At their 2020 Full Year results Safaricom announced the roll out of a device financing program, in partnership with Google and Teleone, that will allow low income earners in Kenya an opportunity to access quality 4G phones.
Despite the high percentage in mobile telephony penetration in the country there remains a large population that still uses 2G phones. The campaign being called Lipa Mdogo Mdogo will enable an additional one million customers access to the power of the internet.
The masses of workers in Kenya earning daily wages will be able to pay low instalments, as little as Kshs 20 a day.
For many vendors in the country being able to access online mobile applications will increase their income. Boda-boda riders are already taking full advantage of online taxi and delivery Apps to broaden their services.
Safaricom’s recently launched ‘no expiry data’ and their full acquisition of the M-PESA brand in a joint venture with Vodacom has helped the company’s revenue increases. Mobile data grew by 12.1% and M-PESA revenue was up by 12,6%.
Michael Joseph, outgoing CEO for Safaricom said, “We are pleased to report that on average our customers are now using more than 1GB per month and that mobile data achieved double digit revenue growth. Mobile data now accounts for 16.2% of Service Revenue and grew 21.1%.”
As the company heads into a complex and difficult period due to the pandemic the CEO of Safaricom, Peter Ndegwa, thanked the staff for a strong performance in 2019/2020, delivering earnings ahead of guidance.
Overall, the company’s revenue stood at Kshs 251.2-billion.
