NAIROBI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Kenya's biggest telecoms operator Safaricom reported on Thursday a 19.1% fall in its earnings before interest and taxes to 41.45 billion shillings ($273.51 million) for the first half to the end of September.

The company, which is partly owned by South Africa's Vodacom , said its group service revenue grew 9.9% in the period to 159.1 billion shillings.

Safaricom is rolling out its network in neighbouring Ethiopia, which is dragging down its group performance in spite of growth in its home market.

Still, the group raised its full-year forecast for core earnings to 87-93 billion shillings, said CEO Peter Ndegwa, from an initial 75-81 billion shillings.

The growth in revenue was driven by income from the company's M-Pesa financial services business, said Dilip Pal, the chief financial officer, and growth in its internet connections provision business. ($1 = 151.5500 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kim Coghill)