Ethio telecom introduced a new international tariff as of January 01, 2013 by offering a 30pc and 25pc discount for mobiles and fixed lines, respectively, to 138 countries of the Middle East, North America, Europe and Asia. The new tariff set by the only telecom provider in the country has changed call rates to 8.63 Br a minute for both mobile and fixed line users.

The move is targeted to encourage an increase in the number of international calls, to generate additional revenue, according to a press release sent by the company last week.

This new tariff is set by ethio telecom for the second time within the last year. Previously, the company reduced tariffs across zones for calls made from landlines in Ethiopia. Accordingly, rates were reduced by 66.3pc to 0.83 cents a minute during peak hours and to 0.35 cents at off-peak hours, a 228pc reduction.

State-run ethio telecom announced on July 2012 that the total mobile subscriber base reached 17.26 million users, with monthly net additions running at an average of 450,000 a month, over the past year. Six months ago ethio-telecom announced that it has reduced the subscription fee for customers using prepaid mobile services wishing to join the postpaid services to 80 Br and 100 Br for 2GB and 3GB sim cards, respectively.