We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of our 2023/24 fiscal year plan!
PROVEN BY RESULTS: OUR LEAD GROWTH STRATEGY IS ON TARGET!
2023/24 marks the completion of the second year of our three-year LEAD Growth strategy. And the result: our subscriber base has grown by 8.9% from same period last year, reaching 78.3 million customers achieving 100.4% of our target.
Our total revenue has increased by 21.7% compared to the same period last year, reaching Birr 93.7 billion which is an increase of Birr 16.7 billion from last year, achieving 103.6% of our target.
Our foreign exchange generation has shown a 20.7% increase from last year reaching a total of 198.02 million US dollars, achieving 117.5% of our target.
Building on the foundation of expanding and diversifying revenue streams and implementing a company-wide cost optimization strategy called DO2SAVE, our company has been able to significantly save over 4.5 billion birr in the budget year, achieving 134% of our target. As a result, our company’s unaudited report shows that Earning Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortization (EBITDA) reached a rate of 47%, achieving 102.4% of our target. Our net profit reached 21.79 billion birr showing a 20.9% (3.76 billion birr) increase compared to last year same period achieving 108.7% of our target.
Our telebirr subscribers reached 47.5 million achieving 107% of our target. By digitizing financial transactions through telebirr and enhancing financial inclusion and accessibility, 1.81 trillion-birr was transacted through telebirr in the budget year and a total of 2.55 trillion birr have been transacted across the economy since its launch in May 11, 2021.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING ABOUT US
We have made a significant effort to understand our customers’ perceptions of our company by conducting customer satisfaction surveys to gauge customer satisfaction and provide customer-centric services. In the budget year, two customer satisfaction
surveys were conducted through a third party. As a result, the satisfaction level of our individual customers was 8.4 out of 10, representing a 13% increase compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, the satisfaction level of our corporate customers was 7.9 out of 10, representing a 15% increase compared to the same period last year.
CHAMPIONING GROWTH
We have surpassed our targets in all the key metrics in the Budget Year!
Driven by customer demand and prioritizing customer satisfaction in the dynamic telecom market, we’ve quadrupled our net profit in the last six years, solidifying our position as a leading and trusted service provider.
In addition, for the past six years, we have consistently ranked as the top platinum tax-paying state-owned enterprise. In the 2023/24 fiscal year alone, we have paid 29.76 billion birr in taxes, 9.97 billion birr in government dividends, and 3.4 billion birr (equivalent to 58.45 billion USD) in foreign loans used for previously held telecom expansion projects through vendor financing modality.
THE SECRET BEHIND OUR SUCCESS
Our success can be attributed to our dedicated leadership and employees who demonstrate a strong sense of ownership for the company. This past budget year, we focused on several key initiatives to further our growth. These included expanding and enhancing our telecom and digital infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for high-quality services. We also prioritized continuous network optimization and invested in upgrading our customer service systems across multiple channels to deliver efficient and personalized support.
Furthermore, we are dedicated to offering innovative products and services, while strengthening our communication, marketing, and brand reputation. Cost optimization is also a key focus, as we leverage the DO2SAVE strategy to improve operational
efficiency. Finally, we are streamlining our operations and continuously investing in training and development to enhance the skills of our workforce.
The productivity of our employees
The main reason behind our success is the commitment and unreserved effort of our company’s leadership, and the employees’ sense of ownership for their work. In the fiscal year, we were able to significantly increase employee productivity, achieving a 22% growth compared to the same period last year.
Increasing mobile network coverage and capacity
In the budget year, efforts were made to increase the capacity and coverage of the telecom and digital infrastructure by carrying out a series of network improvement works to ensure the quality of service. Expansion of the 4G mobile network was completed at 966 sites, and the 3G network was expanded at 682 sites.
As a result, the 4G network service has been extended to an additional 124 cities and districts, increasing the total number of accessible 4G cities from 300 to 424. During the fiscal year, the number of 5G stations was increased to 189 through the expansion of the 5G network at 79 mobile stations. Additionally, 5G service is now available in 4 regional capitals, with implementation work underway to make 4 more cities 5G-ready.
Development and improvement of our products and services
In order to expand and enhance our company’s products and services, as well as to increase customer utilization of telecom services and enhance their experience, 127 new and 143 revamped products and services have been provided.
