AfricaPress-Tanzania: VODACOM Tanzania Plc will this year pay 427.5bn/- dividends to its equity shareholders, out of which 400bn/- is a special dividend and 27.5bn/- a final dividend for the period that ended March this year.
With over 327.7bn/- spent on more than 120 local suppliers and partner companies in Tanzania and over 1.1bn/- directed at corporate social investments, Vodacom closed the 2019-20 fiscal year on a positive note.
The company also created indirect employment to over 135,000 Tanzanians through agents, service desks and freelancers, among other forms.
In the last fiscal year, Vodacom recorded growth in service revenue, which was largely driven by data and use of its M-Pesa service.
The M-Pesa revenue grew by 7.4 per cent, contributing to 358.2bn/-in total turnover while data revenue grew by 9.8 per cent, raking in 180.8bn/-.
Speaking at Vodacom’s annual general meeting, Interim Chairperson of Vodacom’s Board of Directors Margaret Ikongo expressed optimism over the company’s performance despite service barring to over 2.9 million customers in line with biometric registration requirements using NIDA identification.
“Despite a challenging year from both competitive forces in the market as well as the regulatory environment, the company recorded sound operational performance building from its commercial momentum from the previous year. She said they had invested 154.6bn/- in their network and IT infrastructure to ensure customers benefitted from superior services and network experience across the country. “The result is that we have maintained subscriber revenue and market share leadership in both GSM and mobile money, reaching 15.5 million subscribers and 10.1 million customers respectively,” she said.
Vodacom Managing Director Hisham Hendi said he attributed the company’s positive results to the successful implementation of its strategies, helping the company to move closer towards achieving its vision of leading Tanzania into the digital age and changing people’s lives through technology.
“In the last fiscal year, data traffic grew by 14.6 per cent, with significant growth coming in from 4G traffic. This reflects strong demand for mobile data services and proves our case in enhancing customers’ data experience through sustained investment in our network infrastructure, offering low-cost smartphones, as well as affordable data services,” he said.
In addition to investing in network expansion and upgrades, Vodacom expanded its M-Pesa ecosystem through innovative products and services, which saw an increase in both subscriber and revenue share while ensuring its customers had the best experience and security on its network.
Looking forward, Mr Hisham noted that Vodacom Tanzania remained focused on delivering great value to customers by accelerating digital innovation and enhancing fiscal inclusion.
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We will continue leading in innovation, bringing more Tanzanians to an inclusive digital economy, increasing the number of customers using our mobile money offerings, expanding our enterprise services, focusing on cost containment as well as maintaining the widest and most consistent network coverage,” he said.
As regards the impact of Covid-19, the company remains positive that despite the effects the pandemic has had by diminishing customer spend, Vodacom has managed to significantly accelerate its digital transformation plans.
