Safaricom Ethiopia is eyeing an entry into the remittance business landscape as competition evolves in Ethiopia’s duopolistic telecommunications sector. The company, which has managed to build over 3500 mobile sites in nearly three years, is looking to carve out a market in an industry flung open after Ethiopia liberalized its forex regime policy two months back.
Wim Vanhelleputte, CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia, identifies prospects in gaining some share of the abundant remittance flows coming into Ethiopia as the gap between parallel and official exchange rates narrow. He highlighted the potential of leveraging the company’s M-PESA platform, which is already providing similar services in Kenya and South Africa.
“We are already connected to nearly every [money transfer operator] in the world,” Wim told Shega.
He said the company is rapidly exploring opportunities in the international remittance space as an additional element in its Ethiopian business offerings.
Remittances contributed 6.8 billion dollars, or around a quarter of Ethiopia’s foreign currency earnings two years ago, representing a major portion of FX inflow. Recognizing the market potential in the liberalized FX landscape, the state-owned Ethio Telecom unveiled Telebirr Remit, it’s latest fintech product that allows people abroad to send money back home using their Visa card.
Safaricom appears to be following suit, as it could leverage its international money transfer services, which are already available in multiple countries through M-PESA. The company had also announced a partnership in June with international money transfer company Dahabshiil, which would allow the Ethiopian Diaspora to send money directly to M-PESA mobile wallets.
Wim emphasized the importance of maintaining steadfast growth in the core businesses of Safaricom Ethiopia as it expands the network for mobile, data, and SMS services in the country.
Safaricom has made significant headway in its infrastructure development in Ethiopia, managing to cover nearly half of the country’s population with signals to a 4G data network.
The CEO acknowledged the need to catch up in core activities with the only other telecom operator in the country, which has over a century of experience in the market.
“We will need a few months before completely new innovations come out,” Wim noted.
The company was honored with a plaque at the Sheraton Addis on Thursday afternoon, in recognition of its contributions to Lion Bank’s foreign currency earnings through business dealings.
Safaricom’s active subscribers in Ethiopia grew to 4.6 million in the quarter ended June, representing additions of about a quarter million clients.
While the figures signal growth, it is a long way from the nearly 78 million subscribers of Ethio Telecom, which is also eyeing a further growth of five million in the coming year. Safaricom announced late last year plans to expand its network infrastructure over two years as it looks to access 7,000 sites and achieve 85% network coverage.
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