% & permanent secretary the treasury 35 % industry telecommunications headquarters nairobi kenya key people robert collymore ceo . products g.s.m. related products revenue 1.428 billion 2013 operating income 293.103 million 2013 net income 198.850 million 2013 number of employees 3000 website www.safaricom.co.ke safaricom ltd is a leading mobile network operator in kenya . it was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of telkom kenya . in may 2000 vodafone group plc of the united kingdom acquired a 40 % stake and management responsibility for the company . as of may 9 2015 bob collymore is the ceo ; he succeeded michael joseph on november 1 2010 after joseph s ten years as safaricom ceo . 1 robert collymore has spent most of his career in the telecommunications industry starting with british telecommunications where he held a number of marketing purchasing and commercial roles over a 15 year period . recent reports appearing in the cross section of the press indicate that vodafone plc of uk only owns 35 % and the remaining 5 % is owned by a little known company mobitelea ventures limited . the reports have caused a stir which led to the summoning of its ceo michael joseph to appear before the pic public investment committee during which he denied knowing who the other shareholder is . a spokesman for vodafone said the pic has no powers to investigate m & a activity see mergers and acquisitions only to ask to view company accounts of vodafone kenya limited a company registered in kenya . mobitelea ventures limited were granted an option to purchase 25 % of vodafone s shares which they completed in 2002 vodafone bought back half of the stake in 2003 for 10m 2 and in the financial year ending 31 march 2009 purchased the remaining indirect equity stake of 5 % thus returning vodafone to its original 40 % stake holding . 3 vodafone said that whilst it would like to disclose who owns mobitelea it is unable to because of a confidentiality agreement . 2 safaricom employs over 1 500 people mainly stationed in nairobi and other big cities like mombasa kisumu nakuru and eldoret in which it operates retail outlets . currently it has nationwide dealerships to ensure customers across the country have access to its products and services . as of january 2010 safaricom boasted a subscriber base of approximately 12 million most of whom are in the major cities nairobi mombasa kisumu and nakuru . its headquarters are located in safaricom house waiyaki way in westlands nairobi . it has other offices in the city center in i & m building kenyatta avenue on kimathi street and at shankardass house next to kenya cinema moi avenue . its main rival is airtel kenya . other rivals include essar s yu which they recently purchased in conjunction with airtel 4 and orange wireless . safaricom has charitable functions where it helps the less fortunate in the society mostly through the safaricom foundation . in november 2012 safaricom announced it would be offering a new mobile phone banking product in conjunction with the commercial bank of africa tapping into an underdeveloped financial services market . 5 in 2014 safaricom partnered with britam and changamka micro health to provide insurance to kenyans with low income . it is known as linda jamii . 6 contents 1 history 2 flashback service 3 electronic cash service 4 kipokezi service 5 other services 6 m pesa 6.1 history 6.2 how it works 6.3 m pesa s usage and success in kenya 7 elsewhere 7.1 south africa 7.2 tanzania 7.3 india 8 controversy 9 internet connectivity 10 frequency band 11 see also 12 references 13 external links history edit safaricom was started in 1993 as a department of the former state owned telecommunications operate kenya post and telecommunication corporation . in 1997 safaricom limited was incorporated as a private limited liability company with 40 % ownership held by vodafone kenya limited . in 2002 it was converted to a public company while the government held 60 % of the shares 25 % of which would be auctioned off in 2008 on the nairobi securities exchange . 7 safaricom has introduced a number of services to kenya and been a leading player in the mobile market and national economy . flashback service edit as a result of the limited income of most of safaricom s customers network congestion emerges from a practice called flashing . flashing is the practice of calling another mobile user but disconnecting before the connected call is answered . it provides a method for mobile users to alert someone that they wish to be called but either can t or won t pay for the call . the method is cost free for the users ; but costly in network bandwidth . that is why safaricom sometime ago introduced a flashback service that gave every subscriber five free sms messages with a single pre defined message stating please call me . thank you . although the messages can be annoying when sent just for fun they are very useful when one is in trouble and has no airtime . it also gives parents more of a reason to get mobile phone for their children without the real need for getting them airtime . however at this time the flashbacks can only be sent to safaricom subscribers due to some feuds with airtel safaricom s main competitor . electronic cash service edit safaricom has developed and launched nationwide a mobile banking service called m pesa that allows kenyans to transfer money via sms . 