This exponential growth, driven by the “next-gen” mobile business, saw EBITDA grow 11.7% to R11 973 million, with EBITDA margin expanding by 2.8 ppts to 27.7%.
The group revenue grew 0.4% to R43 222 million. Mobile business revenue growth now more than offsets the anticipated structural decline in fixed-voice revenue and revenue pressures from COVID-19. The results showed a change in revenue mix, with legacy fixed-voice income now contributing only 15% to the business.
Despite the challenging trading environment, the Group delivered underlying earnings growth of 88.1% to R2 622 million, growing BEPS and HEPS by 89.6% and 53.4% respectively compared to the prior year.
“Our mobile business continued its growth trajectory as we surpassed 15 million subscribers during the year, carrying even more data traffic in 4G and 4,5G, as well as commencing our 5G rollout. Allocating capital to a data-led and fiber-enabled mobile network – a growth area of our business – successfully prepared us for the significant increase in data demand and mobile broadband services as more people worked, did business, and studied from home.”
Sipho Maseko Telkom Group CEO
Mobile broadband traffic increased 53.2%, resulting in mobile data revenue growing by 41.0% and underpinning the 34.5% increase in mobile service revenue to R16 938 million.
Some Key financial results:
- Revenue up 0.4% to R43.2 billion
- EBITDA up 11.7% to R12 billion with EBITDA margin at 27.7%
- BEPS and HEPS up 89.6% and 53.4% respectively
- Capex up 8.9% to R8.4 billion with CAPEX to revenue ratio of 19.5%
- FCF improved by 15.8% to R2.1 billion compared to R1.8 billion in the prior year.
- Net debt to EBITDA improved to 0.9 times from 1.3 times
