Good afternoon, everyone. It's Nondyebo Mqulwana speaking. I'm the head of investor relations at Telkom. Welcome to our Q&A session for the interim results we published earlier this morning. On the call with me, I have our Group CEO, Mr. Serame Taukobong, as well as our Group CFO, Mrs. Nonkululeko Dlamini, as well as the investor relations team. Just to talk through the order of the call, Serame will take us through some key messages on our results, and then we'll go to—we'll take your questions. The call is set to conclude at 5:00 P.M., depending on the interactions. Over to you, Serame.
Thank you kindly, madam. Greetings to everyone on the call. I'll take you through the highlights of our interim results. Our strategy continues to drive performance. Our results for the period demonstrate a robust and steady operational performance, building on the progress made earlier in the previous year. We saw solid data revenue growth driven by compelling data propositions. Cost optimization programs yielded the results desired. We sustained positive free cash flow. The Telkom Retirement Fund was successfully converted into a defined contribution fund. Smart Capex investment and monetization of our infrastructure continues, as well as execution on disposals of non-core assets. Group revenue grew, with mobile data revenue increasing by 12.7% and a 15.5% growth in fiber data revenue. Our adjusted EBITDA improved impressively to ZAR 5.6 billion, yielding an EBITDA margin of 26.2%.
We have a much stronger and healthier balance sheet, with an improved adjusted net debt to EBITDA. Free cash flow improved to ZAR 768 million. Execution on disposable non-core assets. Gyro realized ZAR 204 million from property sales, with 39 properties in the conveyancing process. On the Swiftnet transaction, we obtained the Competition Tribunal's approval, and we are awaiting ICASA's license transfer approval. Key highlights of the performance of our business units: our mobile business delivered a performance that was ahead of the market, growing service revenue by 10%, with total mobile subscriber growth of 24% to 22 million subscribers. Prepaid subscribers increased by 29.1%, while maintaining a stable ARPU of ZAR 61. On the data front, mobile data subscribers increased by 19.6%, surpassing the market of 14 million subscribers, the mark of 14 million subscribers. Openserve grew total Next Generation Revenue by 5.6 percentage points.
Next Generation Revenue for the business now constitutes 80.9% of operating revenue, up from 74% in the previous period. Openserve's Connect Led strategy continues to deliver a market-leading connectivity rate, which is at 49.7% for the period. Openserve continues to invest in the last mile, with homes passed increasing by 11.9% and homes connected by 18.1%. Excuse me. BCX IT revenue is holding stable. For BCX, we continue to focus on the following: growing IT service revenue and improving margins, cost containment and right-sizing the business. Approximately 400 people have exited in this regard. Portfolio optimization and sales effectiveness, as well as protecting the converged communications revenue through phased migration. I will now hand over to the operator for Q&A.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, you may press star and then one on your touch-tone phone or on the keypad on your screen. You will hear a confirmation tone that you have joined the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may press star and then two to remove yourself from the question queue. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, you may press star and then one. The first question we have is from Preshendran Odayar of Nedbank CIB. Please go ahead. Preshendran, your line is live. You may go ahead. Since we have no response from that line at the moment, the next question we have is from Myron Rajaratnam of MIPF. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity to ask some questions. The Competition Tribunal ruling on the CIVH deal, in a bizarre sort of set of circumstances, it's positive either way they rule, in the sense that if they rule positively and allow the deal to go ahead, there are more suitors available for Telkom, including, I mean, potentially MTN who can come back. And if they rule against it, then does this not give you an opportunity to get ahead of the competition? Because your primary competitor in this space is sort of cash flow-starved and debt burdened in some sense on the fiber to the home and fiber to the base station and so on. So is this not an opportunity, especially since you are seeing some unexpected positive windfalls from things like property? I think ZAR 250 million this half, and there's potentially ZAR 700 million.
So let's call it ZAR 1 billion. Is it not worthwhile giving that to Althon and let him go a bit wild and build it out while the friendly chaps in Stellenbosch are waiting? Thank you.
