Shares

Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia (STE) has officially transitioned from its capital-intensive market entry phase into a high-growth commercial operation.

According to Safaricom Group’s audited financial results for the year ended March 31, 2026, the Ethiopian subsidiary recorded a massive 86.6% surge in service revenue. It reached Ksh. 14.08 billion (ETB 15.91 billion) up from Ksh. 7.55 billion in FY2025.

This growth allowed the subsidiary to contribute 12.5% to the total Safaricom Group service revenue expansion, effectively transforming Ethiopia into a viable growth engine. Crucially, the scaling of the business has led to a dramatic 54.4% contraction in EBITDA losses, which narrowed to Ksh. 15.35 billion from Ksh. 33.69 billion the previous year.

Safaricom Ethiopia performance dashboard

The subsidiary saw broad-based operational growth across customer acquisition, network footprint, and financial stabilization.

Operational Metric FY2026 FY2025 Year-on-Year (YoY) Change
Service Revenue (Ksh.) 14.08 Billion 7.55 Billion ↑ 86.6%
Total Revenue (Ksh.) 17.36 Billion 7.91 Billion ↑ 119.5%
90-Day Active Customers 13.63 Million 8.84 Million ↑ 54.2%
1-Month Active Customers 10.75 Million 7.25 Million ↑ 48.3%
90-Day Active M-PESA Users 5.20 Million 2.37 Million ↑ 119.4%
Network Base Stations (Total) 3,504 Sites 2,961 Sites ↑ 18.3%
EBITDA Loss (Ksh.) (15.35 Billion) (33.69 Billion) ↓ 54.4% (Loss Narrowed)
Operating Loss (EBIT) (Ksh.) (37.71 Billion) (54.16 Billion) ↓ 30.4% (Loss Narrowed)
While Mobile Data continues to dominate the Ethiopian market by accounting for 67.9% of total service revenue, voice and messaging saw explosive structural adoption as network density improved.
  • Mobile Data: Grew 69.0% to Ksh. 9.56 billion, supported by an average monthly data consumption of 6.90GB per user.
  • Voice Revenue: Skyrocketed 156.3% to Ksh. 3.01 billion as one-month active voice customers expanded to 8.50 million and average minutes of use (MOU) rose to 144.64 minutes.
  • Fintech Commercialization: M-PESA Ethiopia revenue grew to Ksh. 14.40 million. While still a nascent contributor to the top line, transaction volumes jumped 168.7% to 442.2 million, moving Ksh. 28.60 billion in value.

The fiscal year was marked by critical macro developments, most notably Ethiopia’s official exit from hyperinflationary status (IAS 29) effective June 30, 2025. This normalization provides greater pricing clarity and predictability for operations going forward.

Safaricom countered the 23.7% depreciation of the Ethiopian Birr (ETB) against the US dollar by implementing targeted price adjustments in December 2025. Operational costs were further optimized by utilizing the regulator-mandated Reference Infrastructure Sharing Offer (RISO), allowing Safaricom to sweat existing infrastructure assets and focus on customer density rather than aggressive geographic expansion.

Funding and the road to profitability

As of March 31, 2026, total consortium funding for the Global Partnership for Ethiopia (GPE) stood at USD 2.65 billion, with Safaricom PLC’s equity contribution amounting to USD 1.22 billion. The capital structure is backed by a mix of local currency debt and foreign currency facilities from the IFC and Standard Bank.

Looking ahead to FY2027, Safaricom management expects Ethiopia’s startup losses to contract significantly further, guiding an EBIT loss of Ksh. 12–15 billion. Capital expenditure for the subsidiary will also moderate to Ksh. 6–9 billion, paving a clear, sustainable path toward net profitability.