Kenya’s biggest telco, Safaricom, on Thursday, launched its mobile network in Ethiopia, becoming the first private operator in the east African country, reported The Reuters.
State-owned Ethio Telecom has been enjoying a monopoly in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country with an estimated 118 million people.
On Thursday, Safaricom Ethiopia switched on its mobile network and services in the capital Addis Ababa following network pilots in 10 cities.
Safaricom Ethiopia’s 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services have currently been made available in 11 cities including the capital and the country’s second largest city Dire Dawa. The telco company plans to launch services in a total of 25 cities by April 2023 to meet the 25% population coverage obligation in its licence.
Ethiopia’s finance minister, Ahmed Shide, said his government had granted the company a license to operate a mobile money service.
Kenya’s Safaricom launched the world’s first-ever mobile phone-based money transfer service 15 years ago, and the business, known as M-Pesa, has evolved to account for roughly half of the company’s annual revenue.
Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Anwar Soussa said the mobile money service would take two to three months to roll out in the country.
“We are optimistic about how the technology and connectivity we are providing will contribute to a digital future and eventually transform people’s lives,” said Kenya’s Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
The Ethiopian government announced plans to partially privatise Ethio Telecom after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018 but said in March that it had decided to postpone the process, citing economic challenges.
Ethiopia’s telecoms industry is considered the big prize in Abiy’s push to liberalize the economy. But the prime minister’s efforts to open up the economy to investment have been damaged by a nearly two-year-long war in the northern region of Tigray, which has killed thousands and uprooted millions.
