Telkom profit increases 27.5%
Telkom posted excellent financial performance in the year ending 31 March 2026, driven by strong growth in data revenue in its mobile and residential fibre Internet businesses.
The company released its annual results on Tuesday, 2 June 2026, revealing that profit increased 27.5% from R2.783 billion to R3.55 billion.
Excluding the impacts of its settlement of the Telkom Retirement Fund (TRF) and restructuring costs with a related tax impact, profit in the previous financial year would have been R3.35 billion.
Even if these one-off costs had not been incurred, Telkom’s profit in 2025/26 would have been 5.9% higher than in 2024/25.
Telkom group revenue increased by 1.4% to R44.48 billion. The growth came from its consumer and Openserve businesses, but was knocked by revenue decline at enterprise connectivity provider BCX.
The group’s overall costs declined 1.1%, which Telkom attributed to continued cost and cash management discipline.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 13.3% to R12.48 billion, or 5.8% when adjusted for the aforementioned losses in the previous financial year.
That resulted in the EBITDA margin expanding to 28.1%. In addition, Telkom’s cost-to-income ratio improved from 75.1% to 73%, and its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio decreased from 0.6x to 0.5x.
Furthermore, free cash flow increased by 10.4% to R3.07 billion, reflecting disciplined cash generation management.
Telkom Group CEO Serame Taukobong said the results validated Telkom’s strategy for transformation and positioning the company for consistent quality earnings that allow for enhanced shareholder returns.
“As a result, we have increased our dividend payout ratio to a range of 40% to 60%, with the Board declaring an ordinary dividend at 45% of free cash flow,” Taukobong said.
Telkom’s board declared an ordinary cash dividend of 270 cents per share, up 65.7% from the previous year’s 163 cents.
It was also 3.5% higher than the total dividend which included a special dividend for the once-off gain from its disposal of Swiftnet in the previous financial year.
Consumer mobile and fibre businesses soar
Telkom’s group data revenue increase was a major growth driver. It climbed 7.6% to R26.60 billion, increasing its contribution to total revenue from 56.4% in the 2024/25 to 59.8% in 2025/26.
Telkom’s mobile data revenue grew by 10.5%, supported by a 31.1% increase in mobile data subscribers to nearly 20 million users.
The division’s overall subscriber base surpassed 25 million customers, sustaining market-leading service revenue growth for the 14th consecutive quarter.
Overall, mobile service revenue increased by 6.8%, showing significantly more growth than at competitors. The mobile EBITDA margin also expanded to 29%
Telkom’s fibre-related data revenue increased by 6.3%, driven primarily by an increase of 8.2% at Openserve, which also recorded an overall revenue increase of 2.3%.
BCX’s total revenue declined by 7.6% to R11.41 billion, driven by a struggling converged communications business. Its annuity-based revenue remained stable.
BCX’s IT business revenue was R6.72 billion, cybersecurity revenue increased by 21.1%, and IT hardware and software revenue grew 5.6%.
Looking forward, Taukobong said that Telkom’s data-led strategy remained its key growth driver, building on the establishment of its OneTelkom approach that positions the company as a digital backbone.
“We are now focused on the next phase of value creation,” he said. “This will be achieved through further increasing efficiencies and improving growth across the board.”
“Capex intensity will remain within the 12%–15% range, primarily funding Mobile and fibre to support revenue growth, while cost efficiencies protect margins.”
Taukobong said the combined effect will be geared towards free cash flow generation and a prudent leverage position.
The table below provides a summary of Telkom’s financial results in its 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.
| 2025 | 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | R43.880 billion | R44.477 billion | +1.4% |
| EBITDA | R11.014 billion | R12.480 billion | +13.3% |
| Adjusted EBITDA* | R11.792 billion | R12.480 billion | +5.8% |
| Profit for the year | R2.783 billion | R3.548 billion | +27.5% |
| Adjusted profit for the year* | R3.351 billion | R3.548 billion | +5.9% |
| Dividend | 261 cents (including special dividend) | 270 cents | +3.5% |
| Basic earnings per share | 1,528 cents | 719.5 cents | -52.9% |
| Attributable to continuing business | 566 cents | 719.5 cents | +27.1% |
| Attributable to discontinued business | 962 cents | — | -100% |
| Headline earnings per share | 566 cents | 708.5 cents | +30.1% |
| *Adjusted for once-off costs, including TRF settlement in 2024/25. | |||
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