South African mobile operators hold the line against voice revenue declines

South Africa’s mobile networks have noticed a decline in revenue generated from voice services over the past few years.

However, increased mobile data traffic and diversifying their service offerings have allowed operators to compensate for the drop.

A recent BMI TechKnowledge (BMIT) report found that revenue from mobile voice services has decreased by more than R14 billion in the last four years, dropping from R46.8 billion in 2020 to R32.5 billion in 2024.

To find out how South Africa’s mobile operators are coping with this revenue loss, MyBroadband contacted Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, and Cell C.

Vodacom told MyBroadband that, just like the rest of the industry, it had noticed a “mid-single-digit decline” in its voice revenue, which other revenue sources have offset. These include data and “beyond mobile services” revenues.

“According to our latest trading update, Vodacom South Africa posted a 40.6% increase in data traffic, which supported 15.5% mobile prepaid data growth and +5.6% overall prepaid growth for the quarter ended December 2024.”

Vodacom said it is diversifying its services by offering financial services, IoT, fixed-line services, and enterprise solutions.

The operator told MyBroadband that its revenue generated from these services had increased by 11.3% for the third quarter of the 2025 financial year and contributed R2.8 billion to its South African division.

Telkom said that although the entire industry noticed declines in traditional voice revenue, it had not seen a significant shift in the past five years.

However, the operator noted that it observed a decline in traditional voice usage at the customer level over the past three years.

“This is a positive shift, in line with Telkom’s strategy, as it confirms that our broadband (data connectivity) leadership strategy is working,” Telkom told MyBroadband.

Telkom said its increase in data subscribers and data revenue is a turning for it and the industry at large.

“The substitution of voice for data is observed in the traffic shift from traditional voice to VoLTE and IM services on our network.”

MTN said it has also noticed a decline in voice revenue, reflecting evolving customer needs and preferences.

However, increased data subscribers have helped recoup some of this revenue.

“The rise in mobile data usage and the growing number of data subscribers in South Africa have helped mitigate some of the decline in mobile voice revenue,” MTN told MyBroadband.

“While data has become a primary revenue driver, the overall market dynamics are complex.”

Like Vodacom, MTN also emphasised that it had started diversifying its revenue streams.

These include financial services, enterprise, fibre connectivity, network-as-a-service, content, and digital services.

Cell C did not provide feedback by publication.

BMIT attributes the drop in voice revenue to the uptake of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) platforms like Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp.

“WhatsApp is the most popular application for daily communication by individuals and smaller businesses, with its compelling offer of free calling and messaging and group communication functionality,” says BMIT managing director Chris Geerdts.

VodaPay and MTN MoMo

Financial services have been one of Vodacom and MTN’s major focus areas for revenue diversification in recent years.

Vodacom offers its financial services through VodaPay, while MTN has its MoMo platform.

The operators leverage their extensive footprints, established digital platforms, recognisable brands, and value-adds like airtime and discounts to reach and acquire customers quickly.

Vodacom offers four levels of VodaPay wallets — Entry, Lite, Essential, and Pro — for varying payment, money transfer, and cash withdrawal services.

All four wallet levels have no monthly fees and are available to non-Vodacom customers.

Customers must add money to their wallets via EFT, bank card, or at a retailer. Vodacom only charges for cash-outs, not deposits.

Retailers supporting VodaPay deposits are Boxer, Builders, Cambridge Foods, Game, Makro, Pick n Pay, and Rhino.

Withdrawing money can be done through a “Cash out voucher” in the app, where the user must also select their preferred withdrawal channel.

MTN MoMo is similar to VodaPay in many respects. Like VodaPay, it has no monthly charge, is available to non-MTN customers, and works through a mobile app.

Both apps offer virtual cards that lets users make payments that way.

MTN signed an agreement with Mastercard — which took up a minority shareholding in MoMo in early 2024 — to offer all its customers a free virtual card and physical companion card.