Telkom added more than 160,000 new homes to its fibre network in the past year as the group steps up its push to take high-speed connectivity to South African households.
The entity is growing home connectivity through both fibre and mobile data services, reflecting changing consumer behaviour as households increasingly rely on fast, reliable internet for streaming, remote work and online education.
“We have built a unique ecosystem that leverages the strengths of Openserve’s fibre network and Mobile’s consumer reach to drive continued, resilient growth,” said Telkom CEO Serame Taukobong.
“As the backbone of South Africa’s digital future, this allows us to support households, small businesses and government with differentiated, competitive offerings.”
Openserve, Telkom’s fibre network subsidiary, said the number of homes passed by its fibre network increased by 11.6% to 1.54-million, while the number of connected homes rose by 17.7% to 817,540 in the financial year ended March 2026.
This lifted Openserve’s connectivity rate to 53.1%, underlining growing demand from households seeking stable broadband connections.
The unit’s total revenue increased 2.3% to R12.6bn, while fibre-related data revenue rose 8.1% to R10.1bn. Telkom said Openserve had “achieved a significant milestone, recording full-year overall revenue growth for the first time in nine financial years, an indication that the transition to fibre services is largely complete”.
On the consumer side, Telkom’s mobile division surpassed 25-million subscribers and recorded its 14th consecutive quarter of service revenue growth.
Mobile service revenue increased 6.8% to R22.4bn, with prepaid revenue climbing 10.3% to R15.4bn. The performance reflects strong uptake among households using mobile data as either a primary or complementary connection to fibre. Data usage trends point to this shift. Mobile data subscribers grew 31.1% to almost 20-million, now making up 77.8% of the subscriber base. Mobile data revenue rose 10.5% to R17.8bn, driven by an 18.5% increase in data traffic to more than 2,000 petabytes. Telkom group data revenue was up 7.6% to R26.6bn.
Telkom is also seeing traction beyond major metros, with double-digit revenue growth in non-urban areas where traditional broadband penetration has been limited.
To support this demand, the group continues to invest heavily in its network. Capital expenditure increased 10.4% to R6.4bn, with spending focused on expanding fibre coverage and strengthening mobile infrastructure to improve customer experience and sustain long-term growth.
“Our data-led strategy remains the key growth driver,” said Taukobong. “By allocating capital to projects that enhance returns, we will continue to execute with discipline while bringing connectivity closer to more homes.”
Looking ahead, Telkom expects its consumer business to continue driving growth through prepaid mobile services and improved customer experience, while Openserve focuses on expanding broadband access across households and businesses.
“Most of our business units are already delivering quality outcomes,” Taukobong said, adding that the next phase would focus on improving efficiencies and sustaining growth across the group.
Group revenue grew 1.4% to R44.5bn for the year to March. The group declared an ordinary dividend per share of 270c, up 65.7%.
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