WhatsApp is eating up the revenue of South African operators

south african mobile According to Icasa's latest State of the ICT Sector report, operators carried 21.5% more voice traffic in 2025 than the previous year, but earned R10.4 billion less from mobile services – the clearest example yet of declining revenues due to so-called over-the-top (OTT) platforms and increasing price competition.

Total mobile services revenue fell 7.9% to R121.9 billion in the 12 months to September 2025, down from R132.4 billion a year earlier. The decline affected every major service category: mobile data revenue declined 3.1%, voice revenue declined 2%, outbound roaming declined 12.4%, and text and multimedia messaging revenue declined 37.9%.

Meanwhile, national mobile traffic increased from 73 billion to 88.6 billion minutes, with outgoing mobile calls within the same network increasing by 31.2%.

Icasa This divergence was directly attributed to OTT replacement as consumers moved to platforms like WhatsApp. “The decline in SMS and voice revenues is consistent with the long-term replacement of OTT messaging and calling applications,” the report said. “While these platforms reduce monetizable use of traditional services, they contribute to growing broadband demand as consumers increasingly rely on data-driven communications.”

The messaging collapse was most dramatic. Revenue from text and multimedia messaging services fell from R4.1 billion to R2.6 billion – a 37.9% decline in a year – as consumers turned to WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal for communication. Prepaid messaging revenue declined even more sharply, falling 49.2%.

Prepaid voice revenue declined by 7.6%, but prepaid data revenue increased by 7.7% to R42.1 billion as consumers began to shift spending toward data bundles for streaming, social media and mobile banking.

stable lines moving fast

The picture was completely different in fixed-line broadband. Total fixed internet and data revenue increased by 16.1% to R40.6 billion due to a 21.5% increase in revenue from fixed-wired broadband services. Fibre-to-the-home subscriptions topped three million for the first time, an increase of 22%. Total fixed broadband subscriptions increased by 19.3% to 3.26 million.

This paradox underlines a structural shift in South Africa's telecommunications market: traditional mobile services are being hollowed out by OTT alternatives, while fixed broadband – particularly fiber – is absorbing an increasing share of both consumer spending and operator investment. Total telecommunications investment changed accordingly, with fixed-wired investment increasing by 11.9% while mobile investment declining by 21.0%.

Reading: How a WhatsApp bundle exposed a fault line in SA Mobile

Despite the decline in mobile, total telecom revenues rose 1.6% to R236.4-billion, boosted by strong performance in fixed internet and other services, which increased 14.7%. However, the long-term decline continued with fixed-line voice revenues falling 11.8%.

The broader ICT sector – which includes telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services – grew by only 0.8% to R273.8 billion. Broadcasting revenues fell 4.6% to R33-billion, while postal revenues fell 2.3% to R4.3-billion.

Icasa used the report to signal a possible regulatory response, recommending “comprehensive market investigation of OTT communications and streaming services to assess their competitive impact on the ICT sector”. The Department of Communications' draft white paper on audio and audiovisual media services, published in 2025, has already proposed that licensing obligations could apply to global streaming platforms once revenue thresholds are met.

The report covers a 12-month period ending September 30, 2025 and is based on questionnaire responses from 103 telecom licensees, 48 ​​broadcasters and seven postal operators. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media