Peter Ndengwa, CEO of Safaricom

Kenyan telecommunications company Safaricom Plc now covers 46 percent of Ethiopia’s population, just two years after entering the market.

This means that the network has reached at least 52 million of the country’s 112 million inhabitants.

This was revealed to investors when the company unveiled its financial results for the first six months in Nairobi on THURSDAY.

According to Safaricom Group Chairman Adil Khawaja, the company is striving to meet its 55 percent coverage license obligation by June 2025.

The Kenyan firm has become the first private operator in one of Africa’s largest telecommunications markets at the start October 2022 After placing a bid worth nearly $850 million (Sh110 billion) to acquire the license.

The financial report shows that the Ethiopian market recorded growth in the overall product offering despite a currency devaluation which impacted the overall profitability of the Group.

The Ethiopian Birr depreciated by 106 percent as of September 30falling to 118.99 units against the greenback, a significant drop from 57.69 in June.

The subsidiary’s voice revenue increased by 27.1 percent to Sh516.4 million, driven by increased usage and a growing number of customers.

Month-over-month active voice customers increased 63.8 percent to 3.57 million, driven by increased usage and growth in quality customer net additions. Voice usage increased, with usage minutes increasing 52.2 percent to 97.15.

Messaging revenue increased 98.4 percent to 36.7 million, with 1.87 million active SMS customers month-on-month and 18.52 SMS per subscriber.

Mobile data revenue more than doubled from Sh1.32 billion in the first six months to Sh3.22 billion, supported by high usage levels, customer growth, coupled with strong data offering, reliable 4G network and increased smartphone penetration initiatives.

Mobile data remains a key growth driver in Ethiopia. The number of monthly active customers more than doubled during the period, from 1.4 million to 3.5 million. Usage per subscriber remains strong, doubling to 6.56GB, increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) by 10.8 percent to Sh199.91.

M-Pesa revenue closed the half at Sh24.4 million with 8.31 million registered customers.

Active M-Pesa agents in the country stood at 3,160 while active Lipa na M-Pesa merchants increased to 6,660.

According to Safaricom, they continue to add more use cases with transaction volume and value of Sh86.5 million and Sh10.94 billion respectively.