Increasing the accessibility of our products and services
In the budget year, we made consistent improvements by reducing the distance that our customers previously traveled to access telecom services to 4.5 kilometers. As a result, we have not only become more accessible to our citizens but also modernized and expanded our services through digital channels. We are now accessible via web chat, Ardi chat bot, email, social networking sites, and more.
To improve accessibility of our products and services, we opened 127 additional service centers in the fiscal year, bringing the total number of service centers to 976, with 472 being franchised and 496 owned by our company. Furthermore, we established 9,815 retailers who provide telecom products and services to customers, thereby increasing the total number of partners to 303,018.
Additionally, aiming to significantly enhance customer experience and improve service delivery, various initiatives have been implemented to offer digital customer service options, including web chat, Ardi chat bot, email, and social network pages, enabling the majority of customers to access these digital channels independently.
WE TAKE HEED TO OUR CUSTOMER’S FEEDBACK
We are not only close to our customers, but we also actively listen to their needs.
Our company goes beyond simply offering products and services, leveraging global best practices and understanding our customers’ needs, we continuously enhance our offerings to meet their evolving expectations. We actively gather feedback from our customers and use this invaluable data to drive improvements in service quality, pricing, after-sales support, and more.
CONNECTING THE UNCONNECTED: RURAL CONNECTIVITY
Ensuring that no one is left behind
Our company, which has made digital inclusion a priority, has launched a special project to provide mobile service to underserved communities in rural areas. Despite facing difficult and challenging conditions, including traveling to remote sites in rugged terrain, we have successfully deployed base station and communication equipment at 100 sites. As a result, we have been able to initiate full-fledged service in 59 sites. We are working diligently to complete the remaining sites in a short period of time. Upon completion of the project, over 210 kebeles will benefit from our services.
During the budget year, a total of150 new mobile towers have been constructed and put into service in 81 weredas under 12 regional states and one city administration. An additional 63 mobile towers are in various stages of construction. In addition, 2G/3G expansion work has been carried out on 132 existing mobile towers in 7 regional states, covering 104 weredas.
TELECOM RESTORATION
Instability and insecurity in various parts of Ethiopia damaged telecom infrastructure and disrupted services. Residents lacked phone and internet access due to theft of exposed equipment, issues with network maintenance, and closed service centers.
Following improvements in peace and security, our company implemented a restoration plan. This plan involved repairing damaged infrastructure, building new facilities, and reopening service centers.
As a result, we were able to restore 570 kilometers of fiber optic cable, restoring 179 mobile sites in 61 towns and woredas found in 6 regions, renovating 16 service centers, and signing up 374 new fixed broadband customers, 14 of which are financial institutions whereas 62 are enterprise customers. Our company remains committed to ongoing restoration efforts to ensure all Ethiopians have access to reliable and affordable telecom services.
ENABLING IS OUR ROLE!
Our company is dedicated to leveraging technology with passion to enhance institutional efficiency and productivity. We are committed to modernizing and simplifying societal life while also enhancing our country’s competitive edge by delivering a diverse range of problem-solving digital services that go beyond basic communication offerings.
The telecom industry plays a pivotal role in fostering inclusive development and enhancing the competitiveness of our country. Our longstanding company, with 130 years of dedicated service to our nation, continues to lead the way in deploying the
latest technology. We are at the forefront, driving the digital transformation in our nation and ensuring its realization in the modern digital age.
In line with the government’s vision of Digital Ethiopia and in response to the rapidly escalating demand for data center and cloud services, we have undertaken expansive growth initiatives in our two data centers. The capacity has been substantially augmented to 4.2MW IT Load / 480 IT Racks, effectively positioning us to meet the evolving needs of the digital landscape.
The Cloud Infrastructure Expansion Project, a significant enabler in driving the digital transformation of our country and facilitating institutional digitization, has been successfully executed. Key enhancements within the fiscal year include increasing elastic compute from 3,072 vCPU to 10,752 vCPU, expanding bare metal servers from 12 to 94, boosting storage capacity from 1.3 PB to 5.1 PB.
