Nairobi — Safaricom Ethiopia has switched on its network and services in Hawassa, Assela, Jigjiga, Sodo and Dilla cities in December, growing its network footprint across the country to 21 cities.
New customers in the cities will be able to purchase SIM cards for 30 birr(Sh68), choose their preferred numbers, buy airtime, and access dedicated customer support at the Safaricom Ethiopia branded shops in their respective cities.
"We are excited to expand our coverage into Hawassa, Assela, Jigjiga, Sodo and Dilla with more cities set to join the growing Safaricom Ethiopia family. We are also delighted to have expanded our services into more regional states," said Anwar Soussa, Safaricom Ethiopia CEO.
When customers join the "07" network, they will get a welcoming package (Gursha) of 700 MB of data, 35 minutes of Safaricom to Safaricom voice calls and another 35 minutes of voice calls across all networks, that is valid for 30 days.
In addition to the welcoming package, customers will get Gursha bonus when they buy airtime and voice package.
The "07" network switch on in the five additional cities brings Safaricom Ethiopia's current network footprint across the country to 21 cities - Dire Dawa, Harar, Haramaya, Adama, Bahir Dar, Bishoftu, Mojo, Debre Birhan, Awoday, Gondar, Addis Ababa, Sebeta, Dessie, Kombolcha, Jimma, Shashemene, Dilla, Sodo, Jigjiga, Assela and Hawassa.
In line with the network expansion, Safaricom Ethiopia is engaging customers on its products and services through Below-The-Line (BTL) activations in all the 21 cities in universities, open markets, distributor shops and roadshows.
"We thank the Government of Ethiopia, the regional governments, the Ethiopian Communications Authority, our shareholders, and partners for the continued support as we continue to add more cities to serve all of Ethiopia," said Soussa.
Safaricom Ethiopia generated Sh98.3 million in revenue in its first month of operation.
Safaricom Plc CEO Peter Ndegwa said the company has invested $598 million in Ethiopia operations and is encouraged by the early uptake of services in the new market.
