Ethio Telecom tops 18m subscribers

ETHIOPIA

Ethio Telecom has grown its subscribers by 450,000 per month to pass the 18 million mark.

The company said in presenting its results for the past financial year this week that it now has 18.28 million telecoms subscribers, with 805,000 of them landline users.

The total customer base as of June 2012 is 59% up on the figure at the end of the last financial year.

Ethio Telecom has seen the strongest growth in internet and data services (72%) and mobile (64%).

During the past Ethiopian budget year, the company  launched various new services and tariff packages which are simple, more affordable and more diversified. Customers could also benefit from the price discount on SIM cards and on broadband data and internet services, as well as from full range of voucher denominations ranging from 5 to 1,000 Birr, and new mobile handset packages addressing each segments of the population.

Regarding SIM and voucher card distribution, Ethio telecom has implemented a new distribution strategy to achieve product and services availability and sales objectives as well as to meet customer expectations. To this end, the number of distributors increased to 45 wholesalers and more than 34,000 point of sale (retailers) in the country. More than 1.4 Billion Birr in sales revenue has been achieved from vouchers as of June 2012.

Ethio Telecom announced in releasing its results that Bruno Duthoit had been appointed the company’s new Chief Executive Officer as of 15 September 2012.