Tanzania’s Vodacom records 19.8 per cent in profit growth

DAR ES SALAAM: VODACOM Tanzania has reported a strong operating profit growth for the third quarter ending December last year, underpinned by increased service revenue, as the telecom giant continues its ambitious network modernisation drive.

The company’s operating profit rose by 4.62 per cent to 79.3bn/- at the end of quarter from 75.8bn/- buoyed by a 19.7 per cent jump in total revenue to 484bn/- from 404.2bn/- recorded in the same quarter of the preceding year.

The latest Vodacom quarterly report released yesterday shows the growth is attributed to growth in service revenue by 19.8 per cent to 477.5bn/- at the end quarter up from 398.5bn/- recorded in a comparative quarter of the preceding year.

Vodacom Tanzania’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Philip Besiimire said in the report’s review segment that this performance reflects the company’s unwavering focus on connecting Tanzanians through empowering people.

“We pursued our goal of empowering communities by driving digital inclusion and broadening access to our connectivity services,

which has had a meaningful impact on society,” said Mr Besiimire.

The financial statement report released also shows telecom’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 24.7 per cent to 184.9bn/- from 148.2bn/-, a clear sign of stronger operational efficiency.

Additionally, the firm’s capital expenditure for the first nine months of the financial year ending December last year reached 230.5bn/-, marking a clear acceleration from the prior year.

This investment was largely directed to the network

and IT infrastructure modernisation, and already exceeds the investment of 175.0bn/- made during the entire Financial Year 2025.

The report also showed Vodacom’s direct expenses increased by 12.8 per cent to 147.9bn/- at the end of quarter from 131.0bn/- while operating expenses rose 19.7 per cent to 148.2bn/- from 123.8bn/-, reflecting both network expansion and temporary costs linked to the ongoing modernisation initiative.

During the quarter, the telco’s company executed the first phase of 100m US dollar network modernisation programme launched in the first quarter, having completed the modernisation of more than 1800 sites across a dozen regions in the country.

This is in addition to the 15 new 5G sites and 332 new 4G sites added in the previous three quarters, all contributing to a 13.7 per cent year-on-year increase in the company’s 4G sites.

Moreover, during the quarter, businesses benefited from digital loans totalling more than 800bn/-, marking a strong increase in the number of beneficiaries, with loans advanced

to individual customers growing by nearly 15 per cent.

Mr Besiimire stressed that the company will maintain their unwavering commitment to customers’ personal data security and privacy, while safeguarding the network and platforms against cyber-attacks.