Ethio Telecom’s Revenue Surge Highlights Power of Data and Mobile Money Expansion

Ethiopia’s state-owned telecoms operator, Ethio Telecom, is increasingly turning network expansion into higher-value digital consumption, as evidenced by a sharp rise in revenue driven largely by data usage and mobile money services rather than price increases.

The company reported 85 billion birr (about $547 million) in revenue in the first half of the 2025/26 Ethiopian fiscal year, marking a 37 per cent increase year-on-year. The performance comes as Ethio Telecom expanded service access to 87 million users, covering roughly 65 per cent of Ethiopia’s estimated 135 million population.

Chief Executive Officer Frehiwot Tamiru attributed the revenue growth to higher usage across core services, noting that the gains were not the result of tariff hikes. Instead, the operator recorded a 46.6 per cent surge in data traffic, alongside rapidly growing mobile money activity, which together emerged as the main revenue drivers.

Operationally, the update reflects what the company describes as a “coverage plus monetisation” strategy. During the period, Ethio Telecom rolled out 4G LTE services to 133 additional towns, bringing the total number of 4G-covered towns to 1,069. The expansion underscores a deliberate push to extend connectivity beyond major urban centres and convert scale into sustained digital engagement.

Data services have become the backbone of this strategy, acting as the primary revenue engine, while mobile money services are deepening customer engagement and usage frequency. The approach has strengthened Ethio Telecom’s position not just as a connectivity provider, but as a broader digital services platform.

At the centre of this ecosystem is Telebirr, the company’s mobile money platform, which now serves over 58 million customers. Over the six-month period, Telebirr processed transactions worth approximately 1.9 trillion birr, reinforcing its role as a mass-market financial infrastructure in the country.

However, the company flagged foreign exchange scarcity as a key challenge that could slow network investment and the importation of devices and infrastructure. As a result, Ethio Telecom indicated that improving efficiency, prioritising local procurement where possible, and enhancing monetisation, particularly higher revenue per megabyte, will be critical to sustaining growth while expanding services into underserved regions.

The results point to a telecoms operator increasingly leveraging digital consumption and financial services to drive growth, even as macroeconomic constraints shape the pace and cost of future expansion.