Safaricom PLC (SCOM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

So good afternoon, good evening, good morning, depending on where you're calling from. And happy to be able to join you today together with the CFO, Dilip. We also have Wim with CFO [indiscernible]. Most of the questions will be answered by myself or Dilip, but I may pass on some questions to the team, especially in relation to Ethiopia. As you know, we announced the results today, the intention here is not to go through the key highlights of that. I'm sure many of you would prefer that we go into questions. But at a high level, very, very pleased that with a very, very strong performance, broad-based growth in Kenya or bottom -- both top and bottom line. And also, we are making progress in Ethiopia. And many of you will -- or some of you would have been in the Ethiopia in February, and we can be able to update you on some of what has happened since then. But we are very, very pleased with what we've been able to deliver in Kenya and also that we have held to the revised guidance that we made to the investors at the half year. So that's all I wanted to say. And the second aspect is that just for everyone to be aware that Kenya is going through very devastating floods that are affecting society significantly. And after the drought now, we have floods. We, as a company, have started to be vowed together with the Red Cross part community as part of our foundation programs. And more broadly, we'll be involved in the private sector-led initiative that complements what government and development agencies are doing. But that's something for sure that we need to keep in mind. And because it is affecting many communities, it has led to many fatalities. So that's something that is clearly on top of our mind. With that, I want to hand over to Dilip, probably to have a summary for 5 minutes and then -- you can -- then Caroline can facilitate the Q&A.

Thank you, Peter. Caroline, you can hear me well?

Yes, we can hear you, Dilip.

Good evening, good afternoon, and good morning, everyone. Welcome all of you to our full year earnings call for Safaricom Group for the last financial year FY '24. Now I won't go into a lot of details as you -- some of you may have listened to our presentation and you also probably had an opportunity to go through the documents that we have already uploaded for your convenience. For me, just to say it was a very, very good year for us. I mean, starting with Kenya, we delivered double-digit growth across all key financial metrics, starting from service revenue, 11.7%; EBITDA growing 16.6%, EBIT growing 20%, reaching to the key milestone of KShs1 billion equivalent and also net income growing 13.7% and free cash flow growing 15.7%. We haven't had this opportunity of reporting from a Kenya business, this level of performance over a long period of time. And of course, this is driven by a very good momentum in our revenue profile more so in the second half of the year compared to first half -- as you may have seen from our release, M-PESA grew significantly 19.4%. -- second half growth was 22%, even mobile data grew 18%. So, all our growth engines -- growth segments in revenue are delivering as expected, and we are very satisfied with the top line growth. I think from a cost perspective, macroeconomic challenges, of course, has pushed us the operating costs growing 11% and mostly driven by the energy cost growth. And also interest cost has grown significantly close to 40% year-over-year, not because in Kenya business, we haven't taken and our overall debt level remains the same, but it's just because of the rate of interest growth that has led to a 40% increase in our interest costs. Overall, I think the balance sheet is very -- with net debt to EBITDA of 0.3%. On Ethiopia, I know it's not -- we are still waiting for our EBITDA breakeven here that we have reconfirmed within FY '26. But before EBITDA breakeven, there is also a key milestone, which is the contribution level breakeven. So, as you may have seen from the financials, FY '24 was actually the first step towards going into EBITDA breakeven, which is the contribution level breakeven. The network that we are developing in Ethiopia is towards giving the country, the digital experience, and that is reflected in our revenue profile with 74% of the revenue is coming from mobile data, some exceptional momentum on the growth -- usage growth. It not only surpassed Kenya's usage, but it's actually now at a very different level. March exit was almost 6 gigabytes per customer per month, which is -- quite satisfactory for us. And in terms of investment, we closed the year with 2,806 base stations, a combination of our own build and as well as colocation from Ethiotel. And we've invested last year of KShs 46 billion in capital investment. From a Group performance perspective, as we have spoken about this before, the top line of the Ethiopia will now begin to show up in our overall Group performance. As you have seen, 11.7% Kenya growth now leads to 13.4% growth for Group when you include Ethiopia performance. And also on a constant currency basis, without taking the currency translation, actually EBITDA growth for the Group was 19.2%. And Group net income, excluding minute interest, which actually turned positive in this financial year to 1.2% and adjusted with the translation difference, the growth was 4.2%. This is a breakout year in terms of Ethiopia, as we mentioned, about recorded the highest losses. And as with the momentum of Kenya business and as Ethiopia starts improving, we will now start seeing a growth momentum in -- at the Group level as well, which was evident if you have seen our guidance that we have guided our EBIT growth, which we closed at KShs 94 billion to be in the range of KShs 139.9 billion to IDR 19 billion, which is, of course, a significant growth compared to what we have seen in the last financial year. So let me pause here. And with that, I hand over back to Caroline for starting the Q&A session.

So I'll get into the questions. [Operator Instructions] I do see your questions, Wesley. So, Wesley Manambo of Standard Investment Bank, a number of 5 questions there. But I'll start with your fast one and combined with the question from Davis that is still speaking to the same thing, and I'll request that Peter addresses this one on M-PESA separation. But the question is this, as split on the GSM and Financial Services business seems to be imminent in Kenya. Are you inclined to seek financial services license, be it banking, asset management or insurance or buy out existing players if the split materializes to leverage on the M-Pesa brand and in turn maximize the value derived from the sector in addition to as opposed to existing partnerships? I want to combine that with the question from Davis of Sterling Capital about the same where he says, can you kindly update us on the progress of splitting M-PESA and from the Group? The CBK governor's recent comments highlighted the KShs 25 billion tax liability that will be merged from the split? What's the progress on receiving a tax waiver? And would Safaricom still be compelled to split the entity without the waiver. Peter?

So thank you for the question. I think we expected the question. The -- this question has been asked in various forms. And I think for those who live in Kenya, it was responded to, based on a question that media asked to the Central Bank governor. I think the way we think about the start of all, there is no decision that has been made about separating M-Pesa from the GSM business. And we went through a new strategy approval with the Board. One of the things we do want to do though is to think about it of the reason for separation if you were to do it and do it proactively ourselves. And what is the -- what is the case for -- does it benefit customers? Does it benefit investors? Does it benefit Kenya? So, I wouldn't say the description of M-Pesa separation is imminent because there's no decision that has been made as far as separation is concerned. And then the second thing is that the question was also leading to how we would look at our Financial Services business. At the moment, we want to stay as a fintech operation, not going to core banking business because that requires much more significant prudential requirements or would need us to first of all have banking capabilities, but also SKUs and then have to be required to operate within banking guidelines, which are much more ominous as compared to what we have today as a fintech business. So to the extent possible our intention is to use partnerships both on the credit side and also if we go into the insurance and also asset management from wealth or savings products that we may issue in the future. But from a separation perspective, there is no decision made by the Board and should we think that it is something we should do proactively because we feel it's appropriate. We will come back and report to this Group or make an [indiscernible] announcement. I need to emphasize that the issue around tax consideration is a normal one. If you want to reorganize our business within -- Kenya, the current tax law say that you have -- you have to pay VAT on transfer of operations from one to other on internal reorganization. And that's what was picked up and was reported by the governor.

I think that has also addressed the second part of the question, which was still related. So, I'll go to the third question from Wesley, that's states. Do you see a Starlink -- do you see Starlink as a potentially significant competitor on fixed data? And he does mention that Morten last time spoke about successful satellite tests. And the question is, do we see any opportunities in deploying such in remote regions? So that is to you, Peter. Let me read out the other question that will be answered by Dilip after you, which is question number 4. It seems lower MTR might be a reality in Kenya. What GSM strategies do you have in place to cushion the 4? That's to you, Dilip. Let's start with you, Peter.

Yes. I think the way we look at any competition is we don't take it for granted. We do believe that satellite will become important into the future. How ubiquitous it is remain to be tested and actually improved because of the costs, the price points and so on and so forth. Yes, Morten did indicate in the past that we are doing a test in Kenya. We are one of the test markets as part of the Vodafone Group -- and depending on those tests which are not fully concluded, we will see a commercialization road map that we think should allow us to start seeing how this evolves over time. So we do see this as a risk, and we do take it seriously, but we are not at a stage where we want to -- brief you on what the commercial road map is. But hopefully, by the H1, we should be able to be in a much better position to do that.

Dilip to you on the MTR question.

Thank you for that question. So -- the -- you're right, MTR globally is always on a decline. So, it's -- eventually, the Kenya market will also have similar trend that we have seen in the other parts of the world. But it is also a reflection of the cost. So sometimes we see MTR as a revenue -- as an interconnect revenue, but the cost of providing interconnect gets -- gets overlooked. So, I think in the context of Kenya, it has been a steep decline from $0.99 to now, which we are currently at $0.41. And as you know, this current level of MTR is -- which has started from 1st of March this year 2024, will be valid for 2 more years. And we're expecting the new cost study to come one more time within this period and a new rate coming. Our objective and our intention and our hope is that it goes through a light path to allow the stability also in the business because it has been proven that if the rate goes down below a certain level of cost, then operators tend to stop investing and that, of course, impacts the growth in the industry. So yes, you're right. The -- our strategy is to make sure that we work on our proposition, especially on our voice and messaging proposition. As you have seen, we had a very good traction even in the last financial year. And we continue to drive usage. We continue to drive to our customer value management proposition. We continue to drive engagement through our big data and AI enabled offers. So we are conscious about it, and we are not waiting for those events to happen, but preparing ourselves for that to make sure that any changes to that MTR doesn't necessarily impact our business dramatically. As you have seen, it did impact when it came down from $0.99 to $0.41. And at least for the next 2 years, we will be having at this level of MTR $0.41.

Peter, a question here to you with respect to [IDAC]. And the question is any newsworthy developments with IDAC? Anything that you can share with the analysts at this point. And as you do so, I'll combine that with a question that is related that is asking, are we lobbying for any subsidies? And if not, what would be IDAC's competitive advantage?

So last time we spoke to all of you, we talked about IDAC being a big part of the pathways to accelerate acquisition of 4G devices for customers. And because when you have a local device assembly, you can assemble devices depending on need. You can assemble mobile devices, you can assemble home wireless CPEs, you can assemble any device because these units are very versatile in terms of ability to pick up in handsets. So, for example, we supplied devices to the healthcare program to the Ministry of Health. They are going to do other programs. So it gives flexibility and versatility in the way that you are able to do rather than importing fully assembled devices. The second aspect that it helps is we can also export them into the region using the current frameworks like you see on COMESA, so benefiting potentially our IDAC business depending on price point. So that's the primary advantage. And because there is still a tax, an external tax tariff, whether it's at COMESA level or IDAC and the local device assembly doesn't incur the tax, then therefore, from an input duty excise -- then their products is passed on to customers from a price point perspective. So that's the benefit. Of course, if tax was 0, you could argue what is the benefit -- but that versatility and ability to innovate is still useful. So far, we produced about 300,000 devices, which we have sold off. And in just 6 months, of course, the ramp-up when you introduce a new factory takes time. But we believe that we can -- as we go forward, fully utilize the capacity and expand to the extent necessary, depending on where we want to take devices into the future. Over the next few years, we believe there is an opportunity to -- to move the penetration of 4G from about one-third to 2-thirds. That is a lot of devices every year. This year -- last year, we introduced 3.5 -- 3.6 million devices, 4G devices into our ecosystem, of which only 300,000 was assembled. So you can tell, there's a lot of devices that are required. And this is even before we start to accelerate this area. So for me, I feel it's a fantastic opportunity to be able to give us versatility. And then we combine it with financing and insurance in order for us to actually really bundle the right propositions for customers.

