Kenya’s largest telecom operator, Safaricom, has slipped below the trillion-shilling mark just days after briefly reclaiming the coveted status.

On June 12, the company hit a KES 1 trillion ($7.7 billion) market capitalization for the first time since October 2022, becoming the most valuable company on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

However, as of market close on Monday, Safaricom’s market cap had dipped to KES 987.61 billion ($7.6 billion), shedding part of the gains that brought it back into the trillion-shilling league.

Despite the slight retreat, Safaricom has been on a strong upward trajectory in 2025. Year-to-date, its market value has surged by 43%, rising from KES 689.13 billion ($5.3 billion) at the start of the year. Its share price has similarly climbed from KES 17.25 ($0.13) to KES 23 ($0.18), reflecting renewed investor confidence.

The rally has been fueled by a string of strong financial results. In May, the telecom giant reported record revenue of KES 388.7 billion ($3 billion) and a 10.8% increase in net income. A key driver of this growth is M-Pesa, which now contributes 44.2% of Safaricom’s service revenue.

The company’s expansion into Ethiopia has also added significant momentum. In just one year, Safaricom has onboarded 2.8 million M-Pesa users in the Ethiopian market, with transactions totaling KES 20.6 billion ($159 million). The firm expects to achieve profitability in Ethiopia by 2027.

Safaricom remains one of only eight publicly traded telecom companies in Africa with a market cap exceeding $1 billion, alongside MTN Group, MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa, Vodacom Group, Sonatel Senegal, Maroc Telecom, and Telkom South Africa.

Though it has slipped slightly below the trillion-shilling threshold, Safaricom’s strong fundamentals and strategic growth suggest that another climb may just be a matter of time.