JOHANNESBURG – South African telecom operator Telkom has announced that it will be looking into strategic alternatives for its IT business. It did this after reporting a jump of 30.4% in half-year profits.

Telkom’s IT division, which supplies enterprise solutions for businesses, has suffered from low investments, as well as global supply chain issues, chip shortages, and slow investment by companies hit by the pandemic.

According to the partly-state-owned operator, the intervention in the IT industry would not be restricted to strategic partnerships. Telkom explained that this was done to improve the capacity and capabilities of BCX in order to ensure continued growth.

BCX (Telkom’s information- and communications technology subsidiary, that operates and owns the IT business), saw its revenue drop by 6.1%, to 7.5 Billion rand ($498.24 Million) over the six months ending Sept. 30,

Its headline earnings (HEPS), the main measure of profit in South Africa rose to 285.5cs from 219cs last year. The increase was due to lower finance charges, fair value movements and lower finance fees. Fair value is an accounting term that refers to an adjustment in an asset’s carrying price.

EBITDA (group earnings before interest tax, amortization, depreciation, and amortization) was a measure for operating profit. However, group revenue was stable at 21.3 billion rand due to the growth in the mobile unit and masts & towers. The IT unit and decline in the fixed line unit offset the growth.

Telkom’s Consumer-focused Division, including its Mobile Business, saw growth with 6.8% mobile service revenue and 6.1% mobile data revenue.

(£1 = 15.0529 rand).