Safaricom, Ethio Telecom conclude talks on infrastructure sharing

Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) has announced the conclusion of negotiations between Safaricom Ethiopia and Ethio Telecom on key infrastructure sharing deal.

According to the regulator, the negotiations led by Ethio Telecom Chief Executive Officer Frehiwot Tamru and his Safaricom Ethiopia counterpart Anwar Soussa involved tower and power sharing, transmission capacity lease and interconnection between the two companies.

“The Authority, in addition to the individual consultations it undertook with each party, had a joint mediation meeting today with both parties and agreement has been reached on all pending issues,” said ECA.

The partnership is expected to reduce capital expenditure Safaricom Ethiopia has lined up in setting up new infrastructure as it rolls out its mobile communication network in the expansive country.

In February, the firm placed its first technical call on the network setting motion for full roll out of voice, text and data services in the 112 million market by June this year.

Safaricom Ethiopia plans to spend up to Kshs. 200 billion to build 1000 sites within five years of operation and 12,000 within ten years.

As of January 2022, Ethio Telecom had had a customer base of 60.8 million with 58.7 million mobile subscriptions and 23.4 million data subscriptions