Safaricom and its partners (Vodacom Group, Sumitomo Corporation, and CDC Group, together referred to as the Global Partnership for Ethiopia (GPE)) obtained an operating licence for the lucrative Ethiopian market in July 2021.
It was revealed in July of this year that the operator will begin operations in August. This meant that services would be delivered four months late. Nonetheless, it was announced that telecom services will be delivered in stages, with broader coverage planned by 2023.
Anwar Soussa, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom Ethiopia
Dire Dawa was one of the first areas to be covered.
These events have now been confirmed by a statement from the telecom. It indicates that a significant client trial of Safaricom Ethiopia’s network in the mentioned city has already begun. This is a component of the previously described intermittent network launch, which will get the operator ready for a full-scale launch.
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“We are excited to begin our customer pilot for Safaricom Ethiopia’s network and services in Dire Dawa. This is an important milestone we begin opening the network to customers in order to test the end-to-end readiness of technical and commercial operations ahead of full network launch. We thank the Government of Ethiopia, the Dire Dawa City Administration, the Ethiopian Communications Authority, community leaders, network, IT and distribution partners and all stakeholders for all their support towards realizing this and future milestones. We will continue to share updates, as we extend the network and customer pilot across other regions, towards our National Launch in October 2022,” said Anwar Soussa, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom Ethiopia.
Residents of Dire Dawa city may now use Safaricom Ethiopia’s 2G, 3G, and 4G coverage. Customers may also buy Safaricom SIM cards, and they can select the ideal phone number starting with the prefix 07 as well.
The SIM cards, which come with offers for broadband, phone, and SMS, will be sold at branded stores. They will be able to test the Safaricom network there for a month thanks to these deals, it should be noted.
Although airtime will be sold from branded stores, users will still be able to buy data, voice, and SMS units.
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Safaricom Ethiopia has announced that three stores would be accessible to clients for SIM purchase and registration, customer care assistance, as well as the purchase of gadgets in Dire Dawa’s Kezira, Meskelegna, and Cornell regions.
Customers can use the network to contact friends and relatives who are using the privately held Ethio Telecom network. Calls to other countries are also feasible.
Their choice language will be supported for customer care, including Amharic, English, Afaan Oromo, and Ag-Somali.
By April 2023, Safaricom Ethiopia services will be accessible in 25 cities.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
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