Safaricom Ethiopia switched on its network and services in Addis Ababa on October 6, 2022, following a successful series of customer network pilots in 10 cities across Ethiopia.
The “07” network in Addis Ababa is offering customers 4G data, voice, and SMS services between Safaricom Ethiopia and Ethio Telecom customers, international calls worldwide and affordable phones for purchase.
“We are pleased to switch on our network and start services in Addis Ababa, and to hold our national launch ceremony. Building on the phased city-by-city customer pilots, we continue to invest in providing network and services to further cities and parts of the country in accordance with the obligations of our Unified Telecommunications Services License,” said Anwar Soussa, CEO, Safaricom Ethiopia.
Customers will be able to purchase SIM cards, choose their preferred numbers, buy airtime and access dedicated customer support at the branded shops in the city.
The network is currently available in Dire Dawa, Harar, Haramaya, Adama, Bahir Dar, Bishoftu, Mojo, Debre Birhan, Awoday, Gondar and Addis Ababa.
and the national network rollout will continue to reach 14 additional cities by April 2023.
Safariom targets to have its network and services in 25 cities by April 2023 to meet the 25 percent population coverage obligation in its licence.
Safaricom Ethiopia is building a wholly-owned mobile network and also has infrastructure sharing and interconnection agreements in place with Ethio Telecom.
“We look forward to positively impacting the people of Ethiopia with a sustainable and quality mobile network that will be a vital launch pad for nationwide digital telecommunications services to over 118 million Ethiopians,” said Sfaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa.
The telco invested Ksh.10.44 billion in Ethiopia as it fast tracks network rollout plans.
Its net income increased by 5.4 percent to Ksh.72.35 billion for Safaricom Kenya and declined 1.7 percent to Ksh.67.50 billion including the impact of Ksh.4.66 Billion financing costs for the Ethiopia business.
The Ethiopian venture recruited a team of over 300 staff, of which 50 percent is local talent, with plans of reaching 1,000 in the next financial year.
Safaricom Ethiopia is owned by an international consortium including Vodafone Group; Safaricom PLC; Vodacom Group; Sumitomo Corporation – one of the largest international trading and business investment companies and British International Investment (BII) – the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor.
