The removal of transaction charges for M-PESA transactions below Kshs,1,000 over coronavirus outbreak has seen Safaricom lose Ksh.650 million in March.
This was part of the move that the CBK had agreed with P2P providers to promote cashless payments and reduce the handling of physical cash as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Given that the waiver kicked off on March 17, the telco says it lost Ksh.650 million in just 15 days!
Earlier this month, the telco revealed that the free cash transfers could cost them a whopping Ksh5.5 billion, an equivalent of 7.3 percent of M-Pesa’s annual revenue, according to BDA.
In an interview, Safaricom ‘s new CEO, Peter Ndegwa, revealed to CitizenTV that the move would cost the telco Kshs 5.5 billion “over the next three months.”
Announcing the 2020 Financial year results earlier today, Safaricom’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Sateesh Kamath said despite the impact it had on their business, they “absolutely believe it was the right thing to do in order to support the people around us.”
The company’s mobile money product was also affected by the reduction in betting activities in the country. M-PESA’s revenue from betting was down by 33 percent, or Kshs 1.9 billion, compared to the previous financial year ended March 2019.
Despite these unfortunate occurrences, overall M-PESA revenue grew by Ksh.11.9 billion, or 17.2% YoY. In general, the telco raked in Kshs 71.7 Billion in the financial year ending March 2020.
Featured Image: Safaricom’s Sateesh Kamath during FY20 announcement
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.
One Comment