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DRC
2018
2017
Revenue (USD’000)
428 169
407 413
EBIT (USD’000)
12 578
12 664
Customers
1
(thousand)
11 821
10 388
Data customers
2
(thousand)
4 825
3 705
MOU per month
4
39
49
Total ARPU
5
(rand per month)
38
49
Total ARPU
5
(USD per month)
3
4
Number of employees
578
617
NPS (position relative to competitors)
1st
1st
Customer market share
#1
#1
Vodacom DRC returned to growth this year, in spite of the
challenging operating context, as political instability and a
deteriorating macroeconomic environment undermined
consumption. We were heavily affected by the impact that the
decoupling of the Congolese franc from the US dollar, which lead
to a de-facto price inflation, had on consumer spending.
Performance improved in the second half of the year, as the
currency and economic environment began to stabilise and we
took measures to more regularly align pricing to the official
currency exchange rate. We continued to deliver on our strategic
priorities, maintaining first position while increasing our lead on
NPS. Revenue increased 5.1%, driven by the 81.8% increase in
M-Pesa revenue. We added 1.4 million customers in the year, while
M-Pesa customers increased by 32.9% to 1.9 million and data
customers increased 30.2% to 4.8 million. Robust customer
growth was as a result of strong focus on network expansion,
customer experience, brand and the delivery of customer-focused
offerings through ‘Just 4 You’.
M-Pesa has been a big driver of growth this year as we expanded
the M-Pesa ecosystem and improved customer experience by
leveraging of the new M-Pesa platform. We launched a new service
called ‘M-Pesa Bureau de Change’ that allows customers to
convert their money to Congolese franc or US dollar, simplifying
the process for customers to perform financial transactions in a
volatile foreign exchange environment.
We worked relentlessly on our network, with daily focus on
network KPIs to improve customer experience. We rolled out
additional sites and improved network availability and quality.
We made our network 4G ready and have launched the service
in May 2018 after obtaining the 4G licence.
We are optimistic about the slight recovery in the mining industry
which is being enhanced by copper and cobalt price increases.
Key focus areas for the year ahead include driving customer value
management through enhancing our ‘Just 4 You’ personalised
offers, developing strategic partnerships to drive our content
proposition to drive data uptake and renegotiating key supplier
contracts to deliver on our ‘Fit for growth’ cost-saving initiatives.
We are focusing on the M-Pesa person to person (P2P) ecosystem.
Tanzania
2018
2017
Revenue (TZSm)
977 994
933 292
EBIT (TZSm)
96 895
97 260
Customers
1
(thousand)
12 899
12 653
Data customers
2
(thousand)
7 345
6 463
MOU per month
4
163
157
Total ARPU
5
(rand per month)
35
38
Total ARPU
5
(TZS per month)
6 086
6 003
Number of employees
537
525
NPS (position relative to competitors)
1st
3rd
Customer market share
#1
#1
Despite a challenging trading environment, good execution of
network investments, customer value management, promotional
offers, and targeted M-Pesa and data propositions, all contributed
to this year’s solid performance.
As expected, the 42% reduction in the mobile termination rate,
and measures to improve customer registration compliance
weighed on revenue growth in the final quarter. This was largely
offset by an intensified focus on cost containment and the sale of
our equity stake in Helios Towers Tanzania.
Our segmented marketing approach, coupled with digital social
media partnerships and smartphone campaigns, accelerated
demand for mobile data services, leading to a gain of over
882 thousand data customers and data revenue growth of 34.7%.
Targeted propositions and ecosystem development increased
customer spend across our M-Pesa base and escalated revenue
growth to 16.7%. Our network of over 6 300 active merchants
makes M-Pesa the most convenient payment choice, outgrowing
the number of payment card terminals across the country. Of the
USD17.5 billion of payments made across the M-Pesa system in
Tanzania, the equivalent of over USD160 million was transacted
through our new merchant platform which we established
during the year.
We also launched high-speed 4G services in five cities, near
doubling the number of 4G sites deployed across our network,
while consistently providing our customers with the fastest
average download speeds available in Tanzania.
Going forward, we see an opportunity to prioritise investments
over the short term to further our leadership in data and M-Pesa
user experience.
We believe that our M-Pesa customer base will continue to expand
as we focus on building greater activity through our lipa kwa
M-Pesa merchant platform and establishing new partnerships
which enhance the mobile money ecosystem.
We expect further increases in smartphone penetration,
stimulated by the continuation of partnership-led, low-cost
smartphone campaigns. In addition, given that the expansion of
our network’s capacity through spectrum acquisition is a core
component of our long-term strategy, we will seek to obtain
additional spectrum to provide the benefits of a superior 4G data
user experience to a greater number of communities across
Tanzania.
Our segment performance International
continued
50
Vodacom Group Limited
Integrated report for the year ended 31 March 2018