The state-owned, mammoth telecom enterprise, ethio telecom’s strategy pays dividends in the first year of rollout, as the firm expressed great enthusiasm for success in its second year.
The telecom operator which ended its 127-year monopoly courtesy of Safaricom Ethiopia entering the mix fully this past financial year disclosed that its first year of the three-year LEAD Growth Strategy has reeled in great success.
As the CEO of ethio telecom, Frehiwot Tamiru expressed at a press conference on Thursday, July 27, if the current situation both in the country and the globe is set to continue, her enterprise’s projections for the second year will surely be attained.
According to Frehiwot, the goal designed for the 2023/24 budget year targets to; have healthy competition in the market, a better security situation, improve access to foreign currency, improve the international market, and other issues.
“We are targeted to attain growth in all sectors in the budget year,” Frehiwot signaled her delight.
The enterprise stated that the annual business plan has been developed considering and reviewing relevant government policies, international best practices, and industry trends.
“As the telecom sector is rapidly growing and being dynamic by nature, this plan is not a static plan, rather it follows as a ‘deliberate’ and ‘emergent strategy approach’, taking into account the growth and changes in the industry, the government’s development plans and directions, as well as issues related to competition and further reform, and the current conditions of our country,” the firm disclosed in its statement.
In the year, the enterprise has targeted to expand its mobile towers and capital investments.
In line with that, the subscriber base is targeted to increase by 8.3 percent to reach 78 million, with the mobile voice customers share projecting growths of 7.5 percent to reach 74.74 million, while data and internet targets to reach 41.17 million that may have more than one-fifth increment. Likewise, the fixed broadband customers are gearing to reach 842,800 with 36.3 growth while the tele density is projected to reach 71 percent.
Regarding the promising new business venture, mobile money, the enterprise has aimed to boost its growth by 28.5 percent. The statement of the company disclosed that the telebirr customers will reach 44.1 million for this year.
The revenue on the other hand is expected to show a 14.7 billion birr increment compared with the 2022/23 budget year to reach 90.5 billion birr.
The projection revenue growth rate is however at a lower trend compared with the experience of the preceding years’ performance.
In the 2022/23 budget year, the revenue of ethio telecom had attained 75.8 billion birr at a growth of 23.5 percent compared with the 2021/22 budget year, while for the current budget year, the growth percentage would be 19.4 percent that it a bit lower compared with the experience observed in the past budget year.
The enterprise this regard stated that the revenue growth forecast considers the new business venture and shifting revenue source from traditional to value-added services, offering local and international products and services to the market, expanding telebirr’s access, service types, and partners’ network, enhancing service delivery and by increasing customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty.