Ethio telecom has reported revenue of ETB 215.82 billion for the 2025/26 financial year, recording strong growth as internet use and digital services reshape the state-owned operator’s business.
Revenue increased by 33.2% from the previous year, with the company achieving 99.7% of its annual target. The results cover the financial year that ended on 30 June 2026 and mark the first year of Ethio telecom’s “Next Horizon: Digital & Beyond 2028” strategy.
Chief Executive Frehiwot Tamiru presented the annual performance results alongside senior management in Addis Ababa on Thursday. The company attributed the growth to rising demand for connectivity, digital services and enterprise solutions.
The results also reveal a significant change in how Ethio telecom makes its money. Data and internet services have overtaken traditional mobile voice services to become the company’s biggest source of revenue.
Data and internet services generated 31.1% of Ethio telecom’s total revenue during the year, compared with 23.5% from mobile voice services. The shift reflects growing internet use as more customers adopt smartphones, digital financial services and online platforms.
Value-added services accounted for 9.1% of revenue, while international services contributed 8%. Enterprise solutions generated another 7.1%. Device sales contributed 4%, telebirr 3.6% and National ID-related services 3.3%.
The change is significant for a company whose business historically depended heavily on traditional telecommunications. Data and internet revenue has recorded average annual growth of 35.9% since June 2018, compared with 9.5% for mobile voice over the same period.
Ethio telecom says the changing revenue mix reflects Ethiopia’s wider transition towards a digital economy. The operator has increasingly expanded beyond conventional mobile services into fintech, cloud computing, enterprise technology, digital identity and other technology-based services.
Ethio telecom also recorded a substantial improvement in profitability during the year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, rose by 51.9% to ETB 113.1 billion.
Operating profit increased by 47.5% to ETB 92.9 billion. The company attributed the improvement to revenue growth, stronger operational efficiency and tighter financial management.
The figures are considerably higher than the ETB 38.7 billion EBITDA and ETB 30 billion operating profit reported in some secondary accounts of the results. Ethio telecom’s official annual performance report records ETB 113.1 billion and ETB 92.9 billion respectively.
Cost management formed part of the company’s strategy during the year. Its efficiency programmes focused on reducing unnecessