Topping up services for Safaricom customers using Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) USSD, Mobile application and CBE Birr USSD options are up free of service charge. The state-owned bank which boasts 1.2 trillion Br in assets and 1880 branches will have access to Sa-faricom's digital infrastructure along with assistance in other financial technologies. President of CBE, Abe Sano signed the agreement with the CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia, Anwar Soussa in a bid to foster "a mutually beneficial long-term journey", at an event held at the headquarters of CBE last week. Safaricom is the only foreign company in Ethiopia which offers telecom service aside from state-owned Ethiotelecom which still has the bulk of the market share. The Kenyan-based telecom operator entered the Ethiopian market last year to a customer base stripped of alternatives. Safaricom has within the last month entered into partnerships with other private banks like Awash Bank and the Bank of Abyssinia.

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