By Paul Wafula

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Kenya's biggest telecoms operator Safaricom has reported a 14.7 per cent jump in net profits for the year ended March 2019 to Ksh63.4 billion ($628.2 million).

In the results released on Friday in Nairobi, voice service revenue grew by 0.3 percent to Ksh95.9 billion ($948.43 million) while M-Pesa revenue grew by 19.2 percent to Ksh74.9 billion ($740.75 million), making the two the largest contributors to revenue.

“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,” Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said at an investor briefing.

The telco declared a special dividend of Ksh24.8 billion ($245.27 million) in addition to the normal dividend of Ksh50 billion ($494.49 million).

Here are the highlights of the report released to investors at the company’s headquarters in Westlands:

• Service revenue growth of 7 percent to Ksh240.30 billion ($2.37 billion).

• Voice service (incoming and outgoing) revenue grew by 0.3 percent to Ksh95.94 billion ($948.21 million).

• M-Pesa revenue grew by 19.2 percent to Ksh74.99 billion ($741.15 million).

• Mobile data revenue increased by 6.4 percent to Ksh38.69 billion ($382.86 million).

• Messaging revenue declined by 1.3 percent to Ksh17.50 billion ($173.17 million).

• Fixed service revenue increased by 22.7 percent to Ksh8.19 billion ($81.04 million).

• Total customer base increased by 7.7 percent to 31.8 million.

• 30-day active M-Pesa customers increased 10.2 percent to 22.6 million.
• 30-day active mobile data customers increased 6.6 percent to 18.8 million.

The firm said Kenyans have already borrowed Ksh45 billion ($445.30 million) on Fuliza— a service that allows M-Pesa customers to complete their transactions when they have insufficient funds in their account.

The growth of the overdraft service is an indicator of Kenyans’ growing appetite for instant loans.