These advancements represent an impressive growth ranging from 250% in vCPU to 800% in storage capacity. Furthermore, in addition to providing vital telecom services, we have extended our digital solutions (Beyond Connectivity) to over 667 government offices and banks. This expansion has significantly empowered administrative functions, spurred growth, and produced positive outcomes.
Regarding the update of the service payment system, telebirr will facilitate the integration of product and service payments for 129 government institutions, excluding fuel payment. A total of 63.9 billion Birr has been transacted through telebirr, with 51 billion Birr processed within the current fiscal year. Notably, 36.8 billion Birr was specifically attributed to payments through the government’s electronic service provision (E-Government), with 30.5 billion Birr recorded in the ongoing fiscal year. Additionally, fuel payments amounting to a substantial 233 billion Birr have been successfully made using telebirr.
TELEBIRR: FOSTERING AN INCLUSIVE DIGITAL FINANCE AND DIGITAL ECONOMY
To ensure the accessibility and inclusivity of digital financial services, our company, in collaboration with Dashen Bank and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, is offering microloans, micro savings, and other related digital financial services that play a significant role in driving overall societal change and improvement. Through offering microloans, savings, and overdraft services to its customers, our company extended micro credit services amounting to 9.35 billion birr to 2.9 million customers in the fiscal year. Furthermore, 1.3 million customers saved a total of 9.72 billion birr during the year, while since the inception of the service in May 2021, 5.3 million customers saved 12.88 billion birr, and 2.1 million customers saved 13.35 billion birr.
One way we plan to enhance the accessibility of telebirr service within our community is by expanding our network of partners who offer services through telebirr. In the fiscal year, we successfully registered 107 thousand new agents, bringing the total number of agents to 216 thousand. Furthermore, our involvement with over 196 thousand merchants has expanded the total number of Telebr partners to 342.6 thousand. These partners have been instrumental in registering customers, facilitating transactions, earning revenue, selling airtime, and processing bill payments. This significant contribution aligns with the country’s digital financial inclusion strategy.
Additionally, during the fiscal year, integration with an additional 4 banks was successfully completed, bringing the total to 28 banks. This enhancement has streamlined the process of transferring money between banks and telebirr, and vice versa. Notably, within this fiscal year, 240 billion Birr has been transferred from banks to telebirr, contributing to a total of 368 billion Birr transferred since the inception of the telebirr service. In the fiscal year, 196 billion Birr was transferred from telebirr to the bank, while a total of 397 billion Birr has been transferred since the service’s inception. The overall amount of money transferred with banks in the fiscal year reached 436 billion Birr, achieving in a total of 765 billion Birr in transfers with banks.
Furthermore, thanks to a partnership agreement with Abyssinia Bank, telebirr customers have been able to access cardless spending at ATMs until June 20, 2016 E.C. In total, an impressive 2.6 billion Birr has been facilitated through this method, allowing for seamless transactions. Within this fiscal year alone, 1.8 billion Birr has been spent, showcasing the efficiency of real-time digital money transfers.
ONE MILLION NATIONAL DIGITAL IDs REGISTERED
On the other hand, the national digital ID is one of the four main pillars set to make our country’s digital transformation a reality. In order to successfully organize and implement this digital ID registration, our institution has developed a detailed implementation plan to register 32 million citizens in the next two years, by procuring 1000 biometric registration machines and providing the necessary training to employees. The rollout commenced as of April 24, 2024.
As part of the plan, 434 biometric registration machines have been deployed in 91 cities across the country, 291 machines in 197 Ethio telecom service centers, and 143 biometric registration machines in 96 mobile registration sites. As a result, 1,001,886 customers have been registered, and the necessary human resource and planning work is underway to further strengthen this registration in the coming budget year.
OVER 300,000 JOBS & INCOME OPPORTUNITIES CREATED
In addition to playing its enabling role as a service delivery, our company has created employment opportunities and income sources for citizens in both permanent and temporary positions. Through a strategic partnerships and collaborations to distribute telecom and telebirr product and services, as well as related activities, 300,000 citizens have been provided with income generation opportunities.
ENSURING CYBERSECURITY
In order to effectively prevent cyber-attacks, which are a major threat in the digital age, our company has strengthened its human resource capacity, updated its operational procedures, and invested heavily in adopting the latest technologies and solutions required by the market, and by fully complying with the attacks tested in the fiscal year, our company’s assets were protected from data breaches, service disruptions and revenue losses.
