Kenya’s leading telco Safaricom net profit stood at Ksh.52.48 billion in the full year ended March 2023, down from Ksh.67.49 billion recorded in the previous period.
This is according to the performance results released on Thursday morning.
At the same time, the telco announced that it had been granted the license to operate mobile money services in Ethiopia. The license, which cost Safaricom $150 million came seven months after the commercial launch of GSM services.
In the period under review, Safaricom Ethiopia added close to 3 million customers and built a distributor network of over 114 outlets, delivered an award-winning premium quality network in 22 cities and regions; with close to 1300 network sites and over 900 staff, 81% of whom are Ethiopians.
The Kenyan unit posted a net income increase of 3.0% to KES 74.5 billion.
Safaricom increased its Group Service Revenue by 5.2% to KES 295.7 billion while the Group net income excluding minority interest declined by 10.6% attributable to expected start-up costs and investment in rolling out operations in Ethiopia within the year. Voice service revenue declined by 2.6% to KES 81.1 billion; mobile data revenue grew by 11.4% to KES 54.0 billion, while M-PESA revenue grew by 8.8% to KES 117.2 billion.
“We have delivered a solid set of results despite the tough operating environment occasioned by slowdown in business activity in an election year in Kenya, tough macro environment as well as change in mobile termination rates which impacted our voice revenues significantly.’’ Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom PLC CEO said.
‘’The business is stable and regained a strong positive momentum in the second half of the year. Looking into the future, we passionately believe that our business is well-positioned to support our customers and provide technology solutions as we transition into a purpose-led technology organization in line with our 5 YR strategy,” he added.
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