Thank you, Myron. I'm sure Althon would love to hear your words. On a serious note, I think with or without the ruling, our strategy is clear. I think we've set our blue path, and you're absolutely right. I think the key focus for us is we continue on our path. And especially if you look at what has been published in terms of the competition slowing down on the rate of acceleration, we have continued with our Connect Led and responsible rate of acquisition, which will continue to do so.
I think the key focus, as we've always said, is we drive Openserve on balancing homes passed with homes connected to ensure that it is a more efficient way of deploying our CapEx, making sure that where we're passing the homes, it is capturing the right audience that will ensure that we connect those homes that we pass and drive the right return on our investment. So yes, Myron, we will certainly continue on the strategy that we are on.
Great. Thank you. I'll go back in the queue and see if anybody else wants to ask questions. Thank you.
The next question we have is from Preshendran Odayar of Nedbank CIB. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Sorry.
Thanks. We can hear you. You can go ahead.
Oh, okay. Sorry about that. So yes, congrats on the results. A few questions from me. Staff cost in Gyro was very low in this period. It showed ZAR 19 million in the results for these. Is that right? And why was it so low? And is there any expectation? What are you for? Sorry, what is the run rate we can expect for the rest of the year? And also, there was an amount in Gyro of ZAR 163 million in other income. If you can, just please unpack that. And last question, just on the Google agreement, because I've got a few clients asking me questions about this, because I remember it being a bit of a prepayment that they had made to you, and you had also prepaid for the right to use two of those cable strands.
I think Google was paying for the landing site and services that once it hit South African shores. I don't know if, I mean, without diverging any of the commercially sensitive information, can you just talk us through the mechanics and the numbers around that? Because I think a lot of guys are getting confused with what you disclosed about the ZAR 1.1 billion effect on this. Yeah, that's it from me. Thanks.
Thank you, Preshen. Maybe let me start with the Google transaction. Indeed, this is coming from as far back as 2023, which was H1 of 2024, where between ourselves as Telkom and Google, we entered into, call it back-to-back, where there were going to be some arrangements for them to utilize a landing station, and we would have their fiber repair arrangement on their side as well. What that meant then was that there was a back-to-back contract where they would make payments to Telkom, but we would also make payments to them. The difference that you see of ZAR 1 billion is really a timing difference, if you like, because in the total contractual arrangement, net net, we were going to be almost neutral.
It's just that when the payment process started, which was in H1 2024, there was a payment incoming from Google as a portion of what their portion would be of the upfront payments that we were to make. And Telkom's one was a bit lagging, which is why you are seeing ZAR 1 billion from Telkom now. So if you look at it net to net from the portion that Google would have paid us in the 2024 financial year and the outflow from Telkom, it is basically then covering all the upfront payments that we agreed. And the unwinding process, which is in relation to this long-term contract, which is about 15 years, is then going to be an unwinding of those upfront payments.
So yes, there is a ZAR 1 billion outflow, but it's netting off a payment from Google last year and the portion that they've paid now. So it's not a significantly new thing. It's netting off what has already started a year ago. So that is the Google transaction story.
The staff costs, the lower staff costs that you see in Gyro, Presh, greetings. As part of the Swiftnet transaction, the trigger was to divisionalize Gyro. So the staff in Gyro then have been absorbed in group, and some have then been moved across various divisions. So the lower staff cost then reflects the members of staff that are pertaining to the Swiftnet transaction. So those are the guys that then are still running the towers operation. So that's why you see the lower number of staff that remain in Gyro. And the ZAR 160 other income is from property sales. Got that, Presh?
Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Thanks very, very much for both of those explanations as well, Nonkululeko. I think, yeah, I think a lot of investors were just getting worried about this ZAR 1 billion outflow, but I think I also got the gist of it. I also remember it being a timing issue. So well done keeping your gearing strong, even though you had to check. Yeah, thanks.
The next question we have is from Madhvendra Singh of HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. Thanks for taking my question. I have two questions. The first question is on your plans around dividends. Given such a strong performance, I think this is if you could share what is your current thinking and by when do you think you can start paying dividends again, as well as in terms of magnitude, how should we think about that? And the second question is a very short follow-up. I think I missed that in the morning, but if you could share what is your current network capacity utilization on average on your mobile network? Thank you. Data network. Yeah. Thanks.
