Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider, Safaricom on Friday announced a profit of 63.4 billion shillings( $624 million) for the year ending March 2019.
Safaricom, which is the most profitable company in East and Central African announced plans to double its 4G network coverage to 5000 base stations by March 2020, covering all major towns and 80% of the Kenya population.
The announcement was made by the company CEO Bob Collymore in Nairobi as he released financial results.
“We are pleased with the strong results we have delivered for the year, building on our long track record of delivering relevant products and putting the customer first. We foresee continued growth in the future,” said Collymore.
“For a majority of Kenyans, the mobile phone is often the first and only link to the Internet. By broadening our 4G coverage to almost anyone in the country, we aim to ensure that no one has to miss an opportunity or get left out because of lack of access to affordable, quality, high-speed broadband, ” said Collymore.
Safaricom became the first to roll out a 4G network in Kenya in 2014, and in June 2017, became the first in East Africa to upgrade a section of its 4G network to 4G+. 4G provides customers with speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second with Safaricom’s 4G+ network supporting double the 4G speeds.
Voice service revenue grew by 0.3% while revenue grew by 19.2% making the two the largest contributors to revenue.
“Looking ahead, the business will sustain its momentum of investing in the quality of our service and diversification of our revenue portfolio to ensure sustained returns to shareholders,” said Collymore.
Additionally, popular mobile money transfer service, M-PESA revenue grew by 19.2% while mobile data revenue increased by 6.4%.
JK/as/APA