BusinessDay, By: David Dolan, Vodacom reports a slight rise in profit for the first half but cautions that it expects growth to slow in the second half, Vodacom Group reported a slight rise in first-half profit on Monday, helped by continued growth in its mobile data business and expansion outside its home market. However, the company cautioned that it expects growth to slow in the second half. Vodacom, which also operates in Tanzania, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 322,3 cents in the six months to end-September, compared with 303 cents a year earlier. Vodacom has been increasing its revenue from mobile data, which is seen as having a huge growth potential in Africa, where fixed-line Internet access is still rare. Although it boasts the largest market share in South Africa, Vodacom is dwarfed elsewhere by bigger rival MTN Group. Read Full: BusinessDay - Vodacom first-half earnings up on data boost ***
