Safaricom Ethiopia and Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) signed an agreement last week that allows the latter's post-paid customers to settle monthly electric bills using the M-PESA mobile money service. Shiferaw Tilla, CEO of a state-owned enterprise, signed the strategic partnership agreement with his counterpart from the only private telecom operator in the country, Wim Vanhelleputt. Safaricom is offering 10pc cash backs for cusomers on their first five transactions to create sufficient interest. The Kenya-based telecom operator has revealed significant expansion plans over the next few years to attain 85pc network coverage by constructing 7,000 new sites. The mobile money market has been dominated by Ethio-telecom's Telebirr, which has amassed over 34 million subscribers in less than three years. Safaricom entered the Ethiopian market nearly three years ago after paying an 850 million dollar licensing fee. The latest agreement with EEU is part of the company's partnerships with local financial institutions and service providers to penetrate the mobile money market more deeply. It will complement EEU's plans to light up 25 million households in a decade. Ethiopia ranks in the bottom three countries in terms of electricity access from the continent with 56 million people in the dark despite generating around 5,200MW of energy from hydroelectric sources.

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