Safaricom Wades Through Boycott Calls to Register KSH 224.54Bn Revenue

Safaricom Plc has announced that its revenue grew to 224.54 billion shillings for the year ending 31st March 2018.

The 10 percent growth in revenue income came despite the challenging year that was characterized by long electioneering period with calls from the opposition for their members to boycott the use of Safaricom’s products.

The net income of the telecommunication giant increased by 14.1 percent during the same period to 55.29 billion shillings.

“To achieve these results we sharpened our focus on putting our customers first, delivering relevant products and services, and organizational effectiveness; a strategy that was exceptionally well executed considering the challenging business climate last year,” said Mr. Bob Collymore.

During the period, outgoing voice revenue grew by 2.4 percent to 88.96 billion shillings with mobile data contributing 36.36 billion shillings, a 24.0 percent growth.

The total customer base increased by 5.1 percent to 29.6 million with revenue form SMSs growing by 6.2 percent to 17.72 billion shillings.

The growth in fixed service revenue stood at 27.3 percent to 6.67 billion shillings while the EBIT expanded to 79.27 billion shillings, an 18.3 percent growth.

For the year to 31st March 2019, the company announced it would spend between KES35 billion-KES38 billion in infrastructure expansions. 

“In FY 2019 we look to drive long-term shareholder value by deploying next-generation network services, leveraging data analytics and segmentation, guided by our purpose of transforming lives to turn innovative ideas into realities,” said Sateesh Kamath, Finance Director – Safaricom.

Safaricom Plc maintained a growth in mobile money business with a total of 2.1 million new M-PESA customers joining the platform and achieving revenue growth of 14.2 percent year-on-year to 62.91 billion shillings. 

M-PESA now contributes 28.0 percent of Safaricom’s service revenue from 20.9 percent in 2015, highlighting its central position as a key growth driver alongside mobile data, and displacing traditional voice and SMS with mobile data revenue increasing by 24% to KES36.36 billion.