Telkom said in a market update on Friday (18 September), that its consumer business boomed during national lockdown as more people worked from home and moved to online learning – while others turned to the internet for entertainment.
Mobile data, which contributes approximately 70% of the mobile business, was the main driver of growth driven by strong growth in mobile traffic.
“The mobile business continued to gain market share from its peers both from a customer and revenue perspective to become the third largest mobile telecom in South Africa in a period of ten years of establishment,” it said.
Telkom said that it invested in modernising its network, including a fibre overhaul, which enabled Openserve to carry additional internet traffic.
“The lockdown has re-emphasised the need for reliable fixed broadband connectivity. With more families working, studying and consuming multiple services from home, Openserve saw an increase in demand for fixed connectivity resulting in an improved fiber to the home connectivity rate,” Telkom said.
The group said that BCX faced severe financial pressure with the Covid-19 pandemic hammered the economy.
“Enterprise customers reduced IT spend in the first half of the year and postponed some of their capital investment projects as a response to the heightened uncertain environment caused by Covid-19,” Telkom said.
Telkom said it has agreed a payment plan with the South African Revenue Services (SARS) to pay it’s outstanding liability and interest of R870 million. This will be done over a period up to 31 March 2021.
This will be funded out of our monthly cash flows, it said.
Telkom is targeting cash release initiatives of R700 million to R1 billion for the year as it continues with its working capital optimisation.
The group said last month that it will enter the financial services sector by launching a life insurance business.
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Source: businesstech.
