Ethio Telecom Rolls Back Incentives

January 16 , 2021

Ethio telecom, the nation's sole telecom service provider, has lowered its incentive commission fee for distributors of Electronic Voucher Distribution (EVD) by 2.5 percentage points. The new arrangement, effective January 1, 2021, is half of its previous commission fees. Under the new terms, the basic commission fee of 11pc active before introducing the new arrangement, will remain intact. The incentive package was initially designed to last six months, according to Ephrem Arefaye, chief marketing officer at Ethio telecom, who stated that the telecom operator plans to stop giving incentives once the market is familiarised with the service. In addition to Yimulu, the electronic top-up service, the incentives played a huge role in reaching targets, with 81pc of printed EVD tickets sold and 66pc of them being used, according to Mohammed Haji, chief sales officer at the company. Currently, around 90 licensed EVD distributors operate in the country with the voucher service operational for over a year. Following the telecom sector's opening up for foreign investment, two new companies, expected to join Ethio telecom soon, will receive a 15-year operator license, enabling them to provide combined services for mobile, internet and fixed-line. With the liberalisation plan, the country will follow a ''2+1 approach,'' in which two operators and the state enterprise provide full telecom services.