The company, which is majority owned by Britain's Vodafone, co-launched Safaricom Ethiopia last year, betting that the populous nation will power growth after about five years of investment.

Group CEO Shameel Joosub said Safaricom Ethiopia has already reached 4.1 million customers and more recently it launched its mobile financial services business M-Pesa there.

Headline earnings per share, a profit measure, fell to 438 cents in the six months ended September 30, from 457 cents a year earlier.

Group service revenue grew 42.2% to $3.16 billion, thanks to the acquisition of Vodafone Egypt and rand depreciation against its basket of international currencies.

Excluding the contribution of Vodafone Egypt, group service revenue growth was 7.9% or 4.1% on a normalised basis, supported by a resilient performance in SA, the operator said.

--Reuters--