More than 740k customers have so far joined Safaricom network in Ethiopia

Safaricom has revealed that more than 740,000 customers have joined its network in Ethiopia during its first month of operation.

While announcing the telco’s half-year financial results on Friday, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa also noted that the company also records 20,000 new customers joining the network daily. 

“We are pleased with the commercial progress made in Ethiopia since the launching of operations early last month. Most importantly we are enthusiastic on the growth opportunity in Ethiopia’’ he said.

Safaricom Ethiopia officially switched on its mobile telecommunications network and services in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital city in October.  The telco has over the last few months been running pilots for its services, starting with Dire Dawa, a city in the eastern part of the country.  

Safaricom Ethiopia’s 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services are available in 11 cities starting including Dire Dawa. The company says it plans to launch services in a total of 25 cities by April 2023 to meet the 25% population coverage obligation in its licence. 

Mr. Ndegwa noted that Safaricom had invested over USD 598 million in Ethiopia operations and was encouraged by the early uptake of the services, great customer feedback on the quality of their data experience and the revenue contribution by the Ethiopia unit.

The Government of Ethiopia has also committed to award Safaricom with a mobile money license which will boost commercial efforts, with a greater focus of driving financial inclusion and digital acceleration for the people of Ethiopia. 

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.