Safaricom Ethiopia to Build Data Centre in ICT Park


Safaricom Ethiopia to Build Data Centre in ICT Park

Safaricom Ethiopia Plc has inked a sub-lease agreement with the Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) for the construction of a new data centre in Addis Abeba's ICT Park. Projected to cost 60 million dollars, the data centre will be the telecom operator's second in the country. Safaricom set up a data centre in the capital's Akaki-Qality District at a cost of 100 million dollars earlier this year. The company, led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anwar Soussa, launched a large-scale pilot of its network in Dire Dawa town last month. It has since expanded the pilot to the Oromia and Harari regional states. Executives of Safaricom Ethiopia plan to widen the network coverage to 25 cities across the country by April 2023. Last week, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank Group, announced plans to acquire shares valued at 160 million dollars in Safaricom Ethiopia Plc.  The acquisition would make the IFC the third-largest shareholder in Safaricom Ethiopia, following Kenya's Safaricom and the Japanese Sumitomo Corporation. Vodacom Group and British International Investment (formerly CDC Group) also hold shares in the venture.


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LOFTY CONSTRUCTS

A painting depicts traditional farming equipment at the Science Museum around the Arat Kilo area. Since the seizing of power by the current administration, large-scale architectural projects marked by grandeur have proliferated across the capital. The satellite city being built in the Yeka mountains, which is set to cost around 600 billion Br, according to the Prime Minister, is one such project yet to see the light of day. Some estimates put the plot size for the project at around 503hct despit...


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CLEAN BILL

A queue for diagnostics at the nation's largest state-owned hospital, Black Lion. As the health sector is largely funded by development partners from abroad, decreased support as donors shied away due to the war in the North has required the suspension of several new projects. Social health Insurance slated for next year was scraped due to a budgetary shortfall of five billion Birr. With the physician-to-patient ratio titering at around 1:30,000, queues in public hospitals are commonplace in Eth...


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ACRID GROUNDS

A street vendor puts up pepper for sale around the Lideta area. With agricultural produce accounting for the largest share of the nation's GDP at around 40pc, setbacks in the delivery of fertilizer have become a source of strife in rural Ethiopia. Only a third of the scheduled fertilizer of 1.3 million quintals has been distributed into the hands of farmers this year. This is despite the year being one in which the government claims to have met local demand for wheat and started exporting. Low p...