South African mobile operator Vodacom Group Ltd on Thursday reported a 7.6 percent rise in first-quarter group service revenue, buoyed by strong demand for voice, data and financial services in its domestic market during the coronavirus lockdown.
Vodacom, which is majority owned by Vodafone, said group service revenue grew to 18.7 billion rand ($1.14 billion)in the three months ended June 30, up from 17.4 billion rand from the year-ago period.
Overall group revenue grew by 5.6 percent.
The telecoms sector has experienced a spike in network data traffic as millions of South Africans were forced to work, school and entertain themselves from home after the government imposed a lockdown from end-March to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
This resulted in Vodacom’s business in South Africa, its largest market, growing service revenue by 6.4 percent. Data traffic surged by 97.7percent, also boosted by data price cuts implemented from April.
The significant growth in demand for data assisted in offsetting the effects of the price cuts, Vodacom said.