Vodacom Group saw an increase in customer numbers across its operations during the three months to the end of June, with CEO Shameel Joosub describing it as a “pleasing first quarter”.

At the end of June, Vodacom had 76.5 million customers across South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mosambique and Lesotho. It added 2.5 million during the quarter, of which 1.5 million were in its home market of South Africa.

But it was not all positives. In South Africa, average revenue per user was down almost 7 per cent year-on-year to ZAR96 ($7.20), which the CEO attributed to “robust demand for personal bundles” providing an effective reduction in price of 10 per cent on voice minutes and 17 per cent on data fees, as well as the addition of new, lower value, prepaid customers.

Despite the drop in average spend in its biggest operation – which makes up 80 per cent of the company’s revenue – the 10 per cent year-on-year increase in its customer base across its markets drove top-line growth.

Revenue for the quarter increased 4.2 per cent year-on-year to ZAR21.6 billion. The company does not reveal profit figures, or complete data sets for Q1.

In a statement, Joosub said he was pleased with the company’s quarterly performance, despite the “tough economic environment” in South Africa. He added Vodacom’s promotion of bundles and increased data allowances was “evidence of our commitment to lower the cost to communicate”.

Safaricom numbers are not included in its fiscal Q1 results, with figures reported on a six monthly basis.