Ethio Telecom plans $1 billion investment to expand network

Ethiopian state-owned Ethio Telecom has announced a massive investment of $1 billion for the 2024/2025 financial year, mainly aimed at improving and expanding its telecommunications infrastructure. The ambitious plan is part of its “Lead” development strategy and aims to strengthen network coverage across Ethiopia.

Network coverage expansion: 1298 new mobile sites

Ethio Telecom plans to deploy 1,298 new mobile sites , including 165 in rural areas, to improve access to mobile telephony and the Internet in remote areas. The operator also plans to install 320,000 new fiber optic distribution lines and expand its metropolitan fiber network by an additional 1,553 km , as well as 400 km of national network , bringing its total length to 22,200 km .

4G and 5G coverage expanding rapidly

Ethio Telecom has already expanded its 4G network to 77 new cities by May 2024, bringing the total number of cities covered to 417. With the new investments, the company plans to expand 4G to 500 more cities and launch its 5G services in 15 more cities . In parallel, 1,000 new rural areas will be covered by the operator’s services, strengthening digital inclusion.

Growth targets and competition with Safaricom Ethiopia

These initiatives aim to increase Ethio Telecom’s customer base by 6% to reach 83 million subscribers , including 79.7 million mobile subscribers and 47.4 million mobile Internet subscribers . In addition, the operator expects a significant increase of 74.7% in its revenues to 163.7 billion birr ($1.4 billion) .

Ethio Telecom also faces increased competition from Safaricom Ethiopia , which has announced a $1.5 billion investment over three years to expand its own network.

Conclusion

Ethio Telecom is pursuing an ambitious growth strategy, aiming to expand its coverage and improve user experience through massive investment in its infrastructure. Faced with growing competition, particularly from Safaricom Ethiopia, the Ethiopian incumbent operator hopes to remain the market leader while offering diversified digital solutions to a constantly growing customer base.