Yes, thank you. We touched on this a bit earlier. We are looking at a dividend policy that would have been approved and announced by the board in March 2024. I think it's very clear and crisp in terms of how the dividend would be calculated, which we said would be 30%-40% of the free cash flows. I think what is to be noted on the dividend policy is that at the time of getting to that point, the dividend policy as it stands, the board will have to reflect on the free cash flow at that point in time and take a decision.
With regards to the available cash facilities and basically how we are looking at the process we're going through to close out on the Swiftnet transaction, you may recall that when we issued the circular, we were very clearly saying our priority is to reduce debt and the gearing in the balance sheet, and we are still steadfast on basically making sure that we continue on that journey to reduce the debt on the balance sheet. The second element, we did say that we would like to ensure that where there's capital requirements, we prioritize that as well after we are comfortable that the balance sheet is well resilient and leveraged in the level that is comfortable. So we have not changed that position, and the dividend policy will be applied depending on the position when we get to the financial year end.
I think just to also indicate, we do not have an interim dividend position in terms of our policy. We've committed to the dividend at year end once all the assessments have been made with the priorities, as I've indicated, of reducing debt, CapEx as a priority, and the board would then have to decide at that point.
Thanks. And in terms of your network capacity question, maybe I should actually answer it more extensively. So I think we should look at the network in three elements. So from a RAN perspective, we'll take you back to pre-auction, especially with the temporary spectrum that we were allocated. So we gave the mobile team then additional CapEx where they pre-invested in the RAN capacity. And we then got the auction and the spectrum in the right investment that we did, which means that not only did we build up for the sub-1 gig, which we never had, plus also capacity for the 2300 that we had. And we have successfully deployed that sub-1 gig to build then capacity on the RAN.
Equally, we've always mentioned to the market that over 75% of our RAN has fiber in terms of backhaul, which is quite key for carrying that data capacity that we have. And we are also continuing the investing in our core upgrades to manage then the data demand. So that is the three key elements to ensuring that we've got the capacity required to carry the data. I hope that answers you.
It does. It helps understand the context, but I was still wondering if you think about your own site and given the combination of your fiber to those sites, would you say 50% of the capacity is still free on the radios or 30%? Or is there a number you could share on that on average?
We generally don't disclose the utilization of that, but we have made the right investments to ensure that. Remember that Telkom Mobile was one of the first networks, for example, to deploy massive MIMO on our networks, and we continue to deploy such technologies.
Okay. Great. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, just another reminder. If you would like to ask a question, you're welcome to press star and then one. The next question we have is from Nadim Mohamed of SBG Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, Serame, to the rest of the team. Congrats on the great set of results. Just three questions from my side. Just firstly, in terms of mobile data volumes, it definitely seems to be a step up in Q1 and Q2 to about a 26% growth year on year compared to roughly 20% prior to that. Just wanted to understand if you can give us some clarity as to what's driving that. We'd love to understand that. Secondly, just on your beyond connectivity revenue, it seems to have ticked up quite quickly to 7% of operating revenue for mobile. Just want to understand what are your propositions going forward that you're looking to introduce to your base? And do you see that ticking up further from year one?
Then lastly, I recall in previous conversations that you mentioned that there's a difference in how backhaul is accounted for within your mobile sort of reporting, and that if you were to sort of capitalize that, you'd have much higher EBITDA margins. Now, given the expansion of your margins, I assume that on a normalized basis, that margin is now in the mid-30s or even upper 30s, more in line with your peers. That would be a fantastic achievement given your scale. I just want to understand, does your data-led model lend you towards sort of higher efficiencies once you scale up? We'd like to understand that. If you can add any kind of that, it would be appreciated.
Thanks, Nadim. I did miss your second question. Can you just repeat that for me, please?
Oh, second question just on your beyond connectivity revenue. I believe it's 7% of operating revenue. I want to understand what are the next set of propositions that you're looking at or how you're planning to grow that going forward.
Thank you. So if you look at the data volumes, Nadim, and thank you for your questions. Data volumes, really, if you look at where the growth is coming from, it mirrors the growth that we're seeing in prepaid. So in prepaid, that's where a significant portion of that growth is coming from. So your prepaid growth is also showing growth in prepaid data. And as we've said, it is the migration in 2G to 4G subscribers. As subscribers are moving from 2G to 3G from other competitors, they're finding attractive propositions in what we have in Telkom Mobile. As I indicated also in my presentation, our data packages go into quite deep segmented propositions from your low kind of daily, hourly bundles all the way up to your high-end mobile bundles.
We just don't focus on your high LTE data bundles, but also your smaller denomination, weekly, daily, monthly propositions. What's been quite attractive, for instance, is your bundle offerings that include even WhatsApp calling, which is what the market uses. It is that attractiveness of those price points that drive that growth. Beyond connectivity revenue, as we had indicated, the team has, for instance, employed people like Randall into Lunga Siyo's team, who brings in the skill set of having that intrinsic knowledge of dealing with that rich media space. We have also indicated that we're not going to open up a media company, but rather how do we partner with that rich media space, driving the right propositions because it's not just about offering more free data, but the relevant content for those subscribers. What you're finding is those short-type media content. I call it TikTok.
I'm always corrected, TikTok and Bookface and Instagram, all these things that I get wrong. But that's where you're finding the high attractiveness for our customers. And it's having those right packages in that space. And that is where, Nadim, I mean, Nadim, the focus is going to be in that regard. So if you look, you're absolutely right that in the treatment of that backhaul and the work that Lunga Siyo and the team have done in the efficiencies at the current rate of EBITDA of 27%, yes, if you normalize and treat that backhaul then in the same level as its peers, it will get it closer then to the mid-30's in terms of the implied EBITDA margin for mobile. So your calculation is right, Nadim.
Thank you. Just a comment on that. I mean, your data-led model, I mean, do you think that lends you to better efficiencies than, let's say, the kind of models that your peers are deploying with their own old infrastructure? Do you think, for example, I'm just trying to get at this, do you think there's room to improve on those margins, or do you think they look pretty tough given the relative difference narrowing quite substantially?
I think it's the mix. I must be realistic. If you look at the current levels of the EBITDA margins of our peers, it is still enjoying the benefits of the high margins of 2G voice. Now, that is almost like legacy copper was to us. And as that base starts eroding, I think it will come to the realistic levels of where data kind of margins are. So I think that's where the market evolution is going to, Nadim.
Thank you very much.
We have a follow-up question from Myron Rajaratnam of MIPF. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks. A couple of clarifications and then a couple of questions. Just a quick clarification for Nonq. When she said 40% of free cash flow, I might have missed it. Is that operating free cash flow in the sense that it's from your operations rather than any windfall-like property transactions included in there or not?
So the Free Cash Flow that we look at is inclusive of things like your sale of property because it's a continuous journey we are on. If I just look at the property part of our business, we will continue to consolidate for quite an extended time. But if you look at other elements like your investing activities, if you like, or cash flow from selling the likes of, let's assume, the Swiftnet transaction, that is not part of our Free Cash Flow calculation.
Sure. Thank you. Then a question to Serame. You mentioned Massive MIMO being switched on. You've given us that 75% of your RANs have connection to fiber. What percentage of your sites are switched on to Massive MIMO at the moment? Can you give us a sense? Is it 50%? Is it 30%?
Now, what I'll say, Myron, is that we were one of the first operators to switch on to deploy Massive MIMO. So we have been deploying Massive MIMO since it was launched into the market.
Right. And is it across the network? Is it part of the network? Is it only in built-up areas? Just want to get a sense of that.
It's across the network. So it will be deployed where labor in the team see the high concentration and the need for it. I can't give you an exact number of sites rolled out, but I'll make that available for you, Sir.
Thank you. And the last one is a question. Your big peers are growing service revenue at 1%-2% in South Africa, and you're growing it at 10%. I mean, is it fair to say you're winning market share? And my question is specifically, do you think you're winning market share across the board or from one particular player? Is it just your propositions are just appealing across the board? Because you seem to be winning good quality customers. I mean, is that also a fair statement to make given your outputs are not diluting like we saw with Vodacom, I think, last year when they put on a lot of subscribers and washed it out again?
