When it acquired the operating license in July 2021, the Safaricom-led consortium said it planned to invest USD 8 billion in Ethiopia over the next ten years. A little over a year later, the company has already invested 1.2 billion in the country.
Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the company will invest 36.3 billion shillings (US$300 million) a year in its Ethiopia business. This money will notably enable the operator to develop its infrastructures across the country in order to meet market requirements.
This decision comes two weeks after the official launch of Safaricom’s activities in Ethiopia. The company acquired the country’s first comprehensive private telecom license in July 2021 as part of the government-initiated national telecom market liberalization process.
After the settlement of the financial obligations related to its license, the company multiplied the investments to lay a solid foundation on the Ethiopian telecom market. These include the construction of data centers, the signing of infrastructure sharing agreements with local companies, the recruitment of staff, the development of its network. So far, the company says it has invested 145.38 billion shillings (1.2 billion USD) in Ethiopia. Moreover, it plans to invest 8 billion USD in the market over the next ten years.
In the short and medium terms, the investments planned by Safaricom should in particular enable it to gradually extend the coverage of its network to the entire extent of Ethiopian territory. For the moment, the operator’s network is available in ten cities, including the capital Addis Ababa. In particular, the company plans to cover 25 cities and 25% of the population by April 2023.