The executives of Safaricom Ethiopia Plc have confirmed the company will begin commercial operations in the coming April. They announced the operator is finalising preparations to enter the market during a tour of its new 100 million dollar modular data centre in the Akaki-Qality District last week. The government stipulated the operator has nine months to launch its commercial operations following the award of a full telecom operator's license last June. Failing to meet the deadline in April would entail a fine for the company. However, the operator, which will be using the "07" prefix for mobile calls, is not obligated to launch its services across the country but in defined economic zones. The Global Partnership for Ethiopia Consortium (GPEC), led by Kenya's Safaricom, acquired the 15-year operator's license for 850 million dollars last year. Safaricom is conducting negotiations for a potential infrastructure sharing deal with the state-owned Ethio telecom.

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