To prevent cyber-attacks attempted in the fiscal year, we have implemented over 4,000 new and over 1,000 control measures, preventing over 732,000 attempts from causing damage.
OUR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A TESTAMENT TO OUR COMMITMENT
Our company, which has learned to share with our society from our society, is an institution that fulfills its corporate social responsibility in addition to fulfilling its institutional obligations from the revenue it generates.
Our company’s social responsibility activities are focused on strengthening the social and economic development of the community, such as education, health, environmental protection, green development, humanitarian activities, and supporting government development projects. In these areas, children, youth, the elderly, people with disabilities, women and mothers, as well as communities affected by war and natural disasters have been given special attention in the support work. In the fiscal year, a total of 694.2 million birr was supported, amounting to 207.4 million birr in kind and 486.8 million birr in cash respectively.
In the 2016 E.C school year, with the aim of fulfilling the learning materials of students in the education sector, 900,000 exercise books were donated to first-grade students from low-income families, 66 digital learning centers were established in secondary schools across the country, and free internet and uninterrupted support were provided.
Different educational institutions affected by the war in different parts of our country have been supported in kind donations. In addition, in the 2016 school year, under the slogan “የእናት መቀነት”, 6,000 university students from low-income families who came to 42 public universities in Addis Ababa and across the country were given a monthly pocket money of 500 birr each for 10 months.
In addition to the support provided by our company, our employees have made voluntary contributions and have carried out a very encouraging and inspiring work by identifying the most economically disadvantaged segments of society in general, providing them with a total of 7.6 million birr in cash and various materials, and donating blood and providing good-will services.
Our company has shown high commitment to carrying out environmental protection activities and the green legacy initiative, and as a result, we have planted 3.8 million seedlings in 700 sites across the country in the last five years, involving our company’s employees and partners, and 361,000 seedlings have been planted in the fiscal year. By providing proper and special protection after planting, the survival rate of the seedlings has been increased to an average of 82%.
We are committed to continuing to make a positive impact on society and the environment in the years to come.
RESILIENCE DEFINES US
Despite the challenges faced by our company, such as foreign currency shortage that the country is facing, service disruptions due to security problems in various parts of our country, power outages, network security threats, theft and cutting of fiber and copper cables, supply shortage of raw materials, and competition in the market and other challenging conditions, we have been able to achieve remarkable success by setting a clear and inspiring vision and mission for competition and growth, developing a three-year performance strategy that enables us to provide digital solutions to our customers
and the community beyond the basic connectivity services and sharing our vision and goals to internal and external stakeholders.
In addition, by automating, modernizing and simplifying our operational processes, expanding new revenue streams, adopting cost management practices and culture, establishing a culture of daily monitoring and decision-making based on a fast and results-oriented system and research, utilizing assets effectively, collaborating with business partners and other stakeholders, our company has been able to achieve superior results in key performance indicators due to the deep strengths that our company possesses (experienced and skilled employees, extensive network and system infrastructure, Service accessibility, extensive business partners and service centers, operational processes, and loyal customers).
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Our company has achieved a remarkable successes and recognitions during the budget year; some of these include:
- The “Ethiopia Institutions Success Award” presented by His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed for our remarkable contribution in representing our country at the global level.
- Our company was awarded the 1st place Platinum Award for paying an annual tax of 21.9 billion birr in the 2015 budget year and for being a distinguished and 1st place taxpayer for 5 consecutive years.
- telebirr was selected as the winner of the Gold category of the 2023 Future Digital Awards in the Best Mobile Money Offering category by Juniper Research, a global research firm.
- telebirr was selected as the Ecosystem Champion of the Stride Award 2024 by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology for its outstanding contribution to the digital ecosystem.
- Our CEO has been selected as one of the top 100 young African leaders who are playing a major role in Africa’s economic growth by #Choiseul100Africa, a France-based organization that recognizes outstanding African leaders.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our employees, our esteemed customers, our business partners, our product and service distributors, vendors, our media partners, and all stakeholders for your contribution to the remarkable results that our company has achieved during the budget year.
July 11, 2024
ETHIO TELECOM