by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – TELKOM has defied load shedding and subdued economic growth as group revenue increased 3,8 percent to over R10,668 billion (about US$603 million) in the second quarter of the year.
Profits could have been higher had it not been an increase in load shedding costs of R54 million.
Mobile revenue was up 5,2 percent to R5,448 billion.
There was a 6,9 percent year-on-year increase to Telkom subscriber base, now at 18,5 million.
Mobile broadband customers were up 8,9 percent to 11,7 million, comprising an increased 63,2 percent of active mobile customers.
Telkom stated its trading update for the quarter ended June 30 demonstrates good performance by new generation network offerings despite challenging economic conditions prevailing in South Africa.
“Telkom has started the 2024 financial year with good momentum,” Serame Taukobong, Group Chief Executive Officer, commented.
“Group performance was pleasing in the face of rolling power outages (load shedding), muted economic growth, continuing inflationary pressures on consumers and an intensely competitive landscape.”
To this end, Telkom is investing in capital expenditure to improve mobile and fibre networks’ resilience as well as reduce diesel consumption by installing and upgrading to lithium batteries along with reconfiguring the sites for batteries to become the primary backup system.
It is also increasing its solar power footprint at key properties/sites to reduce the impact of power outages caused by load shedding.
Telkom is South Africa’s third largest network operator.
– CAJ News