Safaricom Ethiopia is reaping billions of shillings in earnings and expanding market share in the region’s most populated nation as the firm leverages lessons learnt from its business in Kenya.

This comes even as the largest telecommunications company in Eastern Africa looks to spread key services into other parts of the continent and solidify its position as the leading technological solutions provider.

The firm’s revenue across voice, SMS, mobile data and M-PESA segments more than doubled, with three-month active consumers rising to 12.2 million as at December 2025.

Launched in 2022, Safaricom Ethiopia seems set to surpass the Kenyan business in the next few years in terms of subscribers, network infrastructure, jobs created and gross profits.

“Our vision in Ethiopia is to build a digitally connected and financially inclusive society by expanding nationwide 4G coverage, strengthening fixed broadband, and deepening digital payments through M-PESA,” Safaricom CEO, Dr. Peter Ndegwa, said at the subsidiary’s latest investor’s briefing.

“Safaricom Ethiopia intends to leverage Ethiopia’s youthful population, increasingly digital population through innovation, partnerships, smartphone growth, and sustainable financing,” he said.

In the first year of operations in Ethiopia, Safaricom spent a total of Ksh96.1 billion in capital investment. More than half of this (Ksh55.7 billion) was spent in Ethiopia and this bet is already reaping dividends for the firm judging by the latest financial numbers.

Just like in Kenya, Safaricom’s crown jewel in Ethiopia is M-PESA. Data from the Safaricom Ethiopia’s latest quarterly results indicate that the number of three-month active M-PESA users went up 258 percent from 2.4million in 2024 to 5.2million as at December 2025.

At the same time, total transaction value on M-PESA went up 192 percent from Ksh164.6 million in 2024 to Ksh364 million over the same period of time.

“M-PESA revenue for Q3 FY26 stood at Ksh12.2 million with 2.4 million one-month active customers,” states the firm in its financial report for the third quarter of the 2025/26 financial year. 

“On a constant currency basis, transaction values surged 102.8 percent year on year to ETB 20.37 billion (Kshs18.6 billion), while volumes accelerated by 191.8 percent to 364.29 million, reflecting strong adoption and usage growth.”

This success came on the back of years of Vodacom and Safaricom executives lobbying the Ethiopian government for concessions to ease the country’s monetary policy and allow the roll out of the company’s full suite of telecommunication services.

While the Ethiopian government granted Safaricom a nationwide telecommunication licence in 2021 at $850 million, (Sh110 Billion) it was not until 2023 that the state regulator gave the greenlight for the firm to roll out its mobile payments service M-PESA.

The launch of M-PESA in Ethiopia is considered a significant milestone and the company has in the past signalled the crucial role that its fintech offering plays in its overall strategy.

“Safaricom’s growth and market leadership has been significantly driven by M-PESA,” explained the firm in a recent regulatory filing. “The platform has expanded beyond basic money transfers to become a fully integrated financial ecosystem, supporting payments, savings, credit, insurance, and international remittances.”

“M-PESA continues to be a key contributor to Safaricom’s financial performance and remains central to the Company’s strategic focus on deepening customer engagement and expanding its regional footprint,” stated the firm.

With a largely youthful population of 132.1 million people as of 2024, Ethiopia is the largest country in Eastern Africa and one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. Rolling out M-PESA in the country was a big win for Safaricom and a bellwether for prospects of success in other African markets.

Last December, Ethiopia launched its National Digital Payment Strategy 2026–2030 (NDPS), setting out a five-year roadmap to build an inclusive, trusted, and interoperable digital payments ecosystem that expands financial access and modernises national infrastructure.

Through the national payments switch EthSwitch, the strategy seeks to develop an interoperable, real-time payment infrastructure that will form a pillar of the country’s digital payments ecosystem.

Running ahead of the market, Safaricom had already integrated M-PESA with EthSwitch two months before, linking the mobile money platform to more than 30 banks and wallets. This the company and marking a significant milestone in advancing national interoperability in Ethiopia.

“The integration supports real-time wallet-to-bank and bank-to- wallet transfers, as well as interoperable EthQR merchant payments, expanding acceptance and usability across more than 50,000 M-PESA merchants nationwide,” stated the firm in its latest financial briefing for Ethiopia.

“The launch of the Instant Payment System (IPS) in December 2025 further reinforced this interoperable infrastructure by establishing a national 24/7 real-time payments rail supporting low-latency transfers, QRand merchant payments, bulk payments, and cross-platform interoperability,” stated the firm.

This progress, registered less than two years after the launch of M-PESA services in Ethiopia is a stark contrast to developments in the Kenyan market where full interoperability beyond the P2P level remains a challenge to date.

These policy decisions by the Ethiopian government, coupled by the company’s agile strategy have more than improved the company’s bottom-line in its newest subsidiary. It has also served to offer a laboratory to test out its business strategy and diverse array of products and services.

Last year Safaricom was feted with the 1st Rank at the Ethiopian Quality Awards in recognition for the firm’s compliance with national quality standards. The achievement came after 65 institutions in the country were evaluated over their leadership, service quality, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

“It reflects our everyday commitment to building strong systems, delivering reliable services, and raising the bar for customers and partners, whether through expanding our network or advancing financial inclusion via M-PESA Ethiopia,” stated Dr. Ndegwa. 

This article was first published by Business Daily Africa