Safaricom Ethiopia’s M-PESA mobile money platform has reached 5.2 million active users, reflecting a 258.5 per cent year-on-year surge in the quarter ended December 2025, driven by expanded interoperability and merchant adoption across the country.
The rapid growth follows M-PESA’s integration with EthSwitch in October 2025, connecting it to over 30 banks and digital wallets regulated by the National Bank of Ethiopia. This enables real-time wallet-to-bank transfers, bank-to-wallet payments and EthQR merchant transactions, expanding acceptance to more than 50,000 merchants nationwide.
Transaction values jumped 192 per cent to KSh364 million ($2.8 million) during the period, showing users shifting from peer-to-peer transfers to broader payments and commerce applications.
Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Peter Ndegwa said the expansion targets everyday economic use cases for merchants, MSMEs, enterprises and households while building toward profitability. “M-PESA expansion into more diverse everyday use cases is designed to support merchants, MSMEs, enterprises and households while maintaining a path toward profitability,” he stated.
The EthSwitch linkage supports Ethiopia’s national digital payments strategy, promoting interoperability, real-time infrastructure and reduced cash reliance – key factors accelerating mobile money at scale in the Horn of Africa’s largest economy.
Safaricom’s wider operations also accelerated, with service revenue rising 54.2 per cent year-on-year to $75 million (KSh9.68 billion) in the quarter. Mobile data now accounts for 67 per cent of revenue, while average revenue per user climbed 21.3 per cent on a constant currency basis amid rising digital consumption.
Ndegwa reaffirmed long-term commitment to Ethiopia’s 138 million people, largely young and increasingly connected. “Our vision in Ethiopia is to build a digitally connected and financially inclusive society by expanding nationwide 4G coverage, strengthening fixed broadband and deepening digital payments through M-PESA,” he said.
Since winning an $850 million telecoms licence in 2021 and launching M-PESA in 2023, Safaricom has quickly established Ethiopia as a potential rival to its Kenyan core market. Industry projections see the fast-evolving digital economy becoming one of the company’s largest growth engines.
