Vodacom Aims At Exceeding 275 Million Customer Base

With over 26 million new customers added in just the 2026 fiscal year, Vodacom has raised its medium-term goal to 275 million consumers by the year ending 2030.

Vodacom’s activities and operations in Egypt, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Lesotho have contributed significantly to the company’s outstanding financial results in addition to its steady customer growth. 

Vodacom’s earnings for the year ending in March 2026 were made public in the early hours of today, and they showed that the company had performed well.

Thanks to Vodacom’s acquisition of Safaricom in December 2025, the group’s user base grew by 12.3% to 237.3 million customers.

With service revenue up 10.6% to R133.56 billion ($8.12 billion) and financial services revenue up 19.6%, the company reported revenue of R167.7 billion ($10.2 billion), which is a 10.1% increase.

Vodacom’s headline earnings per share rose by over 23% to 1,053 cents, while its EBITDA surged by 12.8% to R62.6 billion ($3.81 billion).

CEO Shameel Joosub attributed the group’s free cash flow, which increased by 20.1% to R21.84 billion ($1.33 billion), to the advantages of Vodacom’s revenue and geographic diversification.

The CEO continued that the upgraded milestone reflects deep confidence in unexploited scale across the African continent, driven by a 17.4% rise in financial services clients to 103 million, an increased 2030 fintech user target from 120 million to 130 million, a 16.6% surge in annual fintech transaction values to $525.6 billion, and strong operational growth in Egypt, Tanzania, and the DRC.

But not all of the company’s operations made an equal contribution. Vodacom had suffered in both Mozambique and South Africa.

While its EBITDA and operational profit decreased, the South African segment’s service revenue increased by a slight 2.1% to R64.37 billion ($3.91 billion).

The group claimed that positive EBITDA growth occurred in the second half of the year and ascribed this to a one-time expense incurred in the first half of the fiscal year.

Also, Egypt is the second-largest contributor to group service revenue, coming after South Africa.

With service revenue increasing 30.2% to R36.09 billion ($2.19 billion) and EBITDA growth of 38.5%, Egypt stood out in these statistics.

Vodacom has opted to increase its client ambitions under its Vision 2030 strategy in response to these impressive outcomes.

This plan aims to boost the company’s expansion, expand its influence throughout Africa, and provide value for investors.

The group’s intended customer base has increased from 260 million to 275 million, including 130 million financial services clients.

Vodacom announced a final dividend of 405 cents per share, up 20.9% from 2025 and bringing the total dividend for 2026 to 735 cents, in response to its impressive results.

As it has been driven by aggressive customer acquisition that translated directly into stellar annual financial metrics, the company reported a net profit rise to 20.65 billion rand ($1.26 billion), group revenue escalation of 10.1% to 167.65 billion rand ($10.19 billion), EBITDA growth of 12.8% to 62.63 billion rand ($3.81 billion), and a total declared dividend of 735c per share, marking an 18.5% year-on-year increase in shareholder returns.