter, which reaffirms Telkom’s position as “the backbone of South Africa’s digital future”. 

“Our data-led strategy continued to deliver impressive performance across key metrics, underscoring our competitive advantage in our diverse businesses working together to realise these results,” he said. 

“With strong momentum across our business units, we remain confident in achieving our medium-term objectives as we continue to invest in our infrastructure, network and digital services, delivering profitable growth.”

The company’s full-year results are also expected to be boosted by its asset disposal programme, which provided additional liquidity to the group.

Telkom subsidiary Gyro has been selling off non-core properties to generate cash.

In the 2025 financial year, Gyro sped up the legal process for selling properties that are not essential to the company’s operations.

In the third quarter, 22 properties were sold, bringing in proceeds of R417 million. In total, 52 properties have been sold, generating R621 million in cash.

The company said another 14 properties, valued at R289 million, are expected to be transferred by the end of the financial year.

Telkom held another auction in December, selling 28 properties worth R126 million. However, these sales will only be completed in the 2026 financial year

The company is also nearing the closing of its disposal of Swiftnet, having obtained all the required regulatory approvals in December 2024.