What changed
Safaricom Group’s net income rose 35.9% to KSh58.2 billion in the six months ended September 30, 2026. Group service revenue reached KSh226.1 billion, while Kenya’s M-PESA revenue passed KSh100 billion for the first time in a half-year period.
The sharper shift came in Ethiopia:
- Service revenue rose 71.6% to KSh10.6 billion.
- Three-month active customers reached 15.4 million.
- The EBITDA loss narrowed 96.5% to KSh434.4 million.
Why it matters
Safaricom’s Kenyan engine is still doing most of the heavy lifting. Kenya generated KSh216 billion in service revenue, up 11.3%, and earnings before interest and tax reached KSh101.8 billion. M-PESA contributed KSh100.1 billion, even with 53% of transactions remaining free.
Ethiopia now looks less like a costly expansion project and more like a business approaching its financial test. A loss of KSh434.4 million is not profitability, but the scale of the improvement gives Safaricom a much clearer route toward break-even. Ethiopia’s target is EBITDA break-even by the end of the current financial year; the results show strong progress, not confirmation that the target will be met.
That makes the group’s next phase easier to read: Kenya remains the dependable profit base, while Ethiopia is becoming the main question around future growth. Safaricom’s community programmes also reached more than 1.5 million people through education, healthcare and economic empowerment initiatives, while 60,000 young players took part in the fifth Safaricom Chapa Dimba tournament.
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