Safaricom has announced a Ksh. 33.07 Billion net profit for the half year ended 30th September, 2020, this was a 6% drop in profitability from a similar period last year.
The drop in profitability was occasioned by a drop in the M-Pesa revenue by Ksh. 6.08 Billion occasioned by the decision to zero-rate fees on transactions of Sh1,000 and below to reduce cash handling in Covid-19 environment. On the other hand, voice and messaging revenues dipped by Ksh.2.79 Billion and Ksh. 0.53 Billion respectively, contributing to a drop in service revenue.
At the same time, Mobile data revenue grew by 14.1 percent to Sh22.23 billion while fibre to home revenues rose by 47.2 percent to Sh1.64 billion. Total one month active customer base increased by 10.2% to 30.31m, One month active M-PESA customers increased 13.5% to 26.79m and One month active mobile data customers increased 11.6% to 22.91m.
Despite a 4.8% drop in Service Revenue, Safaricom increased capital expenditure by 25.5% to Ksh. 22.75 Billion, signaling investment commitment to building a network infrastructure that supports the country’s economic development.
Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa, had this to say, “Our business has proved to be resilient despite tough operating conditions. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has dealt a huge blow to many people not just in Kenya, but across the globe. This has been a tough period for businesses—small and large alike—and our customers. We are committed to walk through this journey together. As we go into our third decade as an organization, we aim to create a technology business by developing new digital ecosystems in health, agriculture and education sectors as we aim to provide digital solutions for our customers.”