The number of registered M-PESA customers in Safaricom Ethiopia increased by 245% to 10.8 million as at December 2024 from 3.1 million December 2023, driven by airtime purchases and cross border money transfers.
However, the total revenue from MPESA declined by 74% to KSh 9.8 million in the 9 months to December 2024 from KSh 38.4 million in the same period in 2023 while total transaction value declined by 30% to KSh 14.7 billion and volume shot up 1023% to 124.8 million.
Safaricom launched M-PESA in Ethiopia in August 2023 with Kenya extending its M-PESA Global service to the country to facilitate cross-border money transfers. About 20% of airtime top ups were done through M-PESA, contrary to Kenya’s dominance of cash transfers and merchant payments through the platform.
The depreciation of the Ethiopian Birr by 116.1% in 2024 increased Safaricom’s operational costs, prompting tariff increases across various services in October 2024. Following major forex reforms in Ethiopia, the telco extended its break-even target for operations in Ethiopia by a year to FY27.
- Advertisement -
The economic uncertainty put a strain on the company’s operational cost leading to a dip in revenue despite huge number of subscriptions.
