Safaricom’s M-PESA services continues to be the key cash cow for the business, contributing 42.1 per cent of the telcos revenue in the six months to 30th September 2023, up from 39.3 per cent in the same period in 2022.

The telco recorded a growth in profitability for the six months to 30th September 2023 with the Kenyan business profits growing 10.9 per cent to KSh 41.6 billion. It attributed this growth in profitability to reduced prices for its products and services.

“We appreciate that everyone is going through a hard time and are committed as a business to support our customers cope. The reduced prices have seen our customers use more of our services hence the double-digit growth in profitability and revenue,” Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO says. 

• Voice which accounted for 27.5 per cent of the group’s revenue in previous half-year accounted for 24.6 per cent.
• Other key drivers include mobile data accounting for 18.8 per cent, while fixed enterprise services accounted for 2.8 per cent, of the profit.

During the period, one-month active M-PESA customers grew by 3.1 per cent Year on Year to 32.13 Million. Lipa Na M-PESA active merchants grew 22.3 per cent Year on Year to 658.35k while Pochi tills stood at 405.21k.

Overall, the group net income, excluding minority interest, recorded a positive net income growth at 2.1 per cent to KES.34.2 billion, up from a 10.6 per cent decline in FY23, while the group service revenue grew by 10 per cent.

Ethiopia Operations Grow

Ethiopia operations hit all major milestones, boosted by an accelerated commercial momentum including M-PESA roll out which has seen the company register over 1.2 million customers on the platform in less than two months.

“This confirms what we have been saying about Ethiopia in terms of how it will significantly support our growth into the future,” he said.

With only 35 per cent of Ethiopians being financially included, Safaricom’s strategic vision is to deepen financial inclusion and promote a cash-lite economy in Ethiopia.

“We see more opportunities with M-PESA and mobile data, though coming off a small base. We are particularly impressed with the usage levels in mobile data. Such levels were only realized in Kenya after close to 10 years of operations,” Mr Ndegwa said.

In September, Ethiopia average data usage at 4.3 gigabytes per customer was higher than Kenya’s 3.7 gigabytes.