Telkom Group has reached a major operational landmark, surpassing 25 million mobile subscribers for the first time. The achievement, detailed in the group’s Q3 trading update for the period ending 31 December 2025, highlights the success of Telkom’s aggressive transition from a fixed-line monopoly to a mobile-first, data-led competitor.
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The surge was primarily fuelled by a 29.3% spike in mobile data subscribers, which now total 19.3 million. Data users now make up more than 76% of Telkom’s total base, a significant jump from 62.3% just a year ago.
Telkom’s growth is increasingly tied to its ability to offer hyper-local value. The company’s customer value management platforms, Mo’Nice and Mo’Town, now generate over half (53.1%) of all prepaid service revenue by offering area-specific deals.
Beyond product innovation, a targeted expansion into under-indexed, non-metropolitan areas has paid off. Telkom reported a 5.6% increase in its share of subscriber acquisitions within these regions, suggesting that its efforts to compete outside of major cities are gaining traction.
The mobile division’s financial health showed marked improvement across several key metrics for the quarter:
- Mobile Service Revenue: Grew 7.2%, with prepaid revenue specifically climbing 11.6%.
- Mobile Data Revenue: Increased by 12.9%.
- Operating Profitability: The mobile EBITDA margin expanded to 29.7%, bolstered by revenue growth and better management of debt collections.
- Beyond Connectivity: Services like airtime lending saw a 15.9% increase, contributing to R436 million in revenue.
Group CEO Serame Taukobong attributed the results to the “OneTelkom” approach, noting that disciplined execution has allowed the company to exceed its medium-term EBITDA guidance of 25–27%, reaching 29.1% at a group level.
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While the mobile business thrived, the rest of the group saw a mixed performance
- Openserve: The infrastructure unit continues its fibre momentum, now passing 1.5 million homes with a healthy connectivity rate of 52.4%. Fiber-related data revenue rose 8.7%, marking the unit’s third consecutive quarter of growth.
- BCX: The enterprise IT division remains the group’s primary laggard. Revenue dropped 9.3% this quarter as companies tightened their IT spending. Alongside these results, Telkom announced that BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi is retiring; Hasnain Motlekar will step in as acting CEO starting 1 March 2026.
Telkom remains committed to infrastructure, deploying R1.3 billion in capital expenditure during the quarter. The majority of this was split between mobile, adding 150 new high sites, and Openserve’s ongoing fibre rollout to homes.
