(Corrects to show amounts in fifth paragraph are for money spent.)

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Vodacom Group Ltd., the largest provider of mobile-phone services to South Africans, will spend 1 billion rand ($134 million) less than planned in Africa in the next six months as sales in Tanzania and Mozambique slow.

Capital spent on the continent outside of South Africa will be 2 billion rand instead of 3 billion rand, Chief Executive Officer Pieter Uys said in a phone interview today. Vodacom still plans to spend 5 billion rand in South Africa, in line with earlier forecasts, because there is “good growth” in the country, he said.

Johannesburg-based Vodacom’s first-half profit was almost wiped out after it wrote down the value of its Gateway Communications Ltd. business, which provides satellite carrier services for voice and data in Africa. Vodacom, which is controlled by Vodafone Group Plc, paid $700 million for Gateway last year.

The purchase “was just before the global economic crisis hit everybody,” Uys said. The CEO “hopes” the impairment will be the last time the Nigeria-based unit will need to be revalued. Vodacom has also changed management at Gateway, which has had to cut prices it charges operators, Uys said.

Cuts in capital are in line with how the businesses in those countries are performing, Uys said. Vodacom has spent 600 million rand in Tanzania and 300 million rand in Mozambique in the first half, Vodacom’s Chief Financial Officer Rob Shuter said in a conference call today.

Lost Customers

In South Africa, where the company has 28.2 million customers, economic indicators are “more positive,” he said. In the months of August and September, the group lost a net 1 million subscribers as a result of the implementation of a new law, which requires every mobile-phone SIM-card owner to register with an operator with proof of residence and identity.

The legislation “will definitely have an impact during the short- to medium-term both on revenue and on our number of subscribers,” Uys said on a conference call today. The government’s push to cut in half the fees mobile companies charge each other to terminate voice traffic across networks will hurt profitability, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicky Smith in Johannesburg at nsmith38@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 09:55 EST