NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

When it released its half year financials last week, Safaricom once again did not disappoint. It reported another profitability record, a 32.36 per cent jump in net earnings of Sh23.9 billion in the six months to September 30. It earned a massive Sh102 billion in total revenue for the half year, compared to Sh97.2 billion in the same period last year.

However, for the first time in the company’s 16 years of operation, revenue from non-voice category such as data and mobile money notably grew to surpass revenues from the traditional mainstay of voice services. The firm earned Sh52 billion from the non-voice revenue stream under which mobile money and data registered the fastest growth. Revenues from voice service stood at Sh45.7 billion.

“A majority of our revenue, for the first time, is represented by our non-voice revenues. We attribute this to a growing appetite for data,” said Safaricom Chief Executive Officer, Bob Collymore. But he noted, “Voice continues to show resilient growth. It is not a dead area yet. We see a population growth of a million people every year and for us this is an opportunity to grow both voice and non-voice revenues.”