Safaricom Ethiopia Telecommunications Plc is a company supporting Ethiopia’s digital transformation. The company has built the anticipation of Ethiopians with the promise of the project which is to provide national coverage.
On 9th April 2022 which should have been the launch date for the company’s website was down, displaying a dialogue box which reads “under maintenance”.
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The search for answers led to the Ethiopian Communications Authority’s website but there was no snippet of news to be gained as ECA’s website is also down and It says “The website is undergoing scheduled maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience. Come back a bit later, we will be ready soon!”
What Was Heard Last Of The Safaricom Ethiopia Project
Safaricom Ethiopia’s last mention of the project is a pinned tweet on its Twitter handle, @safricomET dated 13th April and it reads “An important milestone for Digital Ethiopia! Today, we have successfully concluded multi-round negotiations with Ethio-Telecom, in a meeting convened by the @eca_ethiopia. We are now working to conclude the agreements. #WeAreSafaricomET #WeAreBuilding #DigitalEthiopia”
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According to Matthew Harrison-Harvey, the company’s chief external affairs and regulatory officer, in an interview with Capacity media in March, 9 April marked nine months since Safaricom was awarded its 15-year licence. That was intended to be the launch date, he said in an April-May issue of the magazine.
The magazine also reads that “Safaricom Ethiopia has spent $1 billion so far of its planned $8.5 billion spend over 10 years. “Everyone knows the size of the project.” The company has spent money on infrastructure, including data centres (pictured).
A year after launch, the service should be available to 25% of Ethiopia’s population. “It’s a national licence with national coverage obligations,” said Harrison-Harvey in the interview.”