And I'll now take the question from Samuel [indiscernible] of Renaissance Capital. He makes an observation on mobile data. And this question is to you Dilip. The tariff cut was softer, 4.6% drop compared to prior years where the cuts would be as high as 35% to 40%. And as a result, usage growth 6.4% drop has also softened compared to prior year. So, the question is, why did the company decide to go with less aggressive cuts on rates? And do you feel you're now more competitive in pricing? What's the current premium over competitors' pricing? And how has the competitive landscape on mobile data specifically in your view become more benign?

As you have I've been listening to us on our mobile data rate decline over the years. I think in our presentation, we also spoke about today, the decline was to the extent of 60% in last 4 years. There are 2 things that we are trying to do. One, we are trying to reduce premium compared to the competition, which you believe we have done -- we are now very competitive. Remember, we -- the voice and data works very differently. You can't necessarily have a high premium on data when the customer experience in the same area [indiscernible]. There is little differentiation you can do unless, of course, the competition is also catching up on their 4G penetration. So, we felt that the high premium was more sustainable. So that's why we embarked on a journey of reducing premium. And at the current level, we are, we believe the premium what we have, which is around 10% is quite reasonable. Now the other question is on affordability. Of course, we try and make it affordable. But remember, there is the - there is the device availability, the mobile data is possible only when you have devices. So, no matter how much price you reduce unless devices are available in the hands of the customer that -- you're not necessarily getting the affordability equation right. So it's just a fine balance between trying to make sure that you are not -- we are one of the lowest cost as far as a per megabits or per gigabits is concerned within the entire continent. So, you're trying to balance it out in a way to make sure that you remain competitive and also make it affordable, and that's what was reflected in this year's numbers. And as you can see, yes, [indiscernible] has not grown in the proportion - in the rate it used to grow earlier. But as you are getting more and more serious user, just not people who are snacking data, then you start seeing more serious users coming. The ones which are not serious, they're dropping out, probably they don't have a right kind of devices. But we are very satisfied with the progress that we have made in this journey of optimizing prices over a long period of time and taking it to a level now we believe with the more -- with the more and more 4G enabled smartphones in the hands of the customer, the usage will also grow along with the growth in the revenue.

I'll take a set of questions, and this is from Madi of HSBC. And I'll start with you, Peter. The first question is on the potential impact from the floods in Kenya. So Madi would like to know what's the potential impact that we envisage from the floods in Kenya? And then Dilip, you can take the other 2 questions, which I'll read. So, can you please disaggregate M-Pesa growth into usage versus pricing? He means how much of the growth is driven by a resumption of charging the bank to M-Pesa and M-Pesa to bank transactions. And his third and last question is, why did you keep the dividend flat? And what is the guidance outlook for FY '25? So that's your Dilip, but let's start with Peter on the flooding question.

So the -- as you have heard from the announcement, the floods first of all have had a major effect on -- on Kenyans across the -- country with various countries, the 47 countries have been impacted in different ways. And there is different categorization depending on the severity of the impact. But it's fair to say the rain has affected mid- a lot across countries, including Nairobi, which normally doesn't get to be at the plant of some of these disasters. We have had 257 Kenyans who have lost their lives. 42,000 households have been displaced, affecting close to 200,000 Kenyans -- and so it also depends on how long this will take in terms of whether we'll have further rains event to a briefing last week at a national level that included private sector. And it is quite clear that we'll continue to have very heavy rain through May, probably at a lower level than we have seen in April or at May. But clearly still more is expected. So, the biggest devastation is the immediate piece, which is people in temporary shelter, the fact that homes have been destroyed, the fact that lifestyles have been -- or livelihoods have been disrupted. And it's difficult to compare with the drought piece, but there's a lot of movements. People being asked to move from where they live to -- as precaution to safer -- area. So, it's clearly going to be disruptive. No one knows how much impact this would be. So that's why the initial effort is actually to focus on safety and security of people and naturally reduce the impact that is -- being had. Clearly, it'll effect -- it will affect the country, it'll affect agriculture, it would affect infrastructure because it's a -- it is actually a really -- really affecting roads and bridges and so on. It's starting to affect supply of energy. So -- but at this stage -- it's difficult to assess. And then once the rain stopped, it's also what happens in terms of ensuring that people get back to their normal life. So, a lot of it is humanitarian at this stage, but I'm sure the economic effect will be felt at a later stage. I think then if you work it through, maybe at a later stage, we'll also see drought coming through because this is the cycle that now we see. So -- but at this stage, we are not clear, but clearly to be disruptive.

So I'll take the other 2 questions. I might be the first one on return to charging. Yes, it's very much possible -- for us to disintegrate this or show that number separately, and I can confirm that number to you. You would recall what I mentioned. Last financial year, FY '24, we had a 9-month benefit of return to charge. So, the total uplift that we got from return to charging is anything between KShs 3.5 billion to KShs 3.7 billion in M-Pesa revenue. Yes, it is possible for us to identify that and also show it separate. So that's the amount KShs 3.5 billion to KShs 3.7 billion. Now remember, this is not just a onetime. So, this now -- this is the base now. So obviously, growth happens on top of this, but it's just not revenue coming and going away. So this is coming and then growing on top of that. To your point on dividend, I thought the question would be -- the why dividend is not lower than last year because as you remember, the year when we started and our initial guidance and the revised guidance, I think we have overperformed compared to that what it was originally we were thinking. And based on that, -- despite FY '24 being the worst year and which I'm confirming, as I said, worst will be behind us with FY '24. I think maintaining dividend at the same level that of FY '23 is quite credible in such a year because Ethiopia had the highest losses, and it will have the highest losses that we have seen in FY '24. Now to your question on what to expect in the future, of course we don't guide on net income and dividend, so I can't comment on that. But I can comment on the guidance that you have given. And you have seen at the lowest -- the hundred -- 103 to 109 million is the EBIT compared to actual of 94 or 95 billion this financial -- last financial year, which means that at the lowest end the EBIT -- that EBIT is your proxy, and I'm not confirming what will that EBIT can be. But at least from an EBIT perspective, it's a growth of 8.5% at the lowest -- at the low end and at the midpoint, even it is a double-digit growth at the Group level. So that now gives you an indication of we are at the worst point in terms of EBIT that we have the year which has gone by. Now from there on, you will only see growth coming in. And of course, EBIT growth also leads to net income growth. And of course, net income growth will lead to dividend growth. But I just cannot confirm or give you any guidance on what the net income and dividend will be.

So I'll take another 2 questions, and this will be to you Dilip before now I get into Ethiopia related questions. So, these are 2 questions from Jaret. Jaret Hoova is with RMB Morgan Stanley and the questions are, how should we think about net finance costs in FY '25, given the trajectory of inflation and impact on leases? And the follow-up question is on the effective tax rate. Again, how should we gauge the effective tax rate for FY '25? So forward-looking questions on FY '25 from Jaret.

On finance costs, as I mentioned, we are -- we of course -- interest cost in Kenya has gone up. It's simply because of the interest rate increase. Of all the macros we spoke about from the year we started in from the year -- by the time we ended the year -- we have seen quite a lot of positive developments starting from GDP, which is growing nicely. Inflation coming down, as you have seen, the numbers are quite promising. And the currency, we are currently at the level which we are one year before, in between we had significant devaluation in currency of Kenyan Shilling. Now the only one which has still remained and remain a big concern is the interest rates driven by the domestic treasury yield. So, it doesn't look like this is temporary, although we see that the -- some of the [recent transactions] the demand for higher interest rates that level, I think Central Bank was not encouraging. So, I think there is a -- there is a push, and there is an effort to reduce the interest but it is still very high. So, Kenya, we don't expect a lot of borrowings to come in. But for Ethiopia we have to borrow more money to fund our business, which means that the trajectory on interest cost will be on an increasing trend. And we just hope it doesn't go beyond what the level of interest rates we have now as -- I mean, globally, there is they understand the -- with the -- everybody is watching what's the U.S. interest rates level going to be and that will probably determine which doesn't look like 6 months or a one quarter. It maybe just one year from now when you start seeing results. But yes, FY '25 will also continue to be a year of high interest regime. On -- I think that the -- sorry, second question, Caroline, was on also finance costs?

