Kenya’s biggest network operator Safaricom has posted a pre-tax profit increase to KSh25.5 billion (US$304 million) for 2012/13, an increase of 47 per cent compared to the 2011/12 financial year.
There was also a 31 per cent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to KSh49.2 billion (US$587 million).
Profit after tax was KSh17.5 billion (US$209 million), up 39 per cent on the year before.
Bob Collymore, Safaricom’s chief executive officer (CEO), said: “The full year results demonstrate our continued strong commercial and financial performance across our service portfolio.
“These solid results re-affirm our strategy to transform lives through the provision of quality services, delivering the best network in Kenya through our continued investment in technology and deepening financial inclusion, with services such as M-Shwari on the M-PESA platform.”
In the breakdown of the results, voice revenue grew by 13 per cent to KSh77.7 billion (US$927 million), with non-voice revenue increasing by 29 per cent to KSh40.4 billion (US$482 million).
Mobile money service M-Pesa continues to increase its revenue. For 2012/13 it produced KSh21.8 billion (US$260 million), a rise of 29.5 per cent and 88 per cent of Safaricom’s customer base is now registered with the service.
There was a 30 per cent growth in SMS revenue to KSh10.13 billion (US$121 million) and 21 per cent rise in revenue from mobile data revenue to KSh6.3 billion (US$75 million).
In the past 12 months there has been a 57 per cent rise in active mobile data customers to 7.1 million, making up 37 per cent of the network’s total customer base.
