Revenue growth for this company will mostly Rely on how the management locks in its customers its obvious even Bharti Airtel in its home country cannot boast of the market share that of safaricom has in control of here.

The question we should be asking ourself is ,can the company grow its other revenue streams to compensate for loss in voice revenues.

safaricom now is at a transition remember its previous growth has been primary voice dependent,but as we speak, unless something unexpectedly happens, voice has become a commodity that can not fetch any premium so the only way to make money in telecommunication is through leveraging on data,value added services and ICT solutions.

Safaricom R&D is quite powerful and cannot be underestimated so I am giving it the next 3 years for it to make a complete turnaround in terms of revenue streams.

I was looking at Aly khan satchu analysis [CHECK IT HERE]of safaricom result and I couldn't help notice a tinge of sycophancy in the analysis.

As a respectable voice in the investment industry I would have expected a more critical analysis from him.I am a die hard safaricom customer and investor but I think this should not cloud my judgement when it comes to analysing result of this company.

For instance safaricom has lost a considerable chunk of its market share and given that Voice still control about 66% of its revenues,Mpesa revenues only grew by 26% if things continue as they are I dont think Data will shore up safaricoms lost voice revenues.

Mpesa solution which is billed as safaricom moat will be under immense pressure from agency banking esp.from Equity Bank which has rolled out its agency banking infrastructure which in a few month will be a force to reckon with.

Fibre optic has many players which will use every trick in the book to preserve their market share AK,KDN,Wananchi,simba telecom and Telkom kenya will not sit back and watch prepare for a bruising battle for data revenues.

Actually AlyKhan Satchu is biased as relates to Safaricom, KCB, and agriculturals.

In my opinion, attachment from the first two may stem from prior/existing commercial relationships. Agriculturals are his chosen purvey where he appears in the top 10 shareholders in WTK, SASN, REA - Farmers will drive Ferraris

He has a point though. His valuation vs situation on the ground shows upside potential and I think he has a point. With P/Es below 5 for agricultural firms, how can we claim that we are an agricultural country. Now food produce sources are dwindling by the day and so are tea sources. The land they occupy would rather be used for real estate. This means that when the pinch starts to be felt those agricultural firms will be the new oil firms. Then farmers will really drive ferraris .

Disclaimer: I own agricultural stock, KAKUZI & WTK

Merali is a farmer. He drives a Ferrari. What do you know... Satchu was on point!

I am told by a friend who is safcom staff that the MPesa float is exclusively at CBA (who can obviously lend at 14%plus).

In return Safcom have a deal where CBA lends to Safcom staff at the low single digit %rates... I hear even better rates than CBA staff.

Also they get working capital CHEAP just so CBA can hold the MPesa!

Anyone with info to corroborate / dispute this SMART-WORKAROUND?