No, effective tax rate for [indiscernible]

Effective tax rate, see, our corporate tax rate is at 30%, but then we have certain disallowances. There is a calculation and also impact of deferred tax that come into play. I think we have been in the range of, I can say, 30% to 33% depending on the year of what's the impact of deferred tax and some of disallowances that come in the way. So I think it is fair to say that it will remain within that range of anything between 31% to 33% as an effective tax rate.

So moving on to a set of questions on Ethiopia, and they are a good number. And I'll start with what has been shared by Linette, Linette [Moroni of Absa]. This question is to you, Peter. So, there are 2 questions here for you, and I'll give one to Dilip. And Linette, for the last question on IAS 29 and the calculation, this one, I'll get in touch with you separately to do the technical accounting with you. But to the first question to you, Peter, please give an update on MTR cost study in Ethiopia? Has the regulator shared recommendations for Ethiotel's tariff adjustment. So that's the first question. And after that, you can answer this second question. Please share developments on M-Pesa onboarding as a payment option for government or large-scale business payments still in Ethiopia. And then thirdly, to you, Dilip, please share medium-term borrowing targets, currency tenor and targeted borrowing costs for Ethiopia investment. Let's start with you, Peter.

But I just wanted to say 2 things. One is just to add to what Dilip said on dividends. I know there was a question as to why dividend is flat. I agree with Dilip that you should be congratulating us for retaining dividend. The second, which is the most serious point is that we also normally guide dividends at 80% of Group net income that is -- distributable after minority interest. So, the dividend we are paying is very -- is within that guidance. Now the -- on the MTR, I think the first good news is we've seen MTR being reduced, which is good, and I think we will put some context to it. The process start -- the regulator went through. on M-Pesa, I'll also hand over to him because he is much closer to the item.

So concerning the MTR, as we have announced and implemented since 1st of May, the effective MTR has gone down from 0.31% to 0.23%. So that was the outcome of the cost study that was started 6, 8 months ago. So, we really mean thankful to the regulator, the ECA that they have embarked on that journey. It's a good development because what we want to do with it is not necessarily just bank the savings. But what we are doing is we are launching new voice bundle value propositions where we're actually passing on that saving to the customer, meaning that they will be able to call all networks at a lower rate than what they were being charged prior to the 1st of May. So we believe that it is a very good development for us to gain traction and market share in the voice segment. You've seen our figures, we are doing very well on the data part. But on the voice, they're a bit more challenged because of our small market share at this stage, and that is why these reduced MTRs will allow us to offer much more competitive value proposition for people to call across all networks. So that will allow us to gain market share. On the point of the M-Pesa, so we are live now with M-Pesa payment on utilities for electricity through an interconnection with the bank. So, there has been good development on that side concerning fuel and other government-related services. The discussions are still ongoing. Ministry of Transport has launched a new platform, which we are very confident that we'll be able to connect to any time soon. And also, there was a strong commitment and statement made by the NBE, the National Bank of Ethiopia in public a few weeks ago, where there is a commitment from their side at the policy level to allow all the fintechs, including M-Pesa, but also including all the banks to be given equal access to offer for these kind of services. It's part of the digital Ethiopia agenda. The thinking is the more different companies that are allowed to be offering these kinds of services, the more people in Etopia, will be able to benefit from these services. So, we are very confident that in the medium term, we will get access to all these government-related payment platforms together with other institutions, fintechs and banks. Caroline, I think it's my [indiscernible] question, which is on medium-term borrowing packet. So, Linette -- so one of the thing that we have been working with the other shareholders in the consortium is to look for an optimal capital structure. As you have seen from our funding slide that was part of my presentation of the KShs 1.86 billion of investment, which has gone in Ethiopia business, KShs 1.6 billion actually has been on equity. So we do have very little debt in the business. So our objective has always been to get into optimal capital structure and also within the prudential norms of National Bank of Ethiopia. Towards that in mind, as we have finalized last year, our first tranche of IFC debt, which is coming, which is KShs 100 million as part of the funding have already shown. We were also at that time, I think we signed posted that, that was what we call there is a loan A and then there would be a loan B. And with the same framework that you have worked before so that you don't need to go through the level of due diligence that you normally do to take a debt at the international level. So our estimate, what you have been working on with IFCs to take up to KShs 350 million additional debt in the next -- in the medium term in the next 2 to 3 years, yes. So that's what is we are currently working on. And we made progress, but we still don't have the final approval and finally what will be the terms and conditions. And approval from both the side, whether its from IFC or from our side. But that's -- you can say, ballpark, up to KShs 300 million of debt is what could come in into Ethiopia's balance sheet.

