Safaricom Averages 30K New Customers Daily in Ethiopia

Safaricom Ethiopia executives were in high spirits this week as the telecom operator marked four years of operations while reaching a 10 million 90-day active subscriber base. CEO Wim Vanhelleputte, who has helmed the private telecom service provider for two years, said they were within their target timeline and plan to break even on investments within the next 12 months. Speaking to the media at Safaricom headquarters, the CEO revealed that they were now averaging 30,000 new subscribers daily.

After spending around 300 billion Birr over four years, the telecom operator, majority-owned by Safaricom PLC, has managed to cover a significant part of Ethiopia’s landmass with a tower network of above 3,100 sites. Wim indicated plans to double the company’s network coverage and grow its subscriber base to above 15 million by next year. The telecom operator, which competes with the majority state-owned Ethio telecom for market share, is also gearing up to introduce a slew of new services in the coming months, including device financing.

“We have now secured our supply chain to have locally assembled handsets,” Wim told Shega.

He explained the importance of locally assembling the devices by noting that the Company’s investments are in foreign currency while their revenue is generated in Birr. The CEO disclosed that Transsion, a Chinese phone maker which opened its first African facility in Ethiopia, would be one of their partners.

“We will be able to provide handsets through device financing which will be paid for in Birr, “he noted.

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