This report covers performance period from 01 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.
Telecom infrastructure and services have been recognized as enabler and catalyst for the socio-economic development of a country. Cognizant of the relevance and multiple active role Ethio telecom has in our country’s overall progress and prosperity, our company has been undertaking a wide range of projects and operations to expand telecom infrastructures and systems, improve the quality of service and increase the outreach of benefits to the community. We have been resiliently working hard, enduring the challenges in the current crises to become a competent and preferred telecom service provider in the fast and dynamic telecom market to meet the growing demand for telecom services. Ethio telecom commenced the budget year with the implementation of its three years BRIDGE growth strategy along with the 2021/22 yearly plan to realize its aspiration to become a preferred telecom operator among customers and partners. Our company has conducted vast reform activities and advancements to attain its set strategic objectives[1]preparing for the upcoming competitive market, enhancing customer experience and satisfaction through ensuring operational excellence; deploying new and enhancement of infrastructure and systems, service availability, quality and affordability; effective resource utilization and enhancing financial capacity. Leadership and staff capacity building and empowerment; building reputable brand were also among the priorities. In this budget year, we have garnered a total of 61.3 Billion ETB revenue, which is 87.6% of the target and 8.5% increment from the previous budget year. Had it not been for the crisis in the North region as well as in some other parts of the country which have resulted in service outage in 3,473 sites, the targets would have been met. However, given the current challenging environment in our country, this achievement is remarkable. This achievement is realized through network and system expansion and optimization works to enhance customer experience and satisfaction; by offering 67 new and 77 revamped local and international products and services.
The revenue share when described in terms of service types shows 51% share for mobile voice, 27% for data & internet, 10% for international business and 5.7% for value added services and 6.6% for other services. During the period, 146.6 Million USD was generated in foreign currency scoring 82.3% of the target. In addition to expanding our revenue streams, our company has devised a cost optimization strategy (DO2SAVE) and managed to save over 5.4 Billion ETB within the year. Our total subscribers reached 66.59 Million achieving 104% of the subscriber base target and an increase of 18.4% from the previous budget year similar period. Mobile voice subscribers reached 64.5 Million, Data and Internet users 26.1 Million, Fixed Services 885.3K and Fixed Broadband subscribers reached 506.8K. Telecom density has reached 63.3%. As part of our commitment to realize the government’s digital transformation agenda and a continuation of our effort in enhancing and modernizing our telecom services, pre[1]commercial 5G services have been launched in Addis Ababa in six mobile stations. Currently, we are running a total of 217 projects on infrastructure and system capacity expansions and enhancements aiming to boost network coverage capacity and quality of services out of which the expansion of 4G/LTE was completed and the service is already launched in 136 cities. Following the Next Generation Business Support System (NGBSS) upgrade, we were able to boost our Billing and Customer Relation Management Systems enabling us to provide improved customer services and to also release different new products and services within a short period. Furthermore, our Mobile Money business “telebirr” introduced with the aim of meeting the country’s growing demand for digital financial services has shown a tremendous growth surpassing the industries’ trend by acquiring more than 21.8 Million subscribers within short period of time, with a total transaction value of ETB 30.3 Billion. In order to ensure service coverage as well as benefit our partners, more than 76,000 agents and over 21,600 merchants have been engaged so far. In addition, integration with Banks is completed enabling money transfer from Bank to telebirr in 13 Banks and from telebirr to Bank in 11 Banks. Moreover, 974.3K USD was remitted through the international remittance service partnering with 37 counties within the last six months. In addition to this, targeted fuel subsidy transactions are being handled through telebirr and several governmental and private organization are integrating their system with telebirr expanding the ecosystem. In the reporting period, we have paid 18.8 Billion ETB tax and 500 Million ETB dividend, effected as such the company has been awarded as a platinum tax payer for the last 3 consecutive years. To ensure sustainable business growth, various capacity building interventions were made, including online training for more than 20,000 employees and in person training for more than 15,000 employees. Along with other interventions are employee engagement in strategy development & execution, work environment enhancement and safe & healthy working conditions, various compensation and benefits systems. Our company has created job and income opportunities for more than 360K citizens, composed of partners who distribute our products and services and indefinite and definite term employees, meter taxis and other partners engaged in outsourced businesses. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility and our commitment for our societies overall progress, our interventions have continued to have a positive impact on society, environment, and all stakeholders. Our CSR projects focused in strengthening communities by targeting the fundamental drivers of long-term development such as education, health, agriculture, environmental protection, greening and beautification of cities. In this year, we have contributed more than 422.6 Million Birr in kind, in service and in cash to address pressing societal challenges. This corporate spirit is also reflected by our staff across the country by voluntarily mobilizing more than 16.5 Million ETB for various humanitarian activities. Also, their material, blood donation and in-service support has been enormous. Among the challenges we faced during the period, the crisis in the North region as well as in some other parts of the country have resulted in service outage, infrastructure damage, compromised project execution, COVID- 19, supply chain, increasing operational costs and revenue impacts. In addition, fiber and copper cable vandalism, commercial power acquisition delay and power interruption were among the main challenges. In summary, our company’s annual performance for the 2021/22 budget year is remarkable given the challenges posed by the security issues in some part of our country. This achievement is only made possible because of the commitment of our company’s leadership and employees to make Ethio telecom a preferred operator on top of running the business, the leadership team’s stamina and concerted effort in managing the operation and projects. Finally, we would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to our customers, business partners, and stakeholders for such remarkable performance.
28 JULY 2022