Safaricom Ethiopia Obtains Sh98.3 mln in Revenue in first-month Operation
Safaricom Ethiopia has acquired 740,000 subscribers by the end of October, generating 98.3 million Kenyan Shilling (41 million Birr) in revenue in the first month of operations, according to its major shareholder’s report.
The sale of handsets has been the biggest contributor to Ethiopia’s revenue, with service revenue from the new market amounting to Sh9.1 million.
The performance was revealed by Safaricom Plc, the major shareholder in Global Partnership for Ethiopia (GPE), which announced its 2022/23 half-year results on Friday.
The expansion to Ethiopia weighed down Safaricom Plc’s half-year performance, with net profit dropping 10% to Sh33.37 billion.
Safaricom Plc CEO Peter Ndegwa said the company has invested $598 million in Ethiopia operations and is encouraged by the early uptake of services in the new market.
“We expect Safaricom Ethiopia to invest between 1.5-2 billion Dollars in Capital Expenditure over a 5-Year period,” the CEO added.
Safaricom Ethiopia, which officially launched its national operations on October 6, 2022, is currently providing telecom services in 16 Ethiopian cities.
The telco’s network has 494 sites active on 2G, 3G, and 4G, with an additional 931 sites under construction.
As per Safaricom’s report, the company’s onboarded customers in Ethiopia grew to 739, 800 by the end of October with an average of 20, 000 customers signing up daily.
This was followed by a massive investment in building infrastructure and networks. Safaricom signed infrastructure sharing and interconnection agreements with Ethio Telecom, allowing the former to use its infrastructures.
“We will continue to roll out our operations, providing a high-quality data network in the country while creating opportunities for Ethiopian businesses,” said Safaricom Plc CEO.
The CEO also expressed his hope to acquire a license to launch M-PESA, a mobile phone-based money transfer service, in the country soon.
“Rolling out M-PESA services will be instrumental in allowing millions in Ethiopia to have easy access to financial services, especially given the relatively low financial inclusion rate where only 35% of Ethiopians are financially included,” said the CEO added.
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($1 = 121.890 Kenyan shillings)
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