Yesterday, Safaricom released its audited results for the year ended 31 march 2015. The results were very impressive to say the least and took the market by surprise. Releasing the results, Safaricom said that it has seen continued growth in all revenue streams with continued focus on non-voice revenues. Safaricom reported total revenue of Kshs 163.4bn representing an increase of 13%. Below are a few things I picked up from these results.
Mobile Data Growth
Safaricom saw impressive growth in data usage this past year. The growth was by 59% and saw revenue of over Kshs 14.8bn.. This is quite a figure given that most Safaricom subscribers have not been happy with the company with its latest changes in this sector. Safaricom also reported a 21% increase in 30 day active mobile data customers to 11.6m.
SMS revenue
Even with the growth of messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Safaricom saw its SMS revenue grow by 15% to Kshs 15.6bn. This is quite impressive and surprised me to be honest as I expected SMS revenue to drop as more and more people are using messaging apps.
Customer base
Through this period, Safaricom saw its subscriber base grow to 23.3 million. This was a growth of 8% and some of it may be attributed to some of YU Mobile’s subscribers who are coming on board. Notice that i said some not most.
Mpesa Number
Safaricom has seen revenue from Mpesa grow by 23% to Kshs 32.6bn. The company also reported a 14% increase in 30 day active MPesa customers to 13.9m. This represents 60% of its customer base. MPesa, now contributing 20% of total revenue, continues to be a significant driving factor in our growth.
4G in Kenya
Regarding its 4G network, Safaricom said that it is still only available in Nairobi and Mombasa. The company confirmed that it will be rolling out 4G to 13 towns by the end of the year. Safaricom hoes this will bring superfast home broadband and mobile data offerings to the consumers.