Safaricom Execs Confirm April Entry


Safaricom Execs Confirm April Entry

The executives of Safaricom Ethiopia Plc have confirmed the company will begin commercial operations in the coming April. They announced the operator is finalising preparations to enter the market during a tour of its new 100 million dollar modular data centre in the Akaki-Qality District last week. The government stipulated the operator has nine months to launch its commercial operations following the award of a full telecom operator's license last June. Failing to meet the deadline in April would entail a fine for the company. However, the operator, which will be using the "07" prefix for mobile calls, is not obligated to launch its services across the country but in defined economic zones. The Global Partnership for Ethiopia Consortium (GPEC), led by Kenya's Safaricom, acquired the 15-year operator's license for 850 million dollars last year. Safaricom is conducting negotiations for a potential infrastructure sharing deal with the state-owned Ethio telecom.


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Exchange Ponders Adding Salt to its Floor

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) is considering adding salt to its list as the 24th tradable commodity. Executives are currently conducting feasibility studies and preparing sales contracts. Last week, Ali Muhammed, deputy administrator of the Afar Regional State, and Ali Behani, Head of the Regional Mining Bureau, visited the ECX headquarters in the Mexico area. They said regional salt miners and processors are not adequately compensated for their production, with hopes that the EC...


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Public Service Sector Receives Data Privacy Training

Staff members from the National Bank of Ethiopia, the Ministry of Trade & Regional Integration and the Ministry of Revenues received a three-day training on data privacy and protection over the past week. The training aimed to equip participants with the skills of proper data breach notification procedures, minimising risk of exposure, and secure data transfer practices to safeguard personal data during transmission. It was given by the Business Environment and Investment Climate (BEI...


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Unleashing Millions for Micro-Entrepreneurs with Digital Loans

A 100 million-dollar program to scale up six financial institutions to facilitate digital non-collateral loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) was launched last week. Drawing experience from the first digital non-collateral lending platform dubbed Michu powered by Cooperative Bank of Oromia (COOP), the program coupled with Amhara, Bunna, Enat, Wegagen and ZamZam banks. Last year, Coop dispersed 946 million Br loans to farmers through cooperative unions and MSMEs, reaching m...


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