Telkom plans to raise R1 billion by selling “qualifying device receivables” to financial institutions.
“The working capital investment in mobile handsets and post-paid cost of sales are immediate costs, with corresponding revenues recognised over 24 to 36 months and thereby do not immediately offset the upfront costs associated with growing our post-paid subscriber base,” Telkom stated.In response to this, Telkom said it embarked on cost-saving initiatives hoping to return to a blended group EBITDA margin of 25% over the next six to eighteen months.
“The benefits of these initiatives are expected to be visible in the medium term from FY2024 onwards.” Telkom Mobile revenue was up 7% to R5.7 billion, with mobile data traffic up 25.6% year-on-year to 309 petabytes . Mobile data subscribers increased 12.9% to 18.6 million.Openserve reported a 15% fixed data traffic increase to 492PB.“While the group saw an uplift in Q3 FY2023 revenue, the annual trend of declining profitability is expected to continue into the fourth quarter,” it said.