Safaricom earnings lifted by mobile data and payment service

By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's mobile phone firm Safaricom said its full-year earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 17 percent, lifted by revenue from its mobile data and M-Pesa mobile money service. The nation's top mobile operator, which is 40 percent owned by Britain's Vodafone, said earnings were expected to climb 7 to 10 percent this year. Full-year EBITDA to March 2016 was 83.1 billion shillings ($826.45 million), while the forecast