ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

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  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...

You can now buy Nando’s on credit from Vodacom

 

Vodacom has announced the launch of VodaLend Voucher Advance, which allows Vodacom customers to buy food and appliances on credit.

“Vodacom customers can now access vouchers from two leading brands thanks to the introduction of Voucher Advance, an innovative lending proposition and the first of its kind for South African consumers,” the company said.

“Through Voucher Advance, Vodacom customers can choose to ‘pay now’ and buy vouchers at a discounted rate or get an advance and ‘pay later’,” it added.

To qualify for Voucher Advance, customers need to be active on the Vodacom network for at least six months as well as have a proven track record of buying airtime or data bundles.

Currently qualifying Vodacom customers can access an interest free advance on a Nando’s voucher starting from R25, or a R250 advance on vouchers from Hirsch’s.

Vouchers can be accessed through the My Vodacom App, while a USSD functionality will be introduced at a later stage to accommodate all Vodacom customers.

Once a voucher has been issued, customers will have 30 days to pay back their Voucher Advance without paying interest. Vouchers remain valid for three years from the issue date.

Customers can access Voucher Advance under “Vouchers” in the “My Account” tab of the My Vodacom app.

Vodacom Quinton van Vuuren

Vodacom said Voucher Advance aims to disrupt the financial services space and create an inclusive digital society.

Executive Head of Lending at Vodacom Financial Services, Quintin Van Vuuren stated the operator was mindful of the fact that South Africans faced tough economic challenges.

“Our primary focus is to deliver seamless and rewarding experiences for customers and vendors in a cost-efficient way,” Van Vuuren said.

“With our digital lending solutions, we will continue to focus on addressing the challenges related to financial inclusion by going beyond traditional methods. We will continue to innovate to ensure all customers have access to financial services solutions, including those who are unbanked.

Voucher Advance is not Vodacom’s first venture into the lending arena.

The operator previously launched Airtime Advance, which has allowed Vodacom customers to buy airtime on credit. The service currently has around 11 million active users.

Now read: Cheapest prepaid data – Vodacom vs MTN vs Telkom vs Cell C

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