Vodacom, Telkom, and MTN dividend payments compared
South African telecommunications companies rank among the top businesses in South Africa, generating billions in profits and tax revenue.
South Africa’s three largest telecoms players, Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom, have dominated the market for three decades.
Telkom was established on 1 October 1991, when the Department of Posts and Telecommunications (DPT) was split into Telkom and the SA Post Office.
In 1991, Telkom had 3.5 million fixed telephone lines, and the demand for them was growing. Interestingly, it still had 89,661 manual exchange lines at the time.
In 1993, Telkom entered a joint venture with Vodafone and the Rembrandt Group to form Vodacom Group. It received the first national cellular radio telephony service licence.
That same year, MTN secured the second national cellular radio telephony service licences in South Africa.
Vodacom started building a mobile network in 1993, and eight months later, in January 2024, MTN followed suit.
Vodacom launched its commercial operations on 1 April 1994, with MTN on its heels two months later. They have been fierce competitors ever since.
In 2009, Telkom sold its 50% stake in Vodacom. A year later, in October 2010, Telkom launched its own mobile operator, 8ta. Telkom has since discontinued the 8ta brand.
In addition to rapidly expanding in South Africa, Vodacom and MTN have expanded their operations across Africa and the Middle East.
Vodacom, which is majority-owned by Vodafone, serves over 200 million customers across its consumer and enterprise segments.
It has operations in South Africa, the DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Its mobile networks cover a population of over 500 million people.
MTN provides voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale and API services to 297 million customers in 16 markets.
It operates in numerous countries across Africa and the Middle East, including South Africa, Botswana, Cameroon, Iran, Liberia, Uganda, Yemen, and Zambia.
Vodacom is the fourteenth largest company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), MTN is ranked fifteenth, and Telkom is at 62.
Telecommunications companies are widely seen as ex-growth, and while they are still building new revenue streams, dividends are important to investors.
Here is a look at Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom’s dividends and how consistently shareholders received money from the three companies.
Vodacom
Vodacom was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in May 2009 and has paid dividends every single year since its listing.
Vodacom’s dividend per share increased to just over R8 in 2012 and has roughly been maintained until 2022.
Since then, the dividends per share have experienced some pressure, falling to R6.20 in its last financial year.
Vodacom has paid an impressive average dividend yield of 5.75% since its listing on the JSE.
MTN
Over the last two decades, which included some challenging times for the company, MTN has paid dividends for all but three of the years.
MTN’s dividends per share increased to R12.80 in 2012, after which they decreased significantly to R3.45 per share in 2025.
MTN has paid an average dividend yield of 3.39% since 2002.
Telkom
Telkom, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 2003, has paid dividends in 16 out of the 23 years since its listing.
Telkom’s dividend per share fell from R22.75 in 2009 to R2.61 paid in 2025. Since its listing, it has paid an average dividend yield of 2.66%.
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