Safaricom Marks 25 Years with Eye on Ethiopia and Future Growth

Next month, Safaricom will mark its 25th anniversary, a milestone that highlights the operator’s transformation from a small subsidiary of Telkom Kenya into the country’s largest and most valuable enterprise.

Reflecting on this journey during a recent visit to Vodafone UK’s London headquarters, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said the company’s growth story has been anchored on innovation, customer focus, and an unrelenting purpose to improve lives.

Ndegwa, who has been at the helm for five years, previously spent over a decade in the food and drinks industry with Diageo, overseeing iconic brands such as Guinness.

Today, he leads an enterprise that has surpassed US$3 billion in annual revenue, delivered US$1.2 billion in operating profit, and grown its customer base to more than 50 million Kenyans. Safaricom’s mobile network now covers 95% of the population, while its mobile money platform, M-Pesa, has 36 million monthly users.

Despite this dominance, Ndegwa insists there is still significant room for growth. Only half of Safaricom’s customers currently own 4G or 5G devices, largely due to affordability challenges. To address this, Safaricom has rolled out its locally manufactured ‘Neon’ smartphones through East African Device Assembly Kenya, driving a 20–30% annual increase in 4G adoption.

Beyond mobile, the telco is expanding its broadband reach, having already deployed 18,300km of fibre. It plans to connect millions more homes and businesses, while also accelerating 5G rollout. Currently, only a third of Safaricom’s infrastructure is 5G-ready, but the company aims to make all sites 5G-enabled by 2029.

Ethiopia, however, represents Safaricom’s boldest bet yet. Since acquiring its licence in 2021, the company has attracted 10 million customers and built 3,000 mobile sites, though it remains loss-making as it navigates heavy start-up costs and currency reforms. Still, Ndegwa is confident the Ethiopian venture will break even by 2027, pointing to the country’s vast population of 125 million and low mobile penetration as fertile ground for future growth.

“As Ethiopia stabilises, it will become a strong growth driver for us,” Ndegwa said, adding that Safaricom expects double-digit growth in both revenue and profit once scale is achieved.

As it celebrates 25 years, Safaricom remains Kenya’s most influential corporate player. Ndegwa attributes this to a simple philosophy: “We started with purpose, then customer focus, and then pushed innovation. The financial success followed.”

This story was generated from Developing Telecoms, where it first appeared.

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