Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, the first telecom operator in Ethiopia, signs a 5-year lease agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) to share dark fiber-optic infrastructure in the Horn of Africa. It was signed by Ashebir Balcha, CEO of (EEP), and Anwar Soussa, CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia.
The infrastructure is divided into 3 phases consisting of sharing 4097km, 2078km, & 2904km long optic-fiber lines. Dark fiber is preferred over regular fiber optic since it improves capacity, performance, security, and lowers costs.
Safaricom’s shared infrastructure will enable it to offer national telecommunications services in the forms of voice, data, video, text, messages, and conferencing. It will also allow the company to fulfill its commitment to transform Ethiopia’s digital sector. Safaricom will be the first private & foreign company to provide telecom services for Ethiopia once it launches.
Ethiopia’s state-owned electric producer currently consists of 15,000 long fiber-optics lines, with about 8,745 of them used by Ethio Telecom on a lease and in its house communication office. From the first phase of the infrastructure, Ethiopian Electric Power is expected to receive annual revenue of 140 million ETB (2.7 million USD).
