Vodacom Group is now prioritising East Africa as a significant growth frontier, significantly increasing investments in mobile financial services and digital platforms, following its enhanced stake in Safaricom.
The Africa-wide telecommunications operator has increased its ownership of Safaricom to 55%, enabling seamless integration of its telecommunications, financial services, and technology operations.
Operating in a highly competitive landscape, Vodacom is part of one of Africa’s most advanced digital markets, where mobile payment solutions and service-driven platforms are reshaping the industry.
Byron Kennedy, a representative of Vodacom, highlighted the company’s dedication to promoting financial and digital inclusion. Vodacom is also broadening its “Tech for Good” initiatives across several sectors, including healthcare, energy, water, agriculture, and education within the region.
According to the firm, increasing its stake in Safaricom is a strategic move to boost its capacity to scale operations in rapidly expanding East African markets.
The industry is gradually transitioning from conventional connectivity services to a more integrated role within financial systems and digital economies.
“From an investment perspective, fintech is particularly attractive; it offers high growth potential, requires less capital, and is easily scalable, making use of our existing network, distribution, and customer base. This is vital for driving revenue diversification and sustainable long-term EBITDA growth,” Kennedy explained.
“These initiatives are inspired by our purpose-driven strategy of connecting for a brighter future. By linking people, businesses, and governments, we foster economic participation, enhance access to vital services, and ensure sustainable development across our regions,” he added.
Vodacom stated that fintech and mobile money are crucial components of its “beyond mobile” strategy, complementing its core connectivity services.
At the group level, Vodacom is leveraging super apps such as M-PESA, Vodafone Cash, and VodaPay to enhance financial inclusion by offering services including payments, loans, savings, insurance, investments, and cross-border remittances.
Despite the rapid growth in this sector, Vodacom recognises that significant opportunities remain, particularly because a large segment of the economically active population remains unbanked in critical markets such as Egypt, South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, and Mozambique.
As part of its Vision 2030 initiative, Vodacom anticipates approximately 26% growth in its financial services customer base over the next four years, thereby encouraging broader economic participation across its operational areas.
“This strategy is already showing positive results. In FY2026, financial services revenue reached US$1.03 billion, marking a more than 20% increase, with substantial contributions from Egypt and international markets. M-PESA continues to thrive, benefiting greatly from enhancements in ‘beyond core services,’ such as payments, savings, lending, and merchant solutions—which now account for 46.4% of M-PESA’s revenue,” the company noted.
In addition to fintech, Vodacom is committed to investing in core network infrastructure, with a focus on advancements in 4G, 5G, and fibre optics. These investments are essential for improving service quality, expanding coverage, and supporting data growth while aligning with Vision 2030’s objective of elevating the customer experience.
Moreover, Vodacom is increasing its investments in innovation and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), non-terrestrial networks, and digital platforms. The aim is to boost its “beyond mobile” revenues to around 30% of total service revenue, driven by financial services, digital services, the Internet of Things (IoT), and fixed-line operations.
“From a connectivity standpoint, we expect ongoing enhancements in network quality and customer experience, with a firm goal to lead in network NPS, where we are currently performing strongly in six of our eight markets,” Kennedy observed.
“In terms of financial services, we intend to continuously grow our customer base, which presently stands at 103 million, as we work towards our revised Vision 2030 target of 130 million customers, fueled by robust growth in payments, lending, savings, and merchant ecosystems,” he added.
The group is pursuing double-digit EBITDA growth and aims for a Return on Capital Employed of 27.5% in FY2026.
