Safaricom has reported a strong financial performance for the year ended 31 March 2026, while deepening its long-term bet on Ethiopia with a total investment commitment now standing at $2.65 billion.
The Kenyan telecoms giant said group service revenue rose to KES 414.1 billion, while net income reached KES 100 billion. The growth was supported by a larger customer base, increased use of digital services, and continued strength across its mobile and financial services businesses.
The results mark an encouraging start to Safaricom’s five-year strategy, which is aimed at turning the company into a purpose-led technology business with a stronger regional footprint.
Shareholders are also set to benefit from the stronger performance. Safaricom announced a dividend payout of KES 80.1 billion, equal to 2 shillings per share. This represents a 66.7% increase on the previous year. The payout includes an interim dividend of 85 cents per share and a final dividend of 1 shilling 15 cents per share, subject to shareholder approval.
Ethiopia remained one of the biggest stories of the year. Safaricom Ethiopia now covers around 60% of the population through 3,504 network sites, while subscriber numbers have grown to 13.6 million. The business contributed 12.5% to group service revenue growth, with losses beginning to narrow as the operation gains scale.
The increased funding commitment underlines Safaricom’s confidence in Ethiopia, one of Africa’s largest telecoms markets. The company is seeking to build a second major growth engine outside Kenya, driven by rising demand for mobile connectivity and digital financial services.
Group CEO Peter Ndegwa said Safaricom delivered “strong execution in the first year of its five-year strategy”. He noted that growth in Kenya helped cushion the impact of currency reforms and the timing of investments in Ethiopia, adding that the results showed a careful balance between growth, investment and financial discipline.
Safaricom Kenya remained the group’s main earnings driver. Service revenue rose 10% to KES 400.8 billion, while EBIT increased 15.3% to KES 182.3 billion. M-PESA continued to perform strongly, generating KES 182.7 billion in revenue, supported by 41 million active customers.
Group Chairman Adil Khawaja pointed to the company’s resilience despite heavy investment in Ethiopia, while Group CFO Dilip Pal said reduced losses there were already supporting overall performance.
Safaricom also said its social impact programmes reached more than 4.4 million people across Kenya and Ethiopia.