Ethio Telecom has reported a significant jump in annual pre-tax profit, attributing the performance to strong subscriber growth and an aggressive network expansion strategy.
In a statement, the state-owned operator revealed that pre-tax profit for the fiscal year ending June surged by 80% year-on-year to ETB76 billion (US$550million). Revenue climbed 72.9% to ETB162 billion, while EBITDA rose by 84%, increasing ETB34.8 billion to reach ETB76 billion.
Over the fiscal year, Ethio Telecom launched 1,683 new mobile sites to enhance network coverage and capacity, with 836 of these deployed in rural areas. The operator also extended 4G coverage to an additional 512 cities and districts, bringing the total number of locations with 4G access to 936. In terms of 5G, 16 new cities were connected in the past year, raising the total number to 26.
Connectivity quality was also improved, with 212 additional sites equipped with Massive MIMO antennas, increasing the total to 306.
Ethio Telecom noted that its network modernisation efforts have driven up the proportion of 4G users from 37.5% to 70% over the year. Focused deployments in the South East and South West have enabled it to expand capacity to serve 18.8 million users, pushing total network capacity to 104.8 million.
The company now counts 83.2 million subscribers, representing a 6.2% year-on-year increase and exceeding its internal target by 100.2%.
Meanwhile, its mobile money platform Telebirr added 7.29 million users over the year, bringing its total customer base to 54.84 million.
The company recently held an intitial public offering but only sold 10.7% of available shares. Only Ethiopian citizens could purchase shares but at a limit of ETB 1 million.
