The two competitors in what is an effective mobile operator duopoly in Ethiopia have both made headlines this week with upbeat news.
State-owned incumbent Ethio Telecom has announced the official launch of a rural mobile solution, providing services to 903,000 previously unserved people living in 305 rural kebeles (or small administrative units).
Local press reports suggest that enhanced rural connectivity will shorten the journey that local communities used to travel to get connectivity services by up to 20 kilometres on average.
The company has said it aims to further expand mobile services in rural areas of the country where basic telecommunication services are not accessible. However, acknowledging the challenges of difficult terrains, lack of roads, scattered settlements and power shortages, the company has called for collaboration from all stakeholders, including regulators, policymakers, development partners and technology providers.
Meanwhile relative newcomer Safaricom Ethiopia customer says its customer base grew by about 250,000 subscribers to 4.6 million in the second quarter ending July. Commercial momentum in the period was apparently supported by growth in customer numbers since the launch of operations in the formerly embattled Tigray region.
However, capital-intensive investment in the Ethiopian unit ate into parent company Safaricom’s profit, which fell by 18.71% to KES42.7 billion (about US$331 million) in the full year ending March this year.
In July Reuters noted that Ethio Telecom had reported a rise in the total number of its subscribers of 9% to 78.3 million. Subscribers to its financial service Telebirr rose to 47.55 million customers from 34.3 million in the year to end-June 2023.
