M-Pesa Revenue Tops KSh 100B as Safaricom Net Profit Rises 35.9% to KSh 58.2BM-Pesa Revenue Tops KSh 100B as Safaricom Net Profit Rises 35.9% to KSh 58.2B

The result beat analysts' forecast of KSh 54.32B ($418.3M), and it puts mobile money at the centre of the telecoms group's earnings story. M-Pesa revenue increased 13.6% to KSh 100.1B ($770.9M), crossing the KSh 100B mark in a half-year for the first time, according to Safaricom results reported on 5 November.

Group service revenue grew 13.1% to KSh 226.1B ($1.74B), while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 27.5% to KSh 129.2B ($995.0M). Group earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose about 39.8% to KSh 91.1B ($701.6M). Full-year EBIT guidance is unchanged at KSh 180B ($1.39B) to KSh 187B ($1.44B).

For customers and merchants, the shift matters because mobile money is increasingly how shops receive payments, businesses manage cash and consumers reach lending and savings products. For investors, it shows where a large share of Safaricom's growth is coming from as voice services lose weight.

M-Pesa moves beyond person-to-person transfers

Safaricom's Kenya business recorded service revenue of KSh 216.0B ($1.66B), up 11.3%, with Kenya EBIT up 13.7% to KSh 101.8B ($784.0M). Free or zero-rated transactions made up 53% of all M-Pesa activity in the period.

Business payments, cross-border transfers and financial services now add to the M-Pesa revenue base, alongside simple transfers between people. A customer may pay a shop, a business may collect from thousands of buyers, and another user may borrow or invest through the same platform.

As Mwenendo earlier reported, Safaricom's M-Pesa Jumbe feature lets merchants share limited payment alerts with up to 50 staff, a sign of how deeply the platform now sits inside everyday business.

Data and fixed internet keep growing

Mobile data revenue rose 12.2% to KSh 45.2B ($348.1M) from KSh 40.3B ($310.4M). Customers using more than one gigabyte rose to 15.2 million from 12.9 million, and average use per customer reached 5.3 gigabytes from 4.9 gigabytes.

Fixed data revenue grew 25.5% to KSh 12.5B ($96.3M) from KSh 10.0B ($77.0M), with more than 907,600 homes connected to fibre. Mwenendo earlier reported on how Safaricom is pulling away in Kenya's home internet market.

Ethiopia losses narrow sharply

Ethiopia's EBITDA loss narrowed 96.5% to KSh 434.4M ($3.35M), while service revenue rose 71.6% to KSh 10.6B ($81.6M). Three-month active customers reached 15.4 million, up 38.4%. The EBIT loss fell to KSh 11.4B ($87.8M) from KSh 24.3B ($187.1M).

Group chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the start-up losses were beginning to make an impact at group level, and the company expects EBITDA break-even in Ethiopia by the end of the financial year in March 2027.

Correction

An earlier version of this article gave Safaricom's net profit as KSh 50.3B and growth of 72.8%. Those figures were wrong. The corrected figures are KSh 58.2B ($448.2M) and 35.9%. The earlier headline has been changed to match.

The next test is whether M-Pesa and data can keep growing while Safaricom invests in network capacity and the Ethiopian operation. No interim dividend figure was available in the results coverage reviewed.

Correction, 6 November 2026: Net profit and growth were wrong (KSh 50.3B, 72.8%); three sources report net income KSh 58.2B, up 35.9%. Headline, highlights and body corrected; Ethiopia loss labelled EBITDA.