Ethio Telecom has upgraded its mobile money Telebirr app into a so-called ‘super app’ with crucial upgrades and integration of services, a move to bolster its mobile money proposition in the face of new competition from Safaricom.
Ethio telecom detailed the app and also saw upgrades such as biometric authentication, the My Ethiotel and partner apps integrated. It is available now from the Google Play and Apple App Store.
The super app introduced quality upgrades in menu screens to enable subscribers to obtain information seamlessly and navigate the app.
The state-owned operator said in a statement, the app also fixes prior issues on previous apps such as performance, security system, login and registration time, and storage consumption.
Ethio Telecom also stated it now has 30 million subscribers to its Telebirr mobile money platform since launching in May 2021. Its network has over 101,000 agents; 28,000 merchants; and integration with 19 commercial banks. Telebirr has also generated US$1.95 million in international remittances from 44 countries.
In an update to its micro-credit lending service Telebirr Mela, the company has lent ETB2.1 billion (US$39 million) to 1.4 million users and saw 400,000 people open savings accounts, depositing ETB1.7 billion.
Business Daily reported, rival Safaricom Ethiopia has ramped up subscriber numbers to 2.8 million since launching in October 2022. The operator is a joint venture between Safaricom, Vodacom, Vodafone and Sumitomo. It is currently the only operator rival to the state incumbent and is in the process of launching its own mobile money platform.