Safaricom has already passed the one million subscriber mark in Ethiopia
November 18th 2022
In the midst of liberalisation, the Ethiopian telecoms market has a lot of leeway for operators. The country has more than 120 million inhabitants with a mobile phone penetration of 34% according to the GSMA.
The telecommunications operator Safaricom Ethiopia has already crossed the threshold of one million active subscribers in Ethiopia, just over a month after the official launch of activities in the country. This was announced by Ethiopia’s leading private telecommunications operator on Wednesday, November 16.
“ We are delighted to have passed the milestone of one million customers. We have seen our customer base continue to grow and enthusiastic adoption of our data, device, voice and SMS plans. As we continue with our gradual commercial launch, we are receiving positive feedback on the 4G data experience on our network and we are excited to continue working to serve all of Ethiopia, ” said Anwar Soussa, Managing Director of Safaricom Ethiopia .
It was last August that Safaricom began providing its services in Ethiopia thanks to a pilot phase which saw the deployment of the commercial network of the telecom operator in ten cities. The company finally proceeded to the official launch of its activities in October while continuing the gradual deployment of its network across the country. Currently, Safaricom’s network is available in 17 cities.
Safaricom has set a goal of serving 25 cities and 25% of the population by April 2023. “ Through continued investment in network infrastructure, partnerships and deployment, we will reach more cities and build our network in accordance with the obligations of the Unified Telecommunications Services License ,” Safaricom Ethiopia said in a statement.
Safaricom still has a lot of work to do to establish itself in an Ethiopian telecoms market that has long been the preserve of incumbent operator Ethio Telecom. The latter has 66.5 million subscribers, according to its annual report for the 2021/2022 financial year. In addition, a third telecom operator should soon enter Ethiopia. However, the market has plenty of room for maneuver with a population of more than 120 million and a mobile penetration of only 34% at the end of 2021.
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