There have been two recent announcements in Ethiopia involving the country’s main operators and digital offerings tailored to the needs of the transport sector.
The bigger announcement comes from Ethiopian operator Ethio Telecom and the country’s Ministry of Transport and Logistics which say they have launched three transport-based digital solutions that they suggest will play a significant role in cross-country public transport, the fuel supply chain and modernising traditional operational procedures in traffic penalty management.
The first is called the Cross-Country Public Transport Service System. It’s designed to manage and streamline the processes for accessing cross-country public transport services. Specifically it provides a unified solution for the Ministry of Transport and Logistics and for nationwide implementation, covering everything from licensing and regulatory compliance to ticketing and digital payments and, say the partners in the initiative, will significantly contribute to resolving delays, ensuring transparency in sales and revenue, preventing theft and fraud, and providing reliable, real-time information on bus movements, ticket sales, passenger numbers, and service coverage.
The Integrated Fuel Supply System Solution, meanwhile, is a nationwide integrated system connecting all financial institutions (banks, wallets, and microfinance institutions) with the central fuel management system, enabling all fuel stations across the country to work in coordination and conduct fuel transactions smoothly through a unified procedure.
Finally the National Traffic Point-Based Penalty Management System will help to ensure traffic laws are properly implemented nationwide. It establishes digitally assisted traffic penalty management and centrally recorded data, and enables a uniform national traffic management system.
Not to be outdone, the other major Ethiopia operator’s mobile finance operation M-Pesa Safaricom last week launched a new digital payment service that allows customers to pay for fuel with M-Pesa, starting at Bole Total Fuel Station in Addis Ababa. There’s also a Fuel Aggregator service, which provides station attendants with a streamlined system to manage transactions.
M-Pesa Safaricom says it is working quickly to scale across all 2,000 fuel stations in Ethiopia.
