Safaricom made Ksh 70.3 billion in full-year net profit, representing an 11.4 per cent increase on the Ksh 63.1 billion shillings that the telco made the previous year.
The profit was driven by M-Pesa, mobile data and fixed service revenue.
Revenue from voice calls dipped 1.4 per cent while social media platforms ate into Safaricom’s messaging revenue that declined by 12.3 per cent.
Safaricom has proposed a dividend payout of one shilling and 40 cents per share.
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Safaricom’s profits had traditionally been dominated by revenue from voice calls and text messages.
This has however been changing in recent years as subscribers embrace new ways such as over-the-top mediums such as social media platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram to communicate.
This has seen revenue from voice calls and texts decline in recent years. Even though voice calls remained the highest earner for Safaricom at Ksh 94.45 billion, it dipped 1.4 per cent compared to the previous year.
In addition, revenue from text messages also dipped by 12.3 per cent to Ksh 17.19 billion.
New revenue streams consisting of M-Pesa, data and fixed service posted double-digit growth, powering the telco’s full-year profit to Ksh 70.3 billion.
Revenue from M-Pesa grew by 12.6 per cent to Ksh 84.44 billion while that of mobile data increased by 12.1 per cent to Ksh 40.67 billion.
Fixed service revenue increased by 10.7 per cent to Ksh 8.97 billion.
The telco made Ksh 10.48 billion from selling mobile phones which pushed the total revenue by the telco to Ksh 262.56 billion.
The stringent rules imposed last year on betting activities hurt Safaricom’s revenue with the telco booking a loss of Ksh 1.9 billion on M-Pesa betting, representing negative 32.8 per cent change when compared to the previous year.
The telco says it plans to spend Ksh 56.09 billion of the Ksh 70.3 billion profit it made on dividends with shareholders.