Kenya’s Safaricom Adds US$192M in Ethiopia
Safaricom's Ethiopian unit took in about US$192 million of new funding in six months to September, and Safaricom still owns about 54%, disclosures show. The post Kenya’s Safaricom Adds US$192M in Ethiopia appeared first on The Rio Times .
Safaricom, Kenya's leading mobile phone service provider, has added US$192 million (KSh 25 billion) in new funding to its Ethiopian business unit through the end of September 2026. This increase brings the total investment in Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia to near US$2.84 billion (KSh 369.2 billion), a 7% rise from the KSh 344.1 billion at the end of March 2026.
The partners in the Ethiopian venture include Safaricom, Vodacom Group, Japan's Sumitomo Corporation, British International Investment, and the International Finance Corporation, all of which continue to invest alongside Safaricom. The company's stake in the Ethiopian business remains steady at about 54%, with Vodacom Group, Sumitomo Corporation, British International Investment, and the International Finance Corporation holding the remaining shares.
Despite the challenging Ethiopian economy, with inflation and currency pressures, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia has seen a growth in service revenue of 71.6% to KSh 10.62 billion (US$82 million) in the six months to September 2026, with active customers increasing by 38.4% to 15.43 million. The company aims to achieve break-even at the EBITDA level by March 2027, but the full impact of the recent debt funding on this target remains to be seen.
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