Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya.It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region.The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of MPESA, a mobile banking SMS-based service.
Safaricom controls approximately 64.5% percent of the Kenyan market as at 2020 with a subscriber base estimated at approximately 35.6 million.Safaricom 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.In 2008, the government offered 25% of its shares to the public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