8 the service does not require users to have bank accounts an important aspect in a country like kenya where many people do not have bank accounts . with m pesa the user can buy digital funds at any m pesa agent and send that electric cash to any other mobile phone user in kenya who can then redeem it for conventional cash at any agent . this system is remotely comparable to hawala banking or services like western union . an m pesa enabled mobile phone can also function as an electronic wallet and can hold up to 100 000 kenyan shilling . 9 safaricom stakeholder vodafone which partnered in the development of m pesa has announced that it intends to roll out m pesa internationally as well . kipokezi service edit safaricom launched the kipokezi service in may 2000 that enabled its subscribers to send and receive email and online chat through standard mobile phones . 10 any phone with sms service can use kipokezi . 11 prior to the service fewer than one in ten kenyans had accessed the internet but the kipokezi launch allowed more than a third of the population to exchange email and online chat messages . 12 the kipokezi is provided by forgetmenot africa . 13 the service does not require users to have an internet connection as it uses forgetmenot africa s handset initiation technology . other services edit safaricom together with many other companies have partnered come up with different services for use by the public ranging from weather updates to market prices and even entertainment updates . the company has plans to provide wi fi internet connection in large malls smes and government agencies in kenya 14 with regards to customer support services the company has chosen to reduce support via phone calls opting to use the social media especially facebook . customers calling the support numbers receive an automated message informing them about support via social media sites the call then automatically disconnects with a message saying that all customer support representatives are busy . 15 m pesa edit history edit m pesa m for mobile pesa is swahili for money is a mobile phone based money transfer financing and micro financing service launched in 2007 by vodafone for safaricom and vodacom m pesa was originally designed as a system to allow microfinance loan repayments to be made by phone reducing the costs associated with handling cash . but after the pilot testing it was broadened to become a general money transfer scheme . how it works edit once a user registers for m pesa they pay money into the system by handing cash to an m pesa agent who then credits the money to the user s m pesa account . the user then gets an sms notifying them of the transaction . a user withdraws money by visiting an agent who checks that the user has sufficient funds before debiting the user s account and handing over the cash . an m pesa user can also transfer money to others using a menu on their phone . cash can thus be sent one place to another instantly safely and easily . this is in contrast to the preferred system before where money was sent by a porter usually a friend relative or bus crew to the intended recipient . m pesa was first launched by the kenyan mobile network operator safaricom where vodafone was technically a minority shareholder 40 % in march 2007 . m pesa quickly captured a significant market share for cash transfers and grew to 17 million subscribers by december 2011 in kenya alone the growth of the service forced formal banking institutions to take note of the new venture . in december 2008 a group of banks reportedly lobbied the kenyan finance minister to audit m pesa in an effort to at least slow the growth of the service . this ploy failed as the audit found that the service was robust . at this time the banking act did not provide the basis to regulate products offered by non banks of which m pesa was one such very successful product . as at november 2014 m pesa transactions for the 11 months of 2014 were valued at kes . 2.1 trillion a 28 % increase from 2013 and almost half the value of the country s gdp . on november 19 2014 safaricom launched a companion android app safaricom m ledger for its m pesa users . the application currently available only on android gives m pesa users a historical view of all their transactions . m pesa s usage and success in kenya edit m pesa has been particularly successful in kenya compared to mobile money platforms in other countries . contributing factors here include the exceptionally high cost of sending money by other methods ; the dominant market position of safaricom ; the regulator s initial decision to allow the scheme to proceed on an experimental basis without formal approval ; a clear and effective marketing campaign send money home ; an efficient system to move cash around behind the scenes ; and the post election violence in the country in early 2008 . during the post election violence m pesa was used to transfer money to people trapped in nairobi s slums at the time . some kenyans regarded m pesa as a safer place to store their money than the banks which were entangled in ethnic disputes . having established a base of initial users m pesa then benefitted from network effects the more people who used it the more it made sense for others to sign up for it . m pesa has since been extended to offer loans and savings products and can also be used to disburse salaries or pay bills which saves users further time and money as compared to doing so from banks . m pesa has a wide range of financial services including person to person atm withdrawal payments bulk payments and bank to m pesa as of january 2016 m pesa is used by 21.8 million kenyans with over 1.5 million of m pesa users using the bill payment feature . at the time m pesa had a network of over 90 000 agent outlets . average value of