Vodacom Hits 250 Million Customers as Egypt and Kenya Outpace South Africa

Vodacom grew revenue 25.6% year-on-year to R102.5 billion ($6.2 billion) for the six months ended 30 September 2026, with Egypt, Kenya and other international markets outpacing the group's more mature South African home business.

The pan-African technology group published its interim financial results on Tuesday. The numbers, boosted partly by the consolidation of Safaricom, show a two-speed company: a relatively mature South Africa where growth is harder to extract, and faster-expanding markets where mobile connectivity and financial services are opening new revenue lines.

Egypt led the pack with 36.3% service revenue growth in local currency. Safaricom, East Africa's biggest telco, grew service revenue by 13.1%. Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho also posted strong performances. In total, Vodacom's international business delivered normalised service revenue growth of 13.7%, with EBITDA up 15.9%.

South Africa wasn't idle. Vodacom returned its prepaid business to growth on the back of higher data consumption, while cost optimisation lifted the domestic EBITDA margin to 37.4% — its highest level in several years.

What did the CEO say?

Shameel Joosub, Vodacom's chief executive officer, called it one of the group's strongest six-month performances. "We exceeded our medium-term growth target on service revenue, EBITDA, and operating free cash flow, while also reaching the milestone of serving a quarter of a billion customers across Africa," he said.

Vodacom added 26 million customers over the past 12 months, taking its total base to 250 million across Africa.

Why is the Safaricom deal so central?

Vodacom increased its shareholding in Safaricom to 55% and consolidated the Kenyan operator as a subsidiary from June 30. The acquisition brings M-Pesa, Safaricom's mobile money platform, and its vast financial services ecosystem into the group. It also gives Vodacom greater exposure to Kenya's mobile money market and one of the continent's most established fintech platforms.

Joosub said M-Pesa is key to Vodacom's ambition to build a business that earns money from more than calls, data and connectivity. Beyond payments, the opportunity spans savings, investments, credit and other digital financial products.

"The combination of Vodacom and Safaricom creates one of the continent's largest FinTech platforms," he said, adding that the platforms are expanding access to formal financial services and enabling greater economic participation for millions of people and businesses.

How big is the financial services engine?

Vodacom and Safaricom together generated pro-forma financial services revenue of R43.1 billion ($2.6 billion) over the last 12 months. Their platforms served 108 million financial services customers, who accessed and initiated more than $575.5 billion in transaction value over the same period.

In the reported half-year, financial services revenue grew 99% to R15.9 billion ($966 million) — though that figure reflects Safaricom's consolidation for only one quarter. On a pro-forma basis, including Safaricom in the comparative period, growth was 19.2%.

Diversification now has hard targets attached. Financial services, fixed connectivity, digital and Internet of Things (IoT) services account for 27.4% of Vodacom's service revenue. Following the Safaricom acquisition, the group raised its 2030 target for these businesses from 30% to more than 32%.

What does this mean for shareholders?

The interim performance brought a handsome payout. Vodacom declared an interim dividend of 355 cents per share, up 7.6%, supported by headline earnings per share growth of 25.7% to 587 cents. Headline earnings rose 25.6% to R11.3 billion ($685 million).

The group also invested R13.3 billion ($806 million) in capital expenditure during the half, up 41%, expanding network capacity and adding infrastructure to support rising data consumption and digital services.

Joosub said Vodacom is on track to exceed its medium-term growth targets as it pursues its Vision 2030 ambitions — with M-Pesa and Egypt, not South Africa, now doing much of the pulling.