Vumatel reported a 57% rise in operating profit to R2.16-billion for the 12 months to 31 March 2026, according to figures disclosed by Remgro in its results for the year to 30 June 2026. The jump follows Vodacom’s subscription for a 30% interest in Maziv, the holding company that combines Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa, on 1 December 2025.
Operating profit, the profit after operating expenses but before interest and tax, climbed alongside revenue, which grew 15.3% to R4.43-billion. Remgro attributes the revenue lift primarily to the Vodacom fibre infrastructure that was folded into Vumatel’s network, together with continued subscriber uptake on the existing network.
Dark Fibre Africa, the other half of Maziv, saw revenue rise 8.9% to R3.0-billion and operating profit increase 10.1% to R1.24-billion. The company says the Vodacom assets and demand from its fibre-to-the-business vertical drove the improvement.
What the numbers mean for the market
At the level of Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), the parent of Maziv, revenue for the period was R7.69-billion, up 13.8%, and EBITDA, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, rose 11.2%. CIVH contributed R319-million to Remgro’s headline earnings, a swing from a R93-million loss a year earlier.
Remgro notes that the comparison is not clean because Maziv and CIVH report to 31 March, while the assets acquired from Vodacom are only reflected for four months of the period. The company did not disclose how much of Vumatel’s 57% profit increase is organic versus attributable to the Vodacom network.
The transaction also involved the Herotel acquisition. Vumatel received Competition Tribunal approval for the Herotel deal on 23 December 2025 and final licence transfer clearance from Icasa in May 2026. Maziv bought a further 49.93% of Herotel from CIVH at a floor value of R2.75-billion in exchange for newly issued Maziv shares; Vodacom subscribed for at least R825-million in cash to restore its interest to 30%.
Remgro took R3.06-billion out in pre-implementation dividends across the two transactions, R2.66-billion after the Vodacom deal and a further R394-million on Herotel. The share of profit realised on the Herotel transaction was R461-million.
While the intrinsic value of CIVH rose only about 2% to R16.16-billion, the book value moved from R6.78-billion to R8.19-billion, reflecting the strategic shareholder and the consolidated assets. The modest re-rating may stem from the limited four-month exposure of the Vodacom assets in the reported period and the capital-expenditure commitments attached by the competition authorities.
For small and medium-size enterprises that rely on fibre connectivity, the consolidation could improve network reach in regional and rural areas, but the immediate impact on pricing or service terms remains unclear. The deal underscores the long-running regulatory hurdles, a four-year fight that only concluded when Icasa signed off in November 2025.
Remgro’s infrastructure pillar also saw Seacom contribute R71-million to headline earnings, up from R12-million the year before, indicating broader momentum in South Africa’s fibre market.
Read more about the implications for the telecom sector in our Tech & Telco coverage.
Vumatel’s business model, laying fibre infrastructure that internet service providers then sell access over, means its profitability is closely tied to how many households in an area actually take up a connection once the fibre passes their property, a metric known in the industry as penetration rate. Vodacom’s stake gives it a direct interest in that infrastructure layer at a time when mobile operators increasingly see fixed fibre as a complement to, rather than a competitor with, their mobile broadband business. Vumatel’s own network coverage and results disclosures carry further detail on the areas driving this growth. For related coverage, see this site’s Tech and Telco coverage.
