Vodacom subs success boosts sales

Vodacom South Africa says strong subscriber growth helped boost sales and profits in its financial year to the end of March 2006. Operating profit was up 37% to ZAR8.9 billion (USD1.36 billion), while net profit rose 32% to ZAR5.1 billion. Revenues increased 24.6% to ZAR34 billion. The firm had 23.5 million cellular subscribers in South Africa, DR Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania at the end of March, up 51.9% year-on-year. Vodacom, which is owned jointly by local wireline operator Telkom South Africa and Vodafone of the UK, will release its full financial results next week.