By Elijah Odhiambo
Kenyans made Ksh36 trillion worth of transactions on Safaricom’s mobile services platform, M-Pesa in the previous year, according to certified figures for the Financial Year ended March 2023 .
The total transaction value increased by 21.4 percent to Ksh35.86 trillion, and the volume increased by 33.5 percent to Ksh21.03 billion.
During the release of audited results for FY23, Safaricom PLC attributed the rise in M-Pesa revenue to increased usage and growth of chargeable transactions per one-month active customers by 16.2 percent.
“M-Pesa remains the biggest revenue earner accounting for 39.7 percent of service revenue,” said Safaricom Board Chair Adil Khawaja, adding that “the slowdown in M-PESA growth was mainly due to macroeconomic effects on the economy which affected the business activity.”
According to the firm, while M-Pesa’s monthly active customers grew by 5.2 percent to 32.11 million, the Average Revenue per Unit (ARPU) rose 1.9 percent YoY (Year over Year) to Ksh311.28.
The company posted Ksh74.5 billion profit buoyed by strong growth in mobile data and mobile Revenue from M-Pesa grew by 8.8 percent to Ksh117.2 billion, whilst income from mobile data grew by 10.7 percent to Ksh53.6 billion, the first time that revenue from mobile data has crossed the Ksh50 billion mark.
At the same time, the telco announced that it has officially been granted the license to operate mobile money services in Ethiopia.
“We are excited that this is a great milestone following our entry into Ethiopia. This positions us to provide essential financial services to the Ethiopian population. We are looking forward to launch and roll out the service over the next few months,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
“Since the commercial launch in October, the brand is visible, deeply rooted in the Ethiopia and quickly becoming in every sense fabric of the society. The potential for Ethiopia is immense and we look forward to the future with optimism and excitement,” Ndegwa added.
Safaricom PLC recorded a Ksh52.5 billion profit for the financial year ending March 2023, marking a 22 per cent dip from the Ksh67.5 billion recorded in 2022.
The group’s chairperson Adil Khawaja attributed the drop to factors like the Russia-Ukraine war and the 2022 General Election.
