Ethio Telecom, the fully state owned telecom monopoly in Ethiopia, has ‘harvested’ 22 billion birr (about $670 million at the current exchange rate) gross profit during the first six months from July 1 to December 31, 2019.
“We have harvested a total revenue of 22.04 billion birr which is 104% of the target and 32% increment from the same period of the last budget year,” the company said. “$73 million foreign currency was generated from international business showing an increase of 116% from the same of the last budget year and scored 111% of the target for this period. Mobile voice accounted for 50.4% of the total revenue, Data and Internet 27.3%, revenue from international business 9.8%, Value Added Service 8.5% and the remaining 3% is generated from other sources.”
“During this period, we have paid 3.89 billion birr tax and 2 Billion birr dividend. Moreover, 4.4 Billion birr, an equivalent of $148.15 million, was paid for loan of NGN and TEP projects implemented under Vendor-financing modality We have employed more than 16 thousand indefinite and more than 19 thousand on definite term employees. We have 181 thousand partners who distribute our products and services, totally we have created job and income opportunities for over 240 thousand citizens,” it said in a statement.
It is recalled that the government of Ethiopia has recently announced liberalizing the telecom sector and sell less than 50 percent share of Ethiopia Telecom to foreign telecom operators.
During the performance period, Ethio Telecom subscribes reached 45.6 million which is 99 % of the company’s target and an increase of 10.9% from the previous year of similar period. Mobile voice subscribers reached 44.03 million, Data and Internet users 22.74 million and Fixed Services 1.01 Million, which resulted in 45.4% teledensity, according to the statement.
It also stated that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been at the heart of Ethio Telecom’s business during this period. “We have contributed 151.5 million Birr in tackling the society’s most pressing challenges that are aligned with our CSR strategic goals.”
The company also said that 1,537 sites located in various parts of the country use solar power generated by the company amounting to 20 MW, which contributed to green energy. Among the challenges Ethio telecom faced during the period, Fiber and copper cable vandalism, commercial power interruption, telecom fraud & OTT, security problems and delay in land acquisition for new site deployment were the main ones.