While increased competition in the form of new market Safaricom Ethiopia is forecast, leadership at Ethio Telecom is confident it will increase its subscriber base over the next year.

Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru outlined part of the company’s three-year growth strategy and said the plan is to increase its subscriber base by 10.3% to reach 73.5 million customers over the next year, and increase mobile voice customers by 10.5% to reach 71 million, fixed broadband customers by 37.4% to reach 696, 700 and increase tele-density by 68%.

According to Tamiru, in order to achieve these targets, the company will focus on customer experience, business development and tech innovation. It will also carry out capacity enhancement and improvements projects, as well as develop new technology to enhance services.

The strategy is based on securing inclusive growth through the provision of connectivity, as well as digital and financial services, she added.

Last year, the state-run operator’s revenue increased by 8. 5% to 61.3-billion Birr, while its subscriber base grew by 18.4% to 66.59 million customers.

Tamiru said, “It has been two months since our company started implementing its newly devised growth strategy and in the first two months it has already achieved 98% of its target. We are aiming to generate 75.05-billion Birr by engaging in new business streams and shifting revenue sources from traditional to value added services , offering local and international products and services to the market, increasing Telebirr access (mobile money service), service types and partners, improving service delivery and increasing customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty through network and system capacity enhancement.”

Safaricom Ethiopia has piloted its customer network in different cities of the country in readiness for the official launch of its network in October 2023 that will provide the first ever competition to Ethio Telecom that has long been operating as a monopoly.

The Safaricom Consortium, which includes the British Development Finance Corporation Agency (CDC) Group and Japanese Sumitomo Corporation, entered the Ethiopian market last year after securing a US$850-million licence to operate.