Leading telecommunications firm Safaricom had announced that it made a Sh. 34.2 billion net profit in the half year ended September 2023.

This profit was 2.1 per cent higher than the profit that was made in the same period the previous year.

During the period under review, service revenues increased 8.5 per cent to Sh. 157.2 billion. Voice revenues fell by 3 per cent to Sh. 38.7 billion.

The company’s net income also demonstrated positive growth, and increased by 10.9 per cent year on year to Sh. 41.6 billion. The company’s CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) increased by 11.7 per cent year on year to Sh. 41.9 billion.

On M-Pesa, the company announced that the total M-Pesa value grew by 1.1 per cent to Sh. 18.3 trillion. At the same time, the value of Fuliza reached Sh. 419 billion during the half year period.

Safaricom further announced that mobile data usage has increased by 12.5 per cent due to an increase in usage and the adoption of smartphones.

67 per cent of the 21.4M smartphone users on its network are on 4G while its 5G platform has 510,000 users.

On its Ethiopian venture, Safaricom announced that it now has 4.1 million customers with a network coverage in 22 cities. It also has 1.2 million M-Pesa customers.

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In the same vein, Safaricom, including its Ethiopian operations, recorded a substantial 9.9 per cent year on year growth in service revenue, reaching Sh. 159.1 billion. This suggests that Safaricom’s expansion into Ethiopia is contributing positively to its overall revenue.

“69 per cent of Safaricom Ethiopia revenue is coming from data,” said Safaricom PLC chief finance officer Dilip Pal. “We have managed to pay off all the USD 400 Million loan that we took to finance the Ethiopia Licence.”

The company however lamented the tough working environment it is operating in due to the depreciation of the local currency.

“The Kenyan shillings depreciation against the dollar by 22.7 per cent as of September signifies the tough business operating environment,” said Safaricom Chairman Adil Khawaja.