Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia’s state-owned telecommunications provider, reported a significant financial performance for the first half of the fiscal year, generating 61.9 billion birr ($491.57 million) in revenue. This marks an increase of over 40% compared to the same period last year, according to CEO Frehiwot Tamiru.
The Ethiopian government is in the process of privatizing Ethio Telecom, aligning with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s broader strategy to attract private investment. As part of this plan, the company launched an initial public offering (IPO) in October to sell a 10% stake, with an additional 45% stake set to be offered to investors in the future.
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Frehiwot also announced that Ethio Telecom’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) surged by more than 60%, reaching 32.8 billion birr by the end of December.
Telebirr, the company’s mobile money platform, has expanded its user base to over 51 million, facilitating transactions totaling 1 trillion birr. This represents a substantial increase from the previous year, when it had 41 million users and processed approximately 910 billion birr in transactions.
Ethio Telecom, which previously held a monopoly in the sector, now faces competition from Safaricom Ethiopia, which entered the market in 2022 after securing the country’s first private telecom license. Additionally, the government plans to introduce a third telecom operator by the end of 2025.
Source: Reuters
