04 October 2024

Ethio Telecom plans to invest $1 billion mainly in its telecom infrastructure during this financial year 2024/2025 to expand its network coverage.

Ethio Telecom plans to deploy 1,298 new mobile sites, including 165 in rural areas. In addition, the operator plans to build 320,000 new fibre optic distribution lines, install 1,553km of metropolitan fibre and extend its national network by 400km, bringing its total length to 22,200km.

“By deploying additional telecommunications and digital infrastructure to deliver quality services that increase satisfaction and enhance experience, the company will continue to offer a variety of modern digital solutions, enabling citizens, businesses and institutions to realize their limitless potential,” said Ethio Telecom in a statement.

These investments are part of its ‘Lead’ development strategy, launched in September 2022, which aims to diversify activities and offer new solutions beyond connectivity. These initiatives are expected to enable Ethio Telecom to expand its 4G coverage to 500 additional towns and 5G services to 15 more towns. The company also aims to cover 1,000 new rural areas. This should help it achieve its target of growing its customer base by 6% to 83 million, including 79.7 million mobile subscribers, 47.4 million mobile internet subscribers and 934,000 fixed line subscribers. The operator also expects its revenue to grow by 74.7% to 163.7 billion birr.