Vodacom

VodaCom

The MTN Logo The MTN Logo
Company type	Private
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1994
Headquarters	South Africa
Key people	Pieter Uys, CEO
Products	GSM-related products Internet services
Revenue	90,100,000,000 rand (2019)
Number of employees	7,746 (2019)
Website	www.vodacom.co.za

Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the first cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 35 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2008 was 48.178 billion South African Rand. It is owned on a 50:50 basis by the South African telecommunications group Telkom and the British mobile phone operator Vodafone. On 6 November 2008 Vodafone announced that it had agreed to increase its stake to 65%, and Telkom said that it would spin off its remaining holding by listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. [1]

Vodacom is the leading cellular network in South Africa with an estimated market share of 58% and more than 23 million customers. Vodacom was also the first provider to deploy a 3G (third generation) or UMTS network in South Africa and is also offering HSDPA. Other network operators in the South African market include MTN and Cell C. Virgin Mobile is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator).

Vodacom provides coverage to Mount Kilimanjaro, which used to make it the highest point in the world to be covered by GSM. It no longer is, as China Mobile now provides coverage at the top of Mt. Everest, the highest point in the world. Vodacom was aided by its optimistic advertisements at the early stages of the democratic South Africa, this includes the yebo gogo campaign which is still in effect today in South Africa.

Sports sponsorship

Vodacom is a sponsor of South African sports. In rugby union, they are the sponsors for three teams (Pretoria-based Vodacom Blue Bulls, Bloemfontein-based Vodacom Free State Cheetahs, and Cape Town-based Vodacom Western Province) in the provincial Currie Cup competition.

In soccer they sponsor the two clubs in the Professional Soccer League, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, as well as Bloemfontein Celtic. They also sponsor the South African Football Association and the national teams Bafana Bafana (men), Banyana Banyana (women) and Amajita (under 20's). MTN is the sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa.

Vodacom also owns the naming rights to several stadia, among them Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein, Newlands Stadium in Cape Town and Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

External links

• Corporate Website