Safaricom Ethiopia has surpassed 15 million 90-day active subscribers, marking five years since the Ethiopian government awarded it a full-service Unified Telecommunications Service License on July 9, 2021.
The subscriber count was reached less than four years after the telco launched commercial operations in October 2022, following an initial phase spent building network and distribution infrastructure.
The company has rolled out more than 3,500 network sites since receiving its license, extending coverage to about 60 percent of Ethiopia’s population. All sites are 4G-enabled and 5G-ready.
“This represents one of the fastest network rollouts by a greenfield telecom operator in Africa, and one of the fastest globally for a new entrant building a nationwide network from scratch,” said Safaricom Ethiopia chief executive Wim Vanhelleputte.
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The unit is edging closer to financial breakeven after five years of heavy investment in network infrastructure, distribution, technology and operations. Parent company Safaricom PLC has said Ethiopia’s losses have narrowed significantly, with the unit projected to break even in the financial year ending March 2027.
Safaricom PLC posted a 37.2 percent jump in net profit to Sh95.6 billion (approximately $740 million) for the year ended March 2026, helped by stronger M-Pesa earnings and reduced losses out of Ethiopia, and went on to declare its largest-ever dividend payout.
Safaricom Ethiopia has invested ETB 139 million (approximately $0.87 million) directly in community development, with shareholders and partners contributing a further ETB 545 million (approximately $3.4 million), bringing total community investment to ETB 684 million (approximately $4.27 million) over four years of operation.
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