Radar | Sep 14,2025
Apr 20 , 2026
In the global race toward decarbonisation, the biggest shifts do not always come from oil majors or power utilities. Sometimes they begin with institutions that combine digital networks with physical infrastructure.
In East Africa, such a shift is taking shape, with Ethio telecom at its centre. The company is no longer positioning itself only as a provider of connectivity. It is becoming a utility layer designed to support Ethiopia’s digital and green future.
The recent inauguration of a fourth Super-Fast Smart EV Charging Station in Adama, the first expansion beyond Addis Abeba, marks a step. It heralded that Ethiopia’s shift toward electric mobility is no longer confined to a trial phase, now advancing to a coordinated national rollout.
To some outside observers, a telecommunications company moving into energy and transport may appear unusual. However, within the logic of its "Next Horizon: Digital & Beyond 2028" strategy, the move is deliberate and practical.
Ethio telecom is drawing on assets it already commands, including towers, fibre networks, and digital payment rails, to address the "chicken-and-egg" problem in the lack of reliable charging infrastructure that has slowed EV adoption in many markets.
This goes beyond conventional diversification, representing a structural repositioning of the company’s role in the economy. By building a presence in transport and energy, Ethio telecom is helping to anchor a new mobility system on domestically generated and digitally managed electricity.
The Adama Station is more than a hardware site. It is an AI-powered node within a growing smart grid. Equipped with 180kW super-fast chargers, the station uses artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose battery health and tailor charging sessions to the needs of different vehicles, including European models that had previously faced compatibility challenges in the region.
Since operations began in February 2025, Ethio telecom’s EV charging infrastructure has shown notable scale. With the Adama launch, the network’s total capacity has reached 60 vehicles simultaneously. It has supported more than 284,000 charging sessions and delivered over 7.1 million kWh of energy. This has prevented more than 10 million kilograms of CO2 emissions, an environmental gain that compares to planting about 50,000 trees and a direct contribution to Ethiopia’s Green Legacy goals.
A central piece of this model is telebirr, Ethio telecom’s finance platform. Its integration into the charging network helps turn energy use into a simple digital transaction, addressing the monetisation and user experience issues that often undermine public infrastructure projects.
Through the telebirr SuperApp, drivers can locate stations, monitor charging progress in real time through 5G and 4G cloud servers, use "Tap-to-Charge" NFC authentication, and make instant payments. What might otherwise be a routine electricity purchase becomes a self-service digital product built for speed and convenience.
Perhaps the most strategic step is for Ethio telecom not to approach the market as a monopolist. It is trying to act as an ecosystem orchestrator. Its National EV Charging Platform allows third-party operators to connect their charging stations to a unified digital network.
By offering software, payment gateways, and monitoring tools to other players, the company is lowering entry barriers for the wider private sector. That platform approach also promotes interoperability, which is likely to be critical if Ethiopia’s Green Legacy initiative is to support a durable shift toward electric mobility.
As geopolitical tensions expose the fragility of global fuel supply chains, Ethiopia’s emphasis on domestic renewable energy, largely hydroelectric, combined with a digitally managed distribution network, offers a model of resilience for emerging markets.
Ethio telecom’s move into Adama sends a broader signal that Ethiopia is not merely preparing for a greener future in theory. It is building the physical and digital systems needed to make that future work in practice.
By operating at the intersection of data, finance, and energy, Ethio telecom is recasting itself from a telecommunications provider into one of the companies helping shape the country’s green transition.
PUBLISHED ON
Apr 20,2026 [ VOL
27 , NO
1356]
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