And I'll now take another set of questions from Preshendran with Nedbank. And this, again, are on Ethiopia. So, this is on subscriber market share. So, I'll give that to you, Wim, if you could please speak to that. And as you do that, because the question is what is your subscriber market share and states that it was 10% in December 2023. So happy to hear a position on that. At the same time, Dilip, if you could speak to the funding and the question is how much shareholder funding was provided to Safaricom Ethiopia? And there's reference to H1 and H2, but they noticed that in the presentation, you mentioned that USD 1860. So, the KShs 1.9 billion of total funding is not since inception, excluding licensing fees. And as you respond to that, you can also make reference to the question on FX liquidity shortages and how we are procuring effects for CapEx in Ethiopia. So those are 2 questions to you, Dilip, but let's start with you Wim on the subscriber market share.

Subscriber market share of course, we know our own subscribers. We're very clear on our 90-day definition, and we know exactly how many subscribers we carry on our own network. You also understand that we do not have so much interconnect traffic because both ways at MTR is relatively high in the past. So, our subscribers call amongst themselves and our competitive subscribers also call amongst themselves. So what I'm trying to say is that we have limited visibility of the subscribers on the other side. We have to go with the official figures that are being announced on a regular basis, I think, on a quarterly basis. We haven't seen the latest figures yet, but we do gather that slowly month-on-month, we are gaining market share. And that is being confirmed actually by a proxy methodology. We have Facebook statistics, it doesn't give you a voice, but at least our own data. So, it gives you an indication -- Facebook gives you an indication about how -- your customers or how your share is evolving in the market. And there, we also see a continuous steady growth in terms of our customer, at least data customer market share with particular areas of the country doing better than others. But I would say it's a consistent story of growing slowly but steadily market share in Ethiopia. So, I would say 10% in December will probably have been 11% or 12% in March, April. But -- and would I say on the disclaimer that we don't have full visibility because the regulator doesn't announce figures independently.

So on funding, let me unpack the numbers what you have seen in the presentation. First of all, to confirm that KShs 1.860 billion of funding that you have seen since inception, yes? So, it's from -- so that's the cumulative funding, it's not for the year. So that's the first confirmation. Second confirmation is, yes, it does include payment for the license, which is KShs 850 million for the GSM and KShs 150 million for mobile financial services. So that's KShs 1 billion. So if you take out KShs 1 billion from sales inception for the losses and also for the CapEx business, we -- the shareholders have put in -- total funding for the business has been KShs 860 million outside of license fee. Out of KShs 860 million, shareholder money has gone from KShs 626 million. And the rest, KShs 236 million came in from -- KShs 634 million came from KShs 134 million of local debt -- local currency debt equivalent to KShs 134 million and KShs 100 million of IFC debt. That's what takes it to KShs 860 million, which is outside of KShs 1 billion of license repayment. So that's how the shareholders' contribution in total, is $ 1.626 billion outside of license fee, KShs 626 million to date, and Safaricom, of course, contributed share of 51.7%.