Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) has announced that it will from next week implement a 50% tariff reduction for all Lipa Na M-PESA Buy Goods merchant fees. Under this new Lipa Na M-PESA tariff, merchants will be charged a maximum of 0.5% of the transaction amount, down from the previous maximum of 1%.

In addition, Lipa na M-PESA merchants will charged a flat fee of Sh200, for any payments above Sh40,000.

Today, Safaricom has also announced availability of M-PESA functionality in the mySafaricom App, which will see the more than 24 million M-PESA customers enjoy the convenience of transacting from their Android and iOS smartphones.

The app enables customers to select contacts from their phone when sending money and has a vastly improved implementation of the name search function Hakikisha — which allows the sender to confirm the recipient before the money is sent.

Customers will also have the convenience of confirming the names of agents or businesses before sending or withdrawing money as they complete Lipa Na M-PESA transactions.

Substantial revenue reduction is anticipated prior to building up of a sufficient merchantbase

Nowadays saf is traders haven

Wake me up a month from now when they will be just about to announce full year results.
The reporting season is over so activity will slow down here.

Safaricom Widens Market Share to 71.2% as Equitel Slumps

Kenya Mobile Subscriptions;
*Safaricom +4.2% to 27.7 Million
*Airtel +1.2% to 6.8 "
*Telkom down to 2.8 "
*Equitel -34.5% to 1.4 million

Safaricom Limited has extended its market share in the Kenya’s telecommunication industry in the second quarter of the Financial Year 2016/2017, according to the ICT Sector Quarterly Statistics Report released on Monday.

Safaricom recorded the highest number of mobile subscriptions as of December 2016, gaining by 2.2 per cent to stand at 71.2 per cent compared to 69.0 per cent posted in the previous quarter. The biggest loser was Equitel which shed 2.1 per centage points to stand at 3.8 per cent.

Airtel on the other hand gained 0.1 per cent in market share to 17.6 per cent while Telkom Kenya lost 0.2 per cent to reach 7.4 per cent market share from last quarter’s performance of 7.6 per cent.

The authority attributed Equitel’s decline in market share to “the revision of data by the service provider during the quarter under review.”

Overall, mobile subscription over the period under review grew by 1 per cent to 38.9 million active mobile subscriptions up from 38.5 million subscriptions recorded during the previous quarter.

“When compared to the same period of the previous financial year, there is an increase of 1.2 million subscriptions. Subsequently, mobile penetration level grew by 0.9 per centage points during the period under review to stand at 88.2 per cent up from 87.3 per cent recorded last quarter.” ICT authority noted in the report.

Safaricom’s total number of subscriptions grew by 4.2 per cent to stand at 27.7 million from 26.6 million subscriptions in the previous quarter. Airtel’s total mobile subscriptions increased by 1.2 ppe cent to 6.8 million subscriptions.

On the flip side, Telkom Kenya subscriptions declined to 2.8 million down from 2.9 million subscriptions reported during the previous quarter. While Equitel recorded a decline of 34.5 per cent to 1.4 million mobile subscriptions down from 2.2 million subscriptions posted in the previous quarter.