Safaricom Ethiopia Revenue More Than Doubles to 15.9 bln Birr as M-Pesa Gains Traction

Mintesinot Niggusie

Safaricom Ethiopia said annual revenue rose to 15.9 billion birr in the financial year ended March 31, up 130.9 percent from a year earlier, driven by rapid subscriber growth, rising mobile data consumption and expanding use of its M-Pesa mobile money platform.

The figures suggest Safaricom Ethiopia is moving out of its heavy investment phase and edging closer to breakeven, years after entering Ethiopia’s newly liberalised telecoms market. Safaricom Ethiopia’s active 90 day customer base reached 13.6 million during the reporting period, a 54.2 percent increase from the previous year, while 30 day active customers climbed 48.2 percent to 10.7 million.

The operator’s M-Pesa service also recorded sharp growth. The number of M-Pesa users more than doubled to 5.2 million, while total transaction value processed through the platform reached 32.5 billion birr, reflecting rising adoption of digital financial services and mobile money in Ethiopia.

Mobile data remained the company’s largest revenue stream, generating 9.6 billion birr during the fiscal year. Voice services contributed three billion birr as smartphone penetration and demand for digital connectivity continued to expand. Safaricom Ethiopia said its 4G network now covers 59.2 percent of the population following continued infrastructure expansion and network quality upgrades across the country.

The company added that its cumulative investment in Ethiopia has reached 2.6 billion US dollars, channelled towards network rollout, service expansion and operational growth since securing the country’s first private telecom licence.

According to the group, Ethiopia accounted for 15 percent of Safaricom Group’s overall revenue growth during the year, reinforcing the market’s strategic role in the company’s Agenda 2030 growth plans. Safaricom Ethiopia entered the Ethiopian market in 2022 following the government’s partial liberalisation of the telecom sector, ending decades of monopoly dominance by Ethio Telecom. Since then, the operator has accelerated network deployment and digital finance expansion as it seeks to capture market share in the country’s fast growing telecom and fintech sectors.