Vodacom

It was owned in a 50/50 partnership by the South African telecommunications giant Telkom and British multinational operator Vodafone. On 6 November 2008, Vodafone announced that it had agreed to increase its stake to 64.5%, and Telkom said that it would spin off its remaining holding by listing it on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). On 1 April 2011, Vodacom officially unveiled its new change in branding from blue to red, using the same style as its parent company, Vodafone.

Vodacom provides coverage to Mount Kilimanjaro, which was the highest point in the world to be covered by GSM, until Axiata (through its subsidiary Ncell) provided coverage at the top of Mount Everest, the highest point in the world. Vodacom was aided by its optimistic advertisements at the early stages of the democratic South Africa, including the yebo gogo campaign which is still in effect today in Africa. Vodacom is the leading cellular network in South Africa with a market share of over 40% and more than 45 million users. The company has an estimated market share of 58% and more than 103 million customers across Africa.

In 2021, Vodacom proposed a merger with fibre group Maziv. In October 2024, the South African Competition Tribunal blocked the proposed merger. In November 2024, Vodacom said it would not look into other M&A deals.

In August 2025, Vodacom announced that it had made South Africa's first native call over 5G. The call used Vodacom’s Single Packet Core, and was made using Vodacom's test network - a step towards the company officially rolling out native 5G call services in SA.

In the same month, Vodacom's proposed acquisition of a 30% to 34.95% shareholding in fiber network operator Maziv, the parent company of Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa (DFA), was approved by the South African Competition Appeals Court.

The Court set aside the order of the Tribunal that prohibited the merger. However, on top of existing terms that were proposed, to limit anti-competitiveness in the South African fiber market, additional concessions were agreed upon to limit Vodacom’s influence over Maziv, and expand the former's capital expenditure commitments.

In December 2025, Vodacom announced its intention to increase its shareholding in Kenyan telecoms company Safaricom by 20%, taking its total ownership to a controlling shareholding of 54.9%. The deal also includes an upfront payment of R5.3 billion to secure the right to future Safaricom dividends that would otherwise go to the Kenyan government. At the time of the announcement, Safaricom held a 60% mobile market share in Kenya, and was valued at around R148 billion.

Vodacom South Africa provides 3G, 4G, and UMTS networks in South Africa, and also offers HSPA+ (21.1 Mbit/s), HSUPA (42 Mbit/s, 2100 MHz), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and LTE services. Vodacom was the first cellular provider to introduce LTE in South Africa. On 21 October 2015, Vodacom launched its fibre product to the home user. On 7 April 2017, Vodacom's 4G+ network in Brooklyn Mall, Pretoria achieved 240 Mbit/s in a speed test. In early 2020 Vodacom also became the second network operator in Africa to launch a live 5G network, initially available in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

In February 2022, Vodacom Group partnered with Amdocs, an Israeli-founded multinational telecommunications software company, to enhance its customer experience and billing systems with a cloud-native platform. As part of its modernization strategy, Vodacom implemented cloud-native charging solutions to unify its IT architecture across regional operations. The partnership also established an African Center of Excellence aimed at improving operational efficiencies and accelerating the deployment of 5G services across Vodacom's subsidiaries, including its networks in Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Controversies

JSE listing

On May 17, 2009, a court dismissed a joint Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and ICASA application to stop Vodacom's JSE listing. Chegoane Mabelane, a South African article writer and prominent supporter of both African National Congress (ANC) and its alliances; in one of his articles stated that the interdict to stop the listing was fair.

In January 2010, the Sunday Times alleged that Alan Knott-Craig (Senior), former Vodacom CEO, helped his son, Alan Knott-Craig with business ventures using Vodacom's resources. He also allegedly awarded a multimillion-rand contract to a marketing and advertising company run by his family members.

"Please Call Me"

In 2008, former employee Nkosana Makate took Vodacom to court, claiming that the profitable "Please Call Me" message service was originally his invention and demanding compensation. Eight years later, Makate eventually won his case in the Constitutional Court. Makate then entered negotiations with Vodacom for a 15% cut of the R70 billion ($4.74 billion) he claims "Please Call Me" has earned for Vodacom since its inception.

A 2014 judgement in the South Gauteng High Court supported Makate's claim to having originated "Please Call Me." The court heard that, in November 2000, Makate had shared his idea (initially termed the "buzz" idea) with Philip Geissler, then board member and director of product development and management at Vodacom. Geissler had agreed to give Makate a cut should the "Please Call Me" innovation prove a success (however, there was no such agreement, written, oral, or implied – and no evidence to support it). Makate's witnesses presented emails sent by Geissler (Geissler was never called to testify by either party, raising suspicion that both parties would not have benefited from what Geissler would say under oath) and an article in Vodacom's "Talk Time" internal newsletter (such newsletter was written, edited, and printed by a third party in Cape Town) which acknowledged and praised Makate for his idea and his contribution to the product.

The court also rejected former CEO Alan Knott-Craig's claim that he had come up with the idea. Knott-Craig had published the claim in his autobiography, and later repeated in court, that he had the idea while watching two security guards trying to communicate on phones without airtime. Yet the High Court found against Makate's claim for compensation, holding Vodacom's argument that Geissler had not had the authority to promise Makate such compensation and that the debt would have expired (in legal terms, been prescribed) within three years.

Makate took the case on appeal, and then took it to the Constitutional Court. In April 2016, Justice Chris Jafta found in Makate's favour and against Vodacom, overturning both judgements by the High Court, finding that Geissler had the authority to promise compensation, and that Makate's case was not based on an unpaid debt. In Jafta's words: “In not compensating the applicant [Makate] [….] Vodacom associated itself with the dishonourable conduct of its former CEO, Mr Knott-Craig and his colleague, Mr Geissler, and this leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It is not the kind of conduct to be expected from an ethical corporate entity.”