Company News | Vodacom sees surge in new customers - Shameel Joosub
📅 May 11, 2026SABC News8 MIN11 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
Vodacom Group has reported strong annual results, with solid growth in profits, dividends and digital services as the company ...
What Shameel Joosub said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, discussed the company's strong annual results, attributing success to a diversification strategy across geography and products. He highlighted the addition of Egypt, Safaricom, and Ethiopia to the group, and significant network investment of 23.5 billion last year. Fintech has grown to 123 million customers processing 527 billion dollars in transactions annually. Customer growth doubled the target, adding 26 million new customers versus a 10 million target, reaching 237 million total. Growth is increasingly from outside South Africa, with Egypt contributing nearly 30% of group growth. Joosub emphasized the need for connectivity and data across Africa, requiring fiber, 4G, and 5G rollout. He mentioned an AI committee for governance. On external factors, he cited the Iran war's impact on oil prices and diesel costs, noting investments of 11.9 billion in South Africa and fuel price hedges for six months. Regarding the Please Call Me case, he stated Vodacom's position is settled with Mr. Makate.
Key takeaways
Vodacom added 26 million new customers, double the 10 million target, reaching 237 million total.
Fintech now has 123 million customers processing 527 billion dollars in transactions annually.
Egypt contributed nearly 30% of the group's growth.
Vodacom invested 23.5 billion in networks last year, including 11.9 billion in South Africa.
Vodacom has hedged fuel prices for South Africa for the next six months due to the Iran war.
2:02So, what do you think that now says about the untapped digital opportunity across Africa, particularly when it comes to under-served communities?
3:35How do you ensure that innovation and rapid digital expansion remain secure and responsible, especially across diverse African markets?
4:21What do you see as some of the biggest external factors currently affecting corporate South Africa's ability to grow and invest confidently?
6:56Given the high-profile nature of the original case, what impact do you think the escalating litigation—so far as reputation and legal complexities—may be for Vodacom as you watch this case from afar?
Vodacom Group has reported strong annual results with solid growth in profits, dividends, and digital services as the company pushes deeper into fintech, fiber, and African expansion under its Vision 2030 strategy. To unpack the results, we're joined by Shameel Joosub, who's chief executive officer of the Vodacom Group. A very good afternoon to you. Thank you so much for your time. I mean, Vodacom not only beat analyst dividend expectations, but also delivered a 24% jump in net profit and more than 20% growth in headline earnings in a very difficult macroeconomic environment. How did you manage to make this happen?
Thank you, thank you for having me on the show. I think it's a combination of the strategy that we put in a couple of years ago, where we decided to diversify the group from a geographical perspective on one side, but also from a product perspective on the other. Geographically, we added Egypt into the group, and Safaricom before that, and then Ethiopia a few years ago. That strategy's been paying off, along with increased investment into our networks. Last year we spent 23.5 billion across our networks. And then the diversification into fintech, where we now have 123 million customers generating 527 billion dollars of transactions annually, that's like 1.4 billion dollars every day. So it's become quite a big business for us. I think what's pleasing is that customers grew at two times the annual target. We added 26 million new customers, while we said to the market we'd do 10, and we now have 237 million customers across our markets.
So, what do you think that now says about the untapped digital opportunity across Africa, particularly when it comes to under-served communities? Because you also speak about something very important, which is a major theme in these results: growth is increasingly coming from outside South Africa, especially Egypt, Tanzania. I mean, you did mention Egypt because that contribution was nearly 30% of the group's growth numbers, extraordinary growth numbers. So, talk to us a little about that direction and the strategy behind it.
I think the need for connectivity is everywhere. In some countries there's historically been less connectivity. You don't really have fiber, so there's an over-dependence on mobile. You have to roll out more fiber as well as 4G and 5G coverage to all parts of these countries, and that accelerates growth. There's an insatiable need for data, and with things like AI, digital content, and so on, that need for data—whether mobile, fiber, or satellite—is there. People are consuming more and more data every year. So you have to provide the networks, capacity, and capability to cater for that demand, and of course, the price points as well.
There's a growing conversation globally around AI governance, cybersecurity, and digital trust. How do you ensure that innovation and rapid digital expansion remain secure and responsible, especially across diverse African markets?
6 more exchanges in this transcript
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Joosub, S. (2026, May 11). Company News | Vodacom sees surge in new customers - Shameel Joosub [Interview transcript]. SABC News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1008529/
MLA
Shameel Joosub. "Company News | Vodacom sees surge in new customers - Shameel Joosub." SABC News, 11 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1008529/.
BibTeX
@misc{joosub2026_1008529,
author = {Shameel Joosub},
title = {Company News | Vodacom sees surge in new customers - Shameel Joosub},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, SABC News. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1008529/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
