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Looking to the future, we will be making greater use of Big Data
and analytics (page 33) to deepen our understanding of consumer
behaviour as we strive to develop highly-personalised product and
service offerings within these segments, with the ultimate goal of
achieving relevant offers for the segment of one. In addition to
driving growth in the above three segmented areas, we will be
further broadening our brand affinity in the emerging market
segment, and adding new segments, starting with women.
We have continued to show strong performance in each of the
four focus areas of our accelerated data growth strategy:
Commercial network roll-out
We further increased our addressable 3G and 4G base by
extending our network coverage and capacity in South Africa,
Tanzania and Lesotho, and our 2G and 3G coverage in the DRC
and Mozambique (page 30).
In South Africa, 4G customers increased 44.8% to 7.3 million
and our 4G network now covers 80.1% of the population, the
first operator in Africa to achieve this feat.
South Africa
Data progression
(million)
2018
2017
2018
2017
2018
2017
2018
2017
+12.1%
37.1
20.3
19.5
18.5
16.8
7.3
5.1
Customers
Data customers
Active smart devices
4G customers
41.6
+4.1%
+9.9%
+44.8%
Device penetration
This year in South Africa, there were 11.6 million 3G devices
on our network, while the number of 4G devices increased
46.4% to 7.9 million. We are looking to realise the significant
upside from the 1.8 million data customers not yet using
smart devices, by driving down smart device prices and
accelerating device financing opportunities.
Our device strategy, of offering more affordable devices,
has assisted in increasing smartphone penetration in our
International markets to 31.9% from 24.9% in the prior year.
There has been particularly strong success in Mozambique,
with penetration levels at 50.4%, driven by the success of
Vodacom branded device offers.
International
+65.2
%
Data traffic up
51.5
%
of customers are
using data
R2.7
bn
capital investment
Data contribution
(%)
14.4%
of International
service revenue
+18.7%*
Bundle engagement
In South Africa, our industry leading application of Big Data
and machine learning, created to deliver personalised bundle
offers based on customer behaviour, continues to differentiate
us from our competitors. Through our ‘Just 4 You’ platform we
have accelerated the uptake of bundle offers, driving the sale
of 2.3 billion bundles in the year, up 51.3%. Of these, 62.2% of
bundle purchases were made through the ‘Just 4 You’
platform. Customers using bundles have grown 13.9% to
18.7 million.
Data bundles sold increased 54.7% to 766 million.
The increase in average monthly data used by customers
on smart devices increased 18.4% to 784 MB. Average data
consumption increases when migrating from a 2G to a 3G
device and 4G device once again highlighting the value in
encouraging customer migration to 3G and 4G devices.
Upselling digital services to existing users
Digital services represented 3.2% of service revenue, a 24.3%
increase on the prior year, reflecting our progress in increasing
the availability and appeal of our digital products and services.
Strategic big bet
Scaling M-Pesa
Today, 32.3 million customers in our International operations and
Safaricom rely on our service, making us the continent’s leading
mobile money provider, alleviating financial uncertainty and
contributing to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
M-Pesa remains a strong growth driver in our International
operations, with customers up 18.0% this year to 11.8 million.
In Tanzania, 428 000 customers
1
are using our successful M-Pawa
savings and loans product, developed in partnership with the
Commercial Bank of Africa. There has also been a further steady
uptake of our International Money Transfer (IMT) services. We
continuously add new services to the platform entrenching
consumer payment behaviour. In Tanzania, we have introduced
lipa kwa M-Pesa, our merchant payment solution, showing very
strong merchant take up. This platform gives customers the
convenience to transact with M-Pesa at more points of sale.
The equivalent of over USD160 million was transacted through
this system alone this year. In Mozambique, we have expanded
our agent network to more than 20 000 agents, while in the DRC
and Lesotho we continue to incentivise customers to increase
uptake. On average, USD1.9 billion was processed monthly
through the M-Pesa system.
We see substantial further opportunities for M-Pesa revenue
growth in our International markets, building on our leading market
presence and platforms, and harnessing the opportunities
associated with emerging disruptive technologies such as machine
learning, Artificial Intelligence and blockchain settlement solutions.
Our strategic stake in Safaricom, the current leader in the mobile
money business, gives us access to knowledge, expertise and
know-how in helping us to further accelerate adoption across our
other markets. We will be looking to consolidate our market
leadership in Consumer and Enterprise markets, accelerate the
monetisation of services, expand our ecosystems, ensure a stable
and favourable compliance landscape, and drive growth into higher
value-add financial services.
1. 30-day active customers.
21
Our business
Our performance
Our governance
Administration