During the reporting period, profits for the listed company jumped from P71 million to P112 million, which was attributed to effective cost reduction measures and the expansion of mobile money services. In a financial statement issued on the Botswana Stock Exchange, the executives noted that the telecoms giant managed to trim costs by 20% owing to instituting operational efficiencies. “The company reported a strong performance for the half year, highlighted by an increase of 8.5% in EBITDA and a remarkable 57% rise in Profit After Tax, from P71 million to P112 million,” directors revealed.
“Costs decreased by 20%, driven by operational efficiencies, while revenues increased by a modest one percent, reflecting growth in data and financial services despite declines in legacy segments,” they added. The company noted a significant decline in fixed network and mobile voice revenues during this period, but managed to record growth in mobile prepaid data, mobile financial services and data centre cloud services, offsetting these declines. Company officials further revealed that the BTC was strengthening its mobile money service business in order to extend services to the unbanked population. “The mobile financial services (Smega) ecosystem is being strengthened with the onboarding of new services and an expansion in rural areas to support the unbanked population,” executives said. “This initiative is driven by financial inclusion of public education programme, addresses the critical gap in access to financial services by providing a ordable and accessible solutions for all, regardless of location,” they noted. By April 2024, Smega had 11% market share in the mobile money market, which is worth more than P30 billion.
The mobile money market has been a fast growing sector in the country with officials from Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) attributing the growth to the wide acceptance of the service and its convenience related to bill payments, service subscriptions, and money transfers, amongst others. Owing to the convergence between technology and financial services, mobile money is interoperable with traditional bank accounts, which has brought about the much-needed convenience for users.
