M-PESA, Vodacom and Safaricom's mobile money platform, processed more than $450.8 billion in transaction value during the financial year ended March 2025, solidifying its position in the burgeoning African fintech market.
M-PESA performance over the year, according to Vodacom, reflected an 18.3% increase.
During the review period, revenue from financial services increased 17.6% on a normalised basis, accounting for 11.6% of Group service revenue.
The telco announced its annual results today and declared a cash dividend for the financial year ended March 31, 2025.
Vodacom Group Limited holds an effective shareholding of 34.94% in Safaricom, the operator of the M-PESA mobile money service in Kenya.
M-PESA is one of Africa's most successful mobile payment services, having debuted in Kenya in 2007 and subsequently grown to become a key driver of financial inclusion with over 50 million customers across seven countries.
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.”
Additionally, he continued: “Safaricom reported R22.6 billion of financial services revenue. These results underscore the growing demand for payments, savings, lending and merchant solutions across our footprint.
‘In Ethiopia, we recorded a 103.2% increase in our customer base to 8.8 million, driven by growing demand for connectivity and a promising commercial trajectory. Service revenue in local currency increased 238.9%, with strong annual revenue per user growth adding to the customer gains.
“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.”
Regarding Vodacom Group’s International business, spanning DRC, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania, Joosub said the telco achieved 7.1% normalised service revenue growth.
He went on to say: “Tanzania was the standout performer, delivering service revenue growth of 20.5% and EBITDA growth of 25.2% in shillings.
“Lesotho and DRC grew service revenue by 10.4% and 8.2% respectively, in local currency, showcasing good commercial momentum.
“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.”
Over the five-year period, he added: “We significantly expanded geographic and product diversification resulting in the number of customers using our networks, increasing from 115.5 million (FY2020) to 211.3 million (FY2025), while financial services customers rose from 53.2 million to 87.7 million, including Safaricom, over the same period.”
That said, 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% from 21% today.
“As part of Vision 2030, we upgrade our medium-term targets for Group service revenue and EBITDA from high single-digit to double-digit growth.”
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