Kenya’s Safaricom records annual revenue of $3 billion, profit surge by 11% in FY’25

Kenya-based telecom Safaricom has seen its annual revenue increase to $3 billion (388.7 billion Ksh) for the year ending March 2025. This is a considerable improvement compared to an estimate of $2.9 billion (385.4 billion Ksh) posted the previous year. The company also saw its annual profit surge by 11 per cent, exceeding analysts’ expectations.

It also recorded a net income of $540 million (69.8 billion shillings) for the year ending March 2025. According to a Bloomberg survey, the figure slightly exceeded the 68.9 billion Khs estimated by analysts.

In a full-year financial report announced on Friday morning, the largest telecom provider in Kenya noted that its full-year earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the period were 104.1 billion Ksh ($807 million), higher than the group’s projected earnings of 94 to 100 billion Ksh.

Safaricom is partly owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone. It is a leading telecom company in East Africa with more than 55 million subscribers across markets like Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Lesotho, Ghana and Egypt.

Its expansion into Ethiopia in 2022 has yielded mixed results. While the expansion into Africa’s second most populous nation projects powerful future growth, Safaricom has had a bumpy ride so far in Ethiopia due to security, inflation, and currency challenges despite strong customer growth.

Also Read: Safaricom earmarks $300 million for M-PESA upgrade as it marks 18th anniversary.

Safaricom’s Lipa Mdogo Mdogo

In another significant milestone, Safaricom’s device financing program, Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, has sold over 2 million 4G smartphones since its inception in 2020. The telecom company noted that the initiative has been instrumental in bridging Kenya’s digital divide by enabling low-income customers to access smartphones through affordable daily instalments.

“Lipa Mdogo Mdogo will help the mwananchi who earn their wages daily acquire a range of smartphones and pay in easy daily instalments for as low as Kshs 20 while enjoying all the benefits that come with being digitally connected,” said Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom’s CEO, during the launch of the program in 2020.

Safaricom introduced the device financing plan in 2020 to spur 4G uptake in the country by upgrading customers from 2G feature phones to affordable 4G smartphones. As part of the initiative, the telecom company partnered with manufacturers such as Transsion, Samsung, and Nokia to incorporate more smartphones into the program.

The company expressed that the phones are designed to give users a great smartphone experience and empower them to access their favourite apps when on the move, conduct business, do other activities, get entertained, and stay connected.

Lipa Mdogo Mdogo has been delivered in partnership with Android, Google’s operating system for internet-enabled devices, while all smartphones on offer are pre-loaded with a suite of Google Apps, including search, maps, Gmail, and YouTube.

M-Pesa continued growth

Safaricom’s mobile money payment, M-Pesa, made a bold statement in African digital payment exploration following the launch of a new digital payment service that allows customers to pay for fuel with M-PESA. Launched on Wednesday at the Bole Total Fuel Station in Addis Ababa, the service enables motorists to pay for fuel quickly and securely using their mobile phones.

The Fuel aggregator service provides station attendants with a streamlined system to manage transactions, maintain accurate records, and track payment history while offering two access methods: new users register via phone number with SMS verification to create a PIN while existing users log in with their PIN.

“This launch marks another milestone in Ethiopia’s digital journey. M-PESA Safaricom is proud to start at Bole Total Station and is working quickly to scale across all 2,000 fuel stations in Ethiopia,” said Elsa Muzzolini, CEO at M-PESA.

Known as one of the largest mobile money services in Africa, M-Pesa has seen steady growth with a presence in more than 170 countries globally and serving over 70 million customers. The mobile financial services provider has grown to over one million businesses and agents in markets where its parent company operates.

In addition, the service supports over 55,000 integrations on its Daraja platform, which hosts more than 100,000 developers. With its current capacity of 4000 transactions per second, the platform processes close to 100 million transactions a day, making it Africa’s largest fintech solution.

In a recent development, Safaricom announced a $300 million (KSh 40 billion) investment to upgrade its flagship mobile money platform, M-PESA, as it celebrates its 18th anniversary. The upgrade, dubbed “M-PESA 2.0”, is set to enhance system stability, capacity, and customer experience, reinforcing its position as a global leader in mobile payment services.