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Telkom Group’s mobile business has passed 25 million subscribers for the first time, powered by strong data growth that saw mobile data subscribers surge 29.3% to 19.3 million in the third quarter ended 31 December 2025.
The milestone, disclosed in the group’s Q3 trading update on Monday, underlines the continued success of Telkom’s data-led strategy, which has transformed the former fixed-line monopoly into an increasingly mobile-first operator.
Total mobile subscribers grew 5.3% year on year to 25.3 million, with prepaid subscribers rising 5.8% to 22.2 million and post-paid edging up 1.2% to 3.1 million. Mobile data subscribers now represent 76.5% of the total subscriber base, up from 62.3% a year ago, and mobile data traffic grew 20.4% to 544 petabytes in the quarter.
The growth has been driven in part by Telkom’s customer value management platforms, Mo’Nice and Mo’Town, which offer tailored, area-specific value propositions and now contribute 53.1% of prepaid service revenue.
A regional expansion strategy targeting under-indexed, non-metro areas has also gained traction, with Telkom reporting a 5.6% increase in its share of subscriber acquisitions in those regions.
Mobile service revenue grew 7.2% for the quarter and 7.6% year to date, with prepaid service revenue up 11.6%. Mobile data revenue increased 12.9% in the third quarter. The mobile Ebitda margin – a measure of operating profitability – expanded 2.1 percentage points to 29.7%, helped by service revenue growth and a decline in the impairment of receivables.
Fibre growing, too
The consumer division’s “beyond connectivity” services also showed momentum, recording revenue of R436-million, up 13.7%. Airtime lending increased by 15.9% and represented 25.8% of prepaid recharges.
Group CEO Serame Taukobong said in a statement on Monday that the results demonstrated Telkom’s competitive edge through its “OneTelkom” approach. “The disciplined execution of our data-led strategy delivered quality data revenue growth,” he said.
Read: BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi to retire after seven years at the helm
At the group level, revenue rose 1.3% to R11.1-billion for the quarter and 2.7% to R33.2-billion year to date. Group data revenue grew 9.6% to R6.9-billion, with its contribution to total revenue rising to 61.6%, from 57% a year earlier.
Group Ebitda increased 8.4% to R3.2 billion for the quarter, with the margin expanding to 29.1% – above the upper end of the group’s 25-27% medium-term guidance. Total adjusted costs declined for the quarter and were flat year to date.
Openserve, the group’s infrastructure unit, continued its fibre build-out, passing 1.5 million homes with a connectivity rate of 52.4%. The unit recorded its third consecutive quarter of overall revenue growth, driven by fibre-related data revenue, which rose 8.7%.
The results were dragged down by BCX, the group’s enterprise IT division, where revenue declined 9.3% in the quarter amid tough market conditions and constrained enterprise spending. Telkom separately disclosed that BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi will retire, with Telkom veteran Hasnain Motlekar acting in the role from 1 March 2026.
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Capital expenditure of R1.3-billion for the quarter was directed primarily at mobile and fibre. Telkom invested R676-million in mobile, adding 150 high sites, and R557-million in Openserve, passing 47 596 homes and connecting 30 081 in Q3. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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