Ahead of the planned launch of Nigeria's Second National Operator, Globacom in Ghana, Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular operator, which is expected to be a close rival in Ghana, has made a cut in its tariff.The cut in tariff, Vodacom said would continue as offer promotional deals with the intent to stimulate voice and data use.The company also said that about 4.4 million subscribers were added to its network in the first half of the year as it rolled out aggressive campaigns after its colour change from blue to red. In South Africa, the operator gained 2.4 million more customers, most of who were from the prepaid segment of the market.According to the chief executive officer of the company, Pieter Uys, 'In South Africa, increased promotional activity and reduced data prices were well received, driving significant gains in both usage and customer numbers.'Vodacom is 'playing catch-up' to gain new customers after the SIM-card registration law caused it to deactivate more than 800 000 SIM cards in total, he said in a statement.It would be recalled that the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act ' was brought into effect in the middle of 2009 and required everyone to register their SIM card by the end of June this year, or be cut off from the network.Uys said that Vodacom expects some customers who were cut off returning as 'new' subscribers, while there is also growth in dual SIM cards saying that voice and data price promotions have aided the group to grow its base.Vodacom said that its effective average price per minute fell 24 per cent, while the average price of data declined 22 per cent during the first half of the year. He disclosed that consumers should expect to continue to benefit from competition in the market, as Vodacom would launch further promotional packages.He further said that the local economic outlook is worsening as the rand has weakened, which has hit consumers through higher food and fuel prices. Data competition has become 'more intense'.However, outgoing chief financial officer, Rob Shuter, who is heading for Vodafone Netherlands from March 2012, said that there is scope to trim prices even further stressing that the company is concerned that the state of the consumer may work its way into the numbers in the second half of the year.Shuter said that Vodacom expects to see slower service revenue growth, although its net profit should improve adding that in the first half, it was able to grow services revenue by 6 per cent, while net profit gained 2.8 per cent. Group customers increased by 22 per cent, with active data customers growing by 38 per cent.During the half, Vodacom improved data revenue by 29.4 per cent, while customers grew to 32 per cent.He also said that there are now about 4.1 million smartphones on Vodacom's local network after the addition of almost 900 000 handsets during the half noting that the growth rate of smartphone data traffic is 10 times higher than that of dongles and other modems. 'We reduced our data prices in order to maintain our competitive position and drive greater adoption and usage,' the company said.Uys said that the company would increase capital expenditure in the second half of the year as it seeks to expand coverage and improve stability.
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