Vodacom and Safaricom's mobile money platform, M-PESA, strengthened its position in the rapidly growing African fintech market by processing over $450.8 billion in transaction value during the fiscal year that concluded in March 2025.
This was revealed by Vodacom on Monday in its released annual report for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2025.
Vodacom reported that M-PESA's performance over the course of the year increased by 18.3 percent. On a normalised basis, financial services revenue grew 17.6 percent during the review period, making up 11.6 percent of Group service revenue. The telecom company also announced a cash dividend for the fiscal year.
Vodacom owns 34.94% stake in Safaricom
Vodacom Group Limited owns an effective 34.94 percent stake in Safaricom, the company that runs Kenya's M-PESA mobile money service.
With more than 50 million users in seven countries, M-PESA is one of Africa's most prosperous mobile payment services. It made its debut in Kenya in 2007 and has since expanded to become a major force, especially in financial inclusion.
CEO of Vodacom Group, Shameel Joosub, commented, “M-PESA continues to solidify its leadership as Africa’s largest mobile money platform. Across our markets, M-PESA processed over US$450.8 billion in transaction value over the year.”
Safaricom records 8.8 million customer base in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, Safaricom recorded a 103.2 percent increase in its customer base to 8.8 million, driven by growing connectivity demand and a promising commercial trajectory.
The company also reported R22.6 billion in financial services revenue, adding to the customer gains with strong annual revenue per user growth. These results highlight the growing demand for payments, savings, lending, and merchant solutions across its footprint.
“As the second most populous country in Africa, Ethiopia remains integral to our long-term growth ambitions, and we are encouraged by the market’s response to our entry and the regulatory strides being made,” CEO Joosub stressed.
According to Joosub, Vodacom Group's international business, which includes the DRC, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania, saw 7.1% normalised service revenue growth.
Tanzania: best-performing country with 20.5% service revenue increase
Tanzania was the best-performing country, with a 20.5 performance increase in service revenue and a 25.2 percent increase in EBITDA in shillings.
Good commercial momentum was demonstrated by Lesotho and the DRC, which saw increases in service revenue of 10.4 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively, in local currency.
CEO Toosub added, “While we remain hopeful of a recovery in Mozambique and sustained resolution in DRC, we are actively supporting our people and communities in the affected regions, including through our Foundation initiatives.”
Vodacom networks’ customers increased to 211.3 million
The number of customers using the company's networks increased from 115.5 million in FY2020 to 211.3 million in FY2025 as a result of the company's significant geographic and product diversification over the five-year period.
At the same time, the number of customers using financial services, including Safaricom, increased from 53.2 million to 87.7 million.
That said, CEO Joosub continued, “We will not be resting on our laurels and now seek to ensure we deliver against our Vision 2030 ambitions, which include growing our customer base to 260 million and financial services customer base to 120 million.”
“While cementing our leadership in all forms of connectivity, we expect our Group service revenue contribution from beyond mobile to increase to 30 percent from 21 percent today,” he added.
The company upgraded its medium-term goals for Group service revenue and EBITDA from high single-digit growth to double-digit growth as part of its Vision 2030.
