Ethio Telecom Keen On USD 1bln Expansion Project

Executives leaving no stone unturned in search for financing

Ethio telecom is on the hunt for financing to back plans for massive infrastructure expansions over the fiscal year, with the state-owned giant’s executive team looking to spend up to USD one billion on the ambitious project.

“We will explore all potential venues to source the financing,” CEO Frehiwot Tamiru told The Reporter.

External borrowing is one option as Ethio telecom, like the Ethiopian Airlines Group, has the privilege to take on debt from external sources without the need for a guarantee from the federal government.

The telecom operator envisions a 75 percent growth in revenues in 2024/25, as Frehiwot and her team target bringing in close to 164 billion birr, including USD 283 million in foreign currency from international service provision. A cost optimization program is envisioned to trim up to 3.2 billion birr from company expenditures.

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“We do not intend to increase service charges on all of our products but we will consider levying price increments on selected high-end products,” said the CEO.

The company also plans to introduce up to 260 new service products this year, Frehiwot disclosed during a media briefing on Thursday.

“Ethio telecom is not only a profit seeking company. We also plan to undertake massive connectivity coverage maximization in rural areas this year,” she said.

The company is looking to build close to 1,300 new mobile sites and lay an additional 400 kilometers of fiber optic cables in a bid to enhance coverage and capacity and expand its 4G network to include an additional 500 urban centers. Ethio telecom plans to bring its 5G network to 15 towns this year, while extending basic network coverage to 1,000 rural kebeles, according to the CEO.

The expansion drive also includes the launch of several cloud service products and solutions, including data centers, contact center services, video game and music streaming services, as well as forays into digital agriculture, health, and education, and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Ethio telecom targets the sale of more than 1.1 million mobile devices through its retail centers as part of its plan to grow its subscriber base by six percent to 83 million, according to the CEO. She disclosed the operator is working with partners to offer a quarter million devices at discount to low-income rural communities.

“Even though we are intensively expanding network infrastructure to rural areas, the rural population is not utilizing the internet. This is because most of the rural population cannot afford smartphones. They mostly use feature phones, which can’t access digital services. Unless the rural population is also able to afford smartphones and integrated networks, we cannot realize a digital Ethiopia,” said Frehiwot.

The company targets a 16 percent growth in mobile data and internet users to reach 47.4 million by the end of the year.

Frehiwot and her team have lofty ambitions for their mobile money service, Telebirr, looking to grow its customer base to 55 million before the year is out. They foresee enhanced digital financial services, local digital money transfers, e-commerce payments, and international online transactions, and remittance services attracting more users to Telebirr in the coming months.

“Our company continues to play a pivotal role in accelerating the nation’s digital economy by expanding Telebirr services. Through increased expansion, we enable our community to easily make payments, send and receive money, and support institutions in modernizing their payment systems thereby increasing the inclusivity and accessibility of digital financial services to bridge the digital divide,” said the CEO.