24-07-2025
Ethio Telecom's full-year pretax profit up more than 80%
Ethiopia's state-owned Ethio Telecom reported sharply higher annual profit on Thursday, driven by an expansion of its network and more customers.
CEO Frehiwot Tamiru said pretax profit for the year ended June leapt more than 80% year-on-year to about 76-billion birr (R9.70bn).
The company, which the government is privatising as part of a wider liberalisation of the tightly controlled Horn of Africa economy, held an initial public offering that closed early this year but sold only 10.7% of the shares on offer.
The sale was restricted to Ethiopian citizens, with a 1-million birr (R127,584) limit on shares that any one investor could buy.
The firm's total number of subscribers rose 6.3% to 83.2-million during the year, while subscribers to its financial service Telebirr increased 15.3% to 54.8-million, Frehiwot told a press conference.
