A large share of prepaid airtime sales at Vodacom, MTN and Telkom comes from airtime given to customers on credit, according to an analysis by MyBroadband.
Vodacom reported that about half of its prepaid recharges in the year to March 2026 were bought on credit. This share has stayed mostly the same for three years.
MyBroadband said that if all credit purchases were removed, prepaid revenue at Vodacom and MTN in South Africa would have gone down.
Vodacom charges an access fee of R1.20 for every R10, or part of R10, of advanced airtime. This fee applies if the customer pays it back within a few days.
At MTN, the XtraTime Advance product made up 42% of purchases in the 2025 financial year. In 2026, that figure fell to 34%.
MTN said it chose to drop about 1.5 million prepaid customers who relied heavily on borrowed airtime. The company said many of them were avoiding repayment.
Telkom has moved the other way. The share of its mobile service revenue that comes from credit rose to 24.7% in its latest quarterly results.
The networks do not give enough detail to show what their revenue would be without credit sales, MyBroadband said.
Optasia, the company that provides the credit behind these airtime advance products, said its default rate across all its unsecured microloans is 1.2%. That figure covers all its loan products, not only airtime.
Vodacom and Telkom have not published repayment rates. MTN reported that 50% to 70% of advances are paid back within the same month.
This means 30% to 50% of MTN airtime or bundle advances are not paid back in the period without penalties. Networks can take unpaid amounts from a customer’s future airtime purchases.
None of the networks do extra identity checks before giving airtime on credit. Access is based mainly on how a customer has used the network before.
MyBroadband said the RICA registration system does not work properly. It said some users may run up large bills and then simply get a new SIM card.
The reliance on credit comes as growth at the two biggest networks has slowed. Vodacom’s revenue grew by 11.7% between its 2021 and 2026 financial years, from R56.4 billion to R64.4 billion.
MTN South Africa’s service revenue rose from R38.1 billion in 2020 to R44 billion in 2025. Both networks grew by less than 3% a year on average over that time.
Telkom’s service revenue grew from R16.9 billion in its 2021 financial year to R22.4 billion in 2026. It is still about a third of Vodacom’s and half of MTN’s.
MyBroadband said more people now use cheaper internet calling and messaging apps, which has cut voice and SMS income. Data prices have also fallen because of competition and regulation.
Even with lower prices than five years ago, many South Africans still cannot afford prepaid data or airtime. Many turn to advance products such as Vodacom Airtime Advance to stay connected.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.