Safaricom reported a decline in voice revenue but strong growth in M-Pesa and mobile data services, according to a earnings statement by chairman Adil Khawaja on Thursday.
Voice revenue for the Kenyan telecom giant dropped 3.0% year-over-year to KES 38.69 billion for the first half of its 2023 fiscal year ending September 30. However, robust gains in M-Pesa mobile money and mobile data offset the voice revenue decline.
“M-PESA revenue recorded a strong growth of 16.5% year-over-year to KES 66.23 billion driven by 12.0% growth in average revenue per user to KES 344,” Khawaja said.
Mobile data revenue grew 12.5% versus last year to KES 29.59 billion. Khawaja credited Safaricom’s personalized customer offers for supporting increased data usage per subscriber, which rose 11.7% to 3.75GB.
Overall, Safaricom’s service revenue expanded 9.9% year-over-year to KES 159.1 billion for the six-month period. The company added 2.4 million customers to reach 48.2 million, representing a 66% market share in Kenya.
In a statement, CEO Peter Ndegwa said reducing prices has boosted usage and supported the double-digit jump in profitability.
“We have delivered a great set of results largely by supporting our customers with enhanced value and reduced prices on our products and services,” Ndegwa said.
Ndegwa highlighted the strong early results from Safaricom’s recent launch of M-Pesa mobile money services in Ethiopia, where over 1.2 million customers signed up within 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.
Safaricom reported 2.1% growth in net income excluding minority interests to KES 34.2 billion for the first half of 2023. Net income for the Kenya business jumped 10.9% year-over-year.
The company invested KES 41.9 billion in capital expenditures, including network expansion in Ethiopia. Safaricom said it has deployed over 2,000 network sites covering 30% of the Ethiopian population so far.
Safaricom continues to play a vital role for government finances in Kenya, contributing KES 69.1 billion in taxes and fees for the six-month period.
