Safaricom reaches 200k customers at start of Ethiopia operations

Safaricom Ethiopia has added over 200,000 customers as it commences commercial operations in the country.

The customers’ milestone has been reached inside a month of operations that saw the piloting of the network in nine towns.

On Thursday, Safaricom switched on its network in Ethiopia’s Capital City Addis Ababa marking the official start of commercial operations in the populous country.

Safaricom mobile services are now available in 11 cities to the east of the county as the telecoms operator now targets expanding services to the West and the South of the country.

So far, the operator which has spent an estimated Ksh.36.2 billion ($300 million) to set up key infrastructure in the country has established 500 network sites and two data centres.

Safaricom Ethiopia is currently employing 650 staff of which 450 represent local employees.

“Beyond the money that is spent, value is created beyond the equipment deployed including the positive effect on the eco-system, partners and local people,” said Safaricom Plc CEO Peter Ndegwa.

Safaricom’s entry in Ethiopia which was announced by the acquisition of a mobile services license in May last year is the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.

By rolling out its network in Ethiopia, Safaricom envisions to impact a variety of economic facets including micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs), health services and education.

The firm sees its 4G network and customer service experience as its competitive advantage against its only other current peer in State backed Ethiotelecom.

Safaricom says it is still in discussions over equity and debt investment with its partners including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to strengthen its capital base to support Ethiopia operations.

The firm says it is still engaged in discussions with government to obtain a financial services license which will see Safaricom bring its M-Pesa mobile money service to the country.

The roll-out of mobile money is seen as a pre-requisite to the further product and service development.

“We believe a lot of effort has been taken to make progress (on mobile-money). In the meantime, we are having informal conversations with government about the ability of our consortium to operate mobile money. As a company, we are making the necessary plans to scale mobile-money when we are granted the license,” added Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.