Addis Ababa, Jan 30, 2026 — Safaricom Ethiopia reported strong revenue growth in the third quarter of FY2026, signaling accelerating commercial traction in Africa’s second-most populous market, driven by rising data consumption, a rebound in voice services, and rapid expansion of M-PESA usage.
Total revenue rose 47.9% year-on-year to KES 9.97 billion, up from KES 6.74 billion in the same period last year. Service revenue accounted for the bulk of earnings, increasing 54.2% to KES 9.68 billion, reflecting broader network utilization and growing customer engagement.
Mobile services remained the primary growth engine, with mobile service revenue climbing 53.1% to KES 9.54 billion. Data revenue increased 34.2% to KES 6.48 billion, supported by higher smartphone adoption and rising per-user data usage, which edged up to 6.8 GB per month, a 2.9% increase year-on-year.
Voice revenue posted the fastest growth, surging 144.7% to KES 2.13 billion, while messaging revenue nearly doubled to KES 0.12 billion, underscoring a recovery in traditional telecom services alongside data growth.
M-PESA activity expanded sharply, with transaction value more than doubling to ETB 20.37 billion, up 102.8%, while transaction volumes surged 191.8% to 364.3 million. However, M-PESA revenue remained relatively flat at KES 0.01 billion, suggesting early-stage monetization despite rapid adoption.
Fixed and wholesale revenue also saw a significant jump, rising 197.8% to KES 0.14 billion, albeit from a low base.
On the customer side, one-month active ARPU declined 22.5% to KES 130.27, reflecting competitive pricing and promotional activity, even as ETB-denominated ARPU rose 21.3% to ETB 142.77, helped by higher service usage. Voice ARPU climbed 83.4%, while data ARPU increased 7.7%, indicating improving revenue quality per user.
Safaricom Ethiopia’s Q3 performance highlights a shift from heavy network-build investment toward revenue scaling, with data and digital financial services emerging as long-term growth pillars in a highly competitive telecom market.
