Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has on Wednesday, March 29 noted that government-owned telco TTCL has failed to meet expectations in the business, advising the company to focus on the provision of broadband service to other companies.
“Frankly speaking, TTCL has failed in the telecom business, let them focus on providing broadband, in fact, if they engage in telecom and the broadband belongs to them, there is no fairness in the competition,” she said.
Speaking at State House, Dar es Salaam, where she was receiving the CAG’s report, President Samia said that there is a need to review the operations of TTCL to find out whether it can continue to offer telecom services competitively or whether it should focus on other areas where they can perform effectively.
“I gave this directive last year; I do not know why it has not been implemented,” she said.
In his report, Mr Kichere said that TTCL had a target to register more than 100,000 new customers in the Dar es Salaam region during the period under review, but it only managed 40,000 customers.
He said the main reason for the poor performance was a lack of liquidity, and as a result, TTCL has been left behind by other mobile phone service providers in reaching important market performance indicators.
“Some of the customer complaints were resolved after 405 days, against the target of seven days.”
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Insurer and financial services provider Britam posted a 22.5 percent jump in net earnings for the half-year ended June 2024, to Sh2 billion, buoyed by increased investment income.
The rise in half-year net profit from Sh1.64 billion posted in a similar period last year came on the back of net investment income rising 2.5 times to Sh13.27 billion from Sh5.3 billion.
“We are confident in the growth and performance trend that Britam has achieved, supported by its subsidiaries in Kenya and the region. Our business is expanding its revenue base while effectively managing costs,” Britam Chief Executive Officer Tom Gitogo said.
“Our customer-centric approach is fueling growth in our customer base and product uptake, particularly through micro-insurance, partnerships, and digital channels.”
The investment income growth was fueled by interest and dividend income rising 34 percent to Sh9.1 billion, which the insurer attributed to growth in revenue and the gains from the realignment of the group’s investment portfolio.
Britam also booked a Sh3.79 billion gain on financial assets at a fair value, compared with a Sh1.8 billion loss posted in a similar period last year.
The increased investment income helped offset the 12.7 percent decline in net insurance service result to Sh2.13 billion in the wake of claims paid out rising at a faster pace than that of premiums received.
Britam said insurance revenue, which is money from written premiums, increased to Sh17.8 billion from Sh16.6 billion, primarily driven by growth in the Kenya insurance business and regional general insurance businesses, which contributed 30 percent of the revenue.
The group has a presence in seven countries in Africa namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mozambique, and Malawi.
Britam’s insurance service expense hit Sh13.6 billion from Sh11.3 billion, while net insurance finance expenses rose 2.6 times to Sh12.3 billion during the same period.
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Britam’s growth in profit is in line with that of other Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed insurers, which have seen a rise in profits.
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