Silverio Omari
Safaricom Group demonstrated resilience against a series of socio-economic challenges, including floods, economic disruptions, and the effects of foreign exchange reforms on the Ethiopian currency. Despite these hurdles, the company achieved positive growth across its product offerings.
According to Dilip Pal, Safaricom’s Chief Financial Officer, M-Pesa accounted for 50% of the company’s total service revenue, which grew by 13.1% to Sh179.9 billion. The mobile money transfer segment alone contributed Sh77.24 billion, marking a 16.6% increase.
In Kenya, M-Pesa’s revenue saw robust growth of 16.6%, reaching Sh77.22 billion, driven by a 13.1% rise in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), which now stands at Sh389.27. Chargeable transactions per active customer rose by 25.6% to 37.37, while the number of one-month active users grew by 4.1% to 33.46 million. Additionally, M-Pesa agents increased by 2.4%, totaling 266,007.
“We have seen excellent performance in new products like Pochi la Biashara and merchant overdraft products, as we continue to support SMEs in our ecosystem,” Pal said. The number of Pochi Tills more than doubled to 869,020, while merchant overdraft (Fuliza) customers grew by 72.9% to 52,270.
Total M-Pesa transaction value increased by 10.7%, reaching Sh20.85 trillion, with transaction volumes growing 30.6% to 17.09 billion. M-Pesa now contributes 43.5% of the group’s service revenue.
In Ethiopia, M-Pesa’s revenue for the half-year reached Sh24.4 million, with 8.31 million registered customers. Active M-Pesa agents in Ethiopia stood at 3,160, while the number of active Lipa na M-Pesa merchants grew to 6,600. The volume and value transacted in Ethiopia reached 86.5 million and Sh10.94 billion, respectively.
The group’s voice revenue grew by 4.8%, reaching Sh40.87 billion, while mobile data contributed Sh37.6 billion, a 21.5% increase. Fixed internet revenue rose by 13.1%, totaling Sh8.3 billion, and SMS revenue grew by 8%, reaching Sh6.3 billion.
In Kenya, mobile data revenue saw a strong double-digit growth of 20.2%, reaching Sh35.6 billion, driven by a 13.5% increase in ARPU to Sh263.25. This growth was supported by higher customer numbers, device penetration, targeted content, personalized offers through data and analytics, and customer value management (CVM) initiatives. Active one-month mobile data customers grew by 10.5% to 28.83 million, while data usage per chargeable subscriber rose by 9.8% to 4.12GB.
The overall group customer base grew by 7.8% year-on-year, reaching 52.01 million, with one-month active customers increasing by 10.8% to 39.75 million. As of June 2024, Safaricom maintained its leadership in Kenya’s mobile network market with a share of 65.4%.
Dj Vnyash