Yeah. I think if you may allow me to, Myron, I'd like to change and answer to say we'd like to look at revenue share. And as you want to move us from the washing machine of some market share to revenue share, because your basis is right, it's about the 10% growth in revenue share. And that's the key thing for us and where I'd like us to be constantly measured in terms of our growth in service revenue, particularly driven by data revenue growth, because I think that's where the long-term view of this market is going to be. It's about share of data revenue, and we are growing equally from both segments. And the opportunity that lies for us is there is still quite a significant 2G, 3G base across both operators, whereas we have almost a negligible 2G base.
And where the market is evolving, as naturally would, is customers as they grow from 2G to 4G, they are looking for a proposition that makes sense for them. And I think Telkom Mobile has built such a proposition. Now, those of you like yourself, Myron, who've been in the industry for a long time, know that when a customer moves from 2G to 3G, empirically, the output almost doubles or triples because customers start using WhatsApp and Facebook and social media, etc. And we've built that proposition that's attractive for those 2G subscribers. So that's where we are growing.
Right. And last question. Are you seeing competition in the fixed wireless access space? Because some of your peers are monetizing the spectrum they want and starting to show some propositions in the market. So how are you thinking about that? What's the market dynamics there? Thank you. That's it.
Well, there is competition. I will also remind the audience that when Spectrum was released, there was market expectation that we would see fierce competition in that regard. We've always maintained that. One had to look at the context of the fact that we were complementing the Spectrum that we acquired with sub-1 GHz, whereas our competition, even above the rather large amounts of money they spent to acquire that Spectrum, had to further then invest in the infrastructure to support that Spectrum, number one. Number two, if you look at the price points where they were charging in data, it was a significant drop for them to come to match us. So where there's been fierce competition in that regard, we have not followed in price. We followed in value.
That to match the price points, we've made sure that we keep the same nominal price point but offer our customers more value, which is where they've not been able to compete. So that's how we've managed to, one, keep the price differential and maintain our customers.
Well done. Thank you so much. And keep up the good work, guys. Great performance. Ciao.
Thank you, Kyle and Myron .
The next question we have is a follow-up question from Preshendran Odayar of Nedbank. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks, guys. Just a follow-up from Nadim's question on the margins. I mean, you guys did well to achieve your 25% margin before the end of FY25. And I know you did allude to the fact that you don't have much 2G subscribers. I think all your 2G subscribers roam on the other networks. But where is there room for, should I rather ask, is there still room for margin expansion beyond this 20%? Does it normalize back to 25%? I don't know, some sort of medium-term guidance for this? Because you're right, your competitors, I mean, they're not really growing much on their top line, but they're still holding firm to their mid- to high-30% margin range. If you can just share some color on what you guys are targeting now beyond the 25% by 25 margin. Thanks.
Yeah. I think, Presh, if Hasnain was in the room, he'd most probably be putting his lightweight quite on my chest. But if I look at the guidance, I mean, 25-25 was a firm target for them. I think what's important is in the second half of the year, obviously, we know how the seasonality of the market proceeds. We've got to cut the guys some slack in terms of them making sure that they do the right intrinsics and investments in their business. I think in the range of where their ambitions are to be, in the mark of between, I'd say, 26-28 would be a good benchmark for them to aim to in the next two to three years in really making sure that we've got the right efficiencies in the market and the right expansion.
I think if we look at where they want to go, particularly in expanding their digital ambitions in there, we need to invest in the brand. A key thing for us is balancing acquisition with retention and how they actually continue to make sure that growing that output and maintaining that prepaid output above that 61 level is going to require them to be investing more in retention as well to get them within that ballpark.
No, thanks. Thanks very much, Serame. Well done. Good set of numbers you guys printed.
Thank you, Kyle and Presh .
At this moment, we have no further questions on the conference call, and I would like to hand back to Serame for any closing remarks.
Thank you, Kyle. I think, as we mentioned in our presentation, we are on a journey. We don't claim that we have landed. This is an early update of where we need to go. Not all the intrinsics are in place, but we firmly believe that we've got a strong team operating and believing in the spirit of One Telkom. We are certainly focused on execution. We are certainly focused on ensuring that our say-do ratio is significantly improved. We look forward and are quite appreciative of your continued support. We will chat to you in our next call. Thank you and have a wonderful day onwards.
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.