Safaricom’s voice service has recorded revenue growth of 4.8 per cent, generating a whooping Sh40.55 billion in half-year results announced on Thursday.
This was driven by increased usage with minutes of use per subscriber rising by 7.6 per cent YoY to Sh198.31 billion, while active customers grew 10.6 per cent to 28.46 million.
Safaricom’s CEO Peter Ndengwa said they are leveraging Customer Value Management (CVM) initiatives to stimulate usage.
He said during the period ending September 30, 32024, the rate per minute declined by 9.9 per cent YoY to Sh1.15.
On the other hand, messaging revenue grew 8 per cent YoY to generate Sh6.20bn, benefiting from campaigns such as Chat Ibambe which has boosted usage and performance.
Voice and messaging revenue now accounts for 26.4 per cent of service revenue, translating to Sh46.75bn.
Ndengwa announced that Safaricom recorded Sh181 billion in group service revenue for the period ending September 30, 2024.
He said the strong performance was driven by double-digit growth in the Kenyan unit, where service revenue grew by 12.9 per cent to Sh177 billion, resulting in Earnings Before Interest Tax (EBIT) and Net income growing by 18 per cent to Sh79.2 billion and 14.1 per cent to Sh47.5 billion respectively.
Earnings Before Interest Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 13.7 per cent YoY to Sh102.9 billion while EBIT grew 18 per cent YoY to Sh79.2Bn in the period.
Ndengwa noted that net income grew 14.1 per cent YoY to Sh47.50 billion supported by robust performance across all service lines which has been driven by sustained growth in customers, usage and ARPU.
“This performance, which comes at a time when we are marking 24 years of connecting and transforming Kenyans’ lives, reflects the relentless execution of our strategy,” Ndengwa said.
“We are
proud of the value that we have given our customers through use of technology,
and we will continue growing our core business while expanding into new services
through our innovative spirit.”
