Safaricom partners Google to build a 4G network in Kenya. The mobile network operator is also targeting about one million Kenyans with good mobile phones. It also plans to see low-income earners pay as little as $0.20 daily to use and upgrade to 4G enabled devices. The aim is to restructure the use of data in Kenya.
“Data penetration is not yet at the top level and many people haven’t gotten an internet-enabled phone,” Ndegwa said after an online investor briefing Wednesday.
Safaricom plans to change about four million 3G and 2G enabled phones to 4G in Kenya and also fully cover the country with a 4G network. And Customers will begin to subscribe with 20 shillings per day for nine months. This project is related to Safaricom plans to improve the data business in Kenya. And this is one of its fastest-growing revenue streams.
About the project
The project that increases mobile phone usage will boost their revenue further and reduce the demand for mobile calls. And recently, there has been a slight revenue fall in mobile calls due to saturation.
Safaricom which is partly owned by Britain’s Vodafone and Vodacom in South Africa released its financial report recently. The rapid increase in the data business during the second half investment increased its annual earnings before interest and tax 13.3% to $950 million. Safaricom has been in an aggressive fight for market share in more revenue from mobile data. The company that chooses to offer internet bundles without expiry saw its revenue rise from 12.1% to 40.7 billion shillings.
The drop in operating expenses also drove the earnings growth of the company. Stateesh Kamath, Safaricom’s finance chief said the company is always driven by increased efficiencies, digitization, and the maximization of the use of the assets. Safaricom financial services revenue moved from 12.6% to 84.4 billion shillings in recent years. This is a good outcome for service revenue; the company is also foregoing about 5.5 billion shillings in revenue from its mobile money service.
Outcomes
Recently, the company has also removed charges on small transfer and also facilitates cashless transactions to slow the spread of the virus. Safaricom has employed more people around the world this year. The company is also ranked number one company among the best companies in Kenya according to reports. Now, it is one of the largest telecommunications service providers in Kenya.
Safaricom offers mobile money transfer, e-commerce, mobile telephony, cloud computing, fiber optics services, and music streaming. Safaricom’s newest platform “the mobile phone banking product” was done in partnership with the Commercial Bank Africa in 2012. This was initiated to assist the underdeveloped financial service market in Kenya.
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