Kenyan telecommunication company-Safaricom has registered a
strong growth in its customer base in Ethiopia, which hit 8.8 million as of
March this year.
This is a 103.2 per
cent year-on-year growth compared to the same period last year, with the high
numbers coming less than three years since entering the market in October 2022.
Safaricom was the first private telecom operator to break
the state-owned monopoly of Ethio Telecom.
This followed a license granted in 2021 to the Global
Partnership for Ethiopia consortium, which includes Safaricom.
Safaricom Ethiopia has since focused on expanding its
network and launching services, including mobile money services (M-PESA), whose
registered customers grew by more than 68 per cent to 2.4 million.
The Mpesa value in the country during the period under
review hit Sh20.6 billion, with about 164.6 million in transaction volumes.
“We had great results during a year marked by significant
currency reforms,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said.
The telco had, as of March, invested in 3,141 sites and
created 898 direct jobs, of which 95 per cent were Ethiopian staff, with expats
accounting for a paltry five per cent.
About 20 per cent of
the group's revenues are now coming from the Ethiopian market, with management
projecting a strong performance in the market going forward, to be driven by
continued currency reforms and easing inflation in the country.
