The Ethiopian Communications Authority has announced infrastructure sharing discussions between Safaricom and state-owned Ethio Telecom have ended, with a launch impending.
In a social media post, the authority detailed the two companies were negotiating tower and power-sharing, transmission capacity leasing and interconnection between the two.
Discussions seem to have gone well as the ECA said they concluded in “good faith” and agreements have been reached on all pending issues.
Safaricom said on its own social media channel: “These agreements, in addition to our investment and network installation, will be a strong foundation for the services that start this year, for the development of the telecom sector, and for the success of the digital transformation and digital inclusion plan for Ethiopia.”
Safaricom beat rival MTN to Ethiopia’s first private telecoms licence in 2021, which is valid for 15 years.