MTN and Vodacom dwarf South Africa's listed tech sector

MTN Group and Vodacom Group, two of South Africa's telecommunications giants, each generated revenues of more than R1 billion in just two and three days respectively.

TechCentral analyzed companies listed in the technology section of the JSE, as well as companies in the tech-heavy telecommunications sector, to see how fast locally listed tech companies grow revenues.

Some things are worth noting. MultiChoice Group is included in the analysis despite its delisting in December 2025 following its acquisition by French pay-TV giant Groupe Canal+. Cell C, which was spun off from Blue Label Unlimited and listed separately in November last year, is also included based on Blue Label's most recent annual reporting – its revenues have not been deducted from Blue Label's figures.

The daily run rate is calculated by dividing the total annual revenue by 365. This crude average does not take into account seasonality, public holidays or other factors that determine the ebb and flow of income generation in a given financial year. All figures are taken from the latest available annual reports, covering individual financial year-ends.

With group revenues of R226.7-billion and R152.2-billion respectively, pan-African operators MTN and Vodacom are well ahead of their JSE-listed peers. MTN's daily run rates of around R621-million and Vodacom's R417-million highlight the sheer scale of the country's telecoms giants and the risks posed by any disruption to their operations.

Technology investment and e-commerce giant Naspers is close behind, taking about three days to raise Rs 1 billion in revenue.

chase pack

The chase pack is led by IT services firm Datatech (R67.3 billion annual revenue), followed by MultiChoice (R50.8 billion), with Telkom Group in sixth place overall. Platform specialist WeBuyCars (R26.4-billion) rounds out the group. Telkom's performance in the South African prepaid market has been excellent, but with rivals Vodacom and MTN changing strategies to gain market share, whether Telkom can maintain its gains remains to be seen.

Blue Label takes 26 days to make R1-billion and Reunart takes 27 days, with revenues in the range of R38-million/day. Lesaka Technologies is the first fintech to join the comparison, with newly listed Optasia (R4.4-billion) in 17th place. Optasia delivered better-than-expected results for the year ending December 31, 2025.

Ultron – another JSE stalwart – takes 37 days to make R1-billion. IT distribution group Mustek crosses the border in 51 days.

Rakshasa and Minnow

Going further down the table, the gaps increase dramatically and the data starts to tell a different kind of story.

The ICT services business made up of ICO, EOH, and Weaver Fintech sits at 66 and 67 days respectively. Karoo, parent company of vehicle tracking specialist Cartrack, takes 80 days, while Bytes Technology Group – a UK-listed but South Africa-origin software licensing and IT solutions business – reaches the milestone in 91 days.

Reading: Top performing South African tech stocks of 2025

eMedia Holdings needs 116 days and Nutun, the loan collection and BPO business spun out of Transaction Capital, needs 124 days. Araxi Group (trading as Capital Appreciation), a payments and fintech group, lasted 281 days, while PBT Holdings and Metrofile Holdings took 336 and 343 days, respectively. It takes exactly 365 days – exactly a full year – for 4Sight Holdings to generate R1 billion in revenue.

At the end of the table, ISA Holdings, the niche IT services business, will take 3 101 days – about eight and a half years – to generate R1 billion at the current daily run rate of R322 523. Africa Bitcoin Corporation, which generates an average of R20 782/day, would need 48 120 days – about 132 years. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media