Safaricom Ethiopia’s mobile money service M-Pesa has more than doubled its subscriber base in a year, underscoring rapid expansion in Ethiopia’s digital payments market even as competition from a dominant state-backed platform remains intense.
The company said active M-Pesa users rose 119.4 percent to 5.2 million in its financial year ending March 30, driven by wider network coverage and a growing push to digitise payments in Africa’s second-most populous country.
According to annual results released by parent company Safaricom, the platform processed 442.2 million transactions during the year, an increase of 168.7 percent compared with the previous period.
Total transaction value rose 38.8 percent to 28.6 billion Kenyan shillings (about 221.4 million U.S. dollars), while the number of active merchants on the system doubled to 70,000.
The strong growth reflects Safaricom Ethiopia’s ongoing efforts to scale up its financial services offering in a market where mobile money adoption is accelerating but still far from saturation.
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The service operates under Safaricom Ethiopia, a subsidiary of the Kenyan telecom giant, which has been expanding its footprint since entering the Ethiopian market following the liberalisation of the country’s telecom sector.
The company said its mobile network now covers 59.2 percent of Ethiopia’s population, with 13.6 million active telecom subscribers over a 90-day period.
Ethiopia’s mobile money landscape remains dominated by Ethio Telecom, whose Telebirr platform had 58.61 million subscriptions at the end of 2025.
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Telebirr’s scale gives it a significant lead in market penetration, but Safaricom’s rapid growth signals intensifying competition in a sector seen as key to financial inclusion and economic digitisation.
M-Pesa, originally launched in Kenya, has become one of Africa’s most widely used mobile money platforms, allowing users to send and receive money, pay bills and access financial services without a traditional bank account.
In Ethiopia, expansion has been supported by partnerships aimed at broadening access to digital payments infrastructure. In March, Safaricom Ethiopia signed an agreement with the national postal operator EthioPost to leverage its nationwide network for service delivery.
The company has also been working with public institutions and private sector partners to integrate digital payment solutions into everyday transactions, part of a broader government push toward a cash-light economy.
Analysts say Ethiopia’s mobile money sector remains in a formative stage, with significant room for growth as infrastructure improves and regulatory frameworks evolve.
However, challenges remain, including limited financial literacy in rural areas, uneven network coverage in remote regions, and strong competition from established domestic players.
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Despite these hurdles, the rapid increase in M-Pesa usage suggests rising consumer demand for digital financial services, particularly among small businesses and urban users seeking faster and more accessible payment options.
Safaricom Ethiopia said it will continue investing in network expansion and product development to strengthen its position in the market, as competition with Telebirr is expected to intensify in the coming years.
For now, the company’s strong growth trajectory highlights Ethiopia’s emergence as one of Africa’s fastest-developing mobile money markets, where scale, infrastructure and partnerships are likely to determine long-term success.
