Kenya’s largest telecom operator, Safaricom, has reported a 55% increase in operating profit for the first half of its financial year, driven by strong performance in its home market and a significant reduction in losses from its Ethiopia business.
The company posted an operating profit of KSh 65.2 billion (about $506 million) for the six months ending September 30. It also reaffirmed its full-year targets, signaling confidence in its growth strategy across East Africa.
Safaricom continues to rely heavily on its Kenyan operations, where mobile data, voice and M-Pesa mobile money services remain its biggest revenue sources. Group service revenue grew to KSh 199.9 billion in the period, compared with KSh 179.9 billion during the same half last year.
A key highlight was the turnaround in Ethiopia, where Safaricom launched commercial services in 2022 as part of Ethiopia’s telecom liberalisation programme. The loss from the Ethiopian business narrowed by 59% compared to the first half of the previous financial year, when operations had been hit by a sharp depreciation of the Ethiopian birr.
Management says growth in customer acquisitions, rising data usage and improved network rollout in Ethiopia are expected to make the market a major long-term earnings contributor. Ethiopia is Africa’s second-largest population market after Nigeria, offering huge future revenue potential as telecom penetration expands.
Safaricom is part-owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and the UK’s Vodafone, and forms a major pillar of Kenya’s economy, contributing a large share of market capitalisation on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Analysts say the company’s results indicate that its multi-country investment strategy is beginning to pay off, though currency risks and regulatory shifts in Ethiopia remain important factors to watch in the coming quarters.
Source:Africa Publicity
