Crypto currencies like bitcoin and doge coin are all the rage, but a potentially more important development will be the launch of central bank digital currencies.
THE STANDARD
BUSINESS
Waiver of M-Pesa transaction charges affected Safaricom profits. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]
The free M-Pesa transactions for amounts below Sh1,000 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year weighed down on Safaricom’s overall earnings for the year ended 2020.
The telco reported a 6.8 per cent drop in profit after tax of Sh68.7 billion for the year ended March 2021 from Sh73.7 billion in the previous period.
During this period, Safaricom enabled Kenyans to reduce the impact of the pandemic by waiving fees for transactions below a Sh1,000, which saw free transactions worth Sh4.4 billion processed.
Service revenue, mostly from voice and data, recorded a marginal decline of 0.3 per cent to close at Sh250.35 billion driven by double-digit growth in mobile data business, which grew by 11.5 per cent to Sh44.79 billion. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, some companies implemented work-from-home arrangements that helped boost Internet usage.
THE STANDARD
NEWS
Waiver of M-Pesa transaction charges affected Safaricom profits. [Courtesy]
The free M-Pesa transactions for amounts below Sh1,000 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year weighed down on Safaricom’s overall earnings for the year ended 2020.
The telco reported a 6.8 per cent drop in profit after tax of Sh68.7 billion for the year ended March 2021 from Sh73.7 billion in the previous period.
During this period, Safaricom enabled Kenyans to reduce the impact of the pandemic by waiving fees for transactions below a Sh1,000, which saw free transactions worth Sh4.4 billion processed.
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Service revenue, mostly from voice and data, recorded a marginal decline of 0.3 per cent to close at Sh250.35 billion driven by double-digit growth in mobile data business, which grew by 11.5 per cent to Sh44.79 billion. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, some companies implemented work-from-home arrangements that helped boost Internet usage.
THE STANDARD
NEWS
A mobile phone care centre operated by Safaricom in the central business district of Kenya s capital Nairobi, May 11, 2016. [Reuters, Thomas Mukoya]
M-Pesa has now become the leading revenue stream for Safaricom, beating voice that has traditionally been the company’s mainstay.
The mobile money service earned Safaricom Sh82.65 billion while voice service generated Sh82.55 billion in the year that ended March 31.
This performance came even as the telco reported a 6.8 per cent drop in profit after tax to Sh68.6 billion compared to Sh73.6 billion reported the previous year.
The profit was held down by Central Bank’s directive to mobile operators to offer mobile money transactions under Sh1,000 free of charge last year as well as the poor state of the economy due to Covid-19.