As per its agreements with the Ethiopian government, Safaricom- Ethiopia gears towards its commercial launch which will come to fruition, early April.
“Our license states that, operation may start nine months from the date of the license award which is round about April this year. So starting early April we are working towards our commercial launch,” stated Matthew Harrison-Harvey Chief Regulatory and External Affairs Officer of Safaricom Ethiopia, adding, “we’re working towards our commercial launch from the 9th of April.”
Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, which won an operating license in Ethiopia in May 2021, has commenced works for telecom expansions in the country. Last month the company’s first data center commenced operation and the company is working on its network rollout. And as part of is network expansion, Safaricom-Ethiopia is also working to build towers and fiber extensions.
“Beside the data center we’re in the process of rolling out our network and mobile towers. We’ve had a lot of surveys on various land and we are in talks with landowners, the federal and regional governments in regards to building our networks,” Matthew explained.
The private telecommunications entrant is working with the global telecom giant Nokia and with the Chinese global telecom giants Huawei for its infrastructure development for its operation in Ethiopia.
“We have two network venders Nokia that focus on the core Network infrastructure in Addis and the surrounding areas and Huawei which will be covering the rest of the country,” the Chief Regulatory and External Affairs Officer said.
Also regarding the infrastructure sharing with the state monopoly, Ethio telecom, Matthew explained that currently they’re in the agreement negotiation stage which will result in win-win partnerships.
“We don’t have the agreement yet, we are still on the negotiation phase,” pointed out Matthew.
“Beside infrastructure, there is also a negotiation to enable Safari com Customers and Ethio telecom customers to call each other. So we’re in the process of negotiating the agreement to make it happen,” added Matthew.
Safaricom has also leased a building to house its headquarters in Bole sub city around, Wello Sefer in Addis Ababa.
The firm is also open to rolling out M-Pesa when government gives it the green light to operate in financial services
“So currently we’re waiting on the government since the mobile financial services were not part of the telecoms license tender. The Prime Minister, I think it was in May 2021, essentially said that they would look to open up the mobile financial services sector to foreign operators within 12 months. So we’re waiting for the government to confirm that and then once they have done so, we will apply for that license,” said Matthew showing their desire to introduce the renowned fin tech platform, which has widely been used Kenya, enabling financial inclusion even in the remotest of areas.
Safaricom Ethiopia which was formed by the amalgamation of Safaricom, Sumitomo Corporation, CDC Group and Vodacom secured operational license from the government to officially do business in Ethiopia as a second telecom company after the state owned Ethio Telecom. To get the license it had to pay USD 850 million to the government and promised to invest up to USD 8.5 billion in the coming decade. He added the company is investing around USD 300 million into the country in 2022.