Anwar Soussa, CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia, confirms the launch of activities in April 2022
November 29th 2021
During the first week of November, the risk of escalating armed conflict between the government and rebel groups forced Safaricom to evacuate its staff to Kenya. Although the security situation remains tense, the telecoms company remains firm on its initial launch schedule.
Mobile operator Safaricom has reassured the Communications Authority of Ethiopia (ECA) about the launch of its activities in the country in April 2022, as planned. On Tuesday 23 November, a team from the telecoms company, led by Anwar Soussa, the managing director, met with Belcha Reba, the managing director of the regulatory body. Discussions between the two parties focused on the state of play of Safaricom’s preparations for its commercial launch.
Anwar Soussa underlined during this interview ” that the company accelerates the deployment of the project and pays no attention to false information “. Discussions with the ECA marked the end of a series of meetings held by the CEO of Safaricom during the month of November with several senior officials of the Ethiopian government, to reiterate the company’s vision for the country. Anwar Soussa thus met the Minister of Finance, Eyob Tekalign Tolina; the Minister of Innovation and Technology, Huria Ali; the CEO of FDRE Land Bank and Development Corporation, Lensa Mekonnen; Lelise Neme, Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC).
The various meetings between the leaders of Safaricom and the local authorities follow the security situation which remains tense in Ethiopia with a risk of intensification of the armed conflict between the Ethiopian state and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Army. of Oromo Liberation, who were joined on November 5 by seven other Ethiopian rebel groups. Threatening to march on the capital Addis Ababa, they incited Safaricom to evacuate a large part of its staff to Nairobi in Kenya.
Through its telecoms services, which it mainly wants broadband, Safaricom has set itself the ambition of contributing to Ethiopia’s digital transformation. The telecoms company is making digital and financial inclusion, in particular through various value-added services such as M-Pesa, a strategic axis of its growth in the new market that it will compete with Ethio Telecom and another telecom operator than the government. still selects.
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