Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph on Friday announced that the giant telecommunication company saw its profits increase by 14.4% in half a year.
According to Michael Joseph, the company made Sh35.7 billion in profits.
“Customer growth remained strong in the first half of this year and we have more than doubled our net additions versus last year,” he said.
He noted that the growth in profits came from M-Pesa and fixed data.
“M-PESA now accounts for 33.8% of service revenue. Revenue growth for the year was driven by M-PESA, growing by Ksh.6.5 billion, or 18.2% year over year,” he added.
The CEO pointed out that Mpesa has been increasing in numbers from the start of the year. It gained a 12.4% growth in customer numbers while its usage grew by 11.4%.
The mobile data customers also recorded a growth of 14.8%. The company noted that a 43.6% increase was recorded in terms of data consumption per MB.
Other areas where profits were realized include savings and lending, Fuliza, duties, taxes and licence fees.
According to Safaricom Board Chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a, this is the first-ever briefing to be held in the absence of former CEO Bob Collymore who succumbed to cancer, leaving Joseph to take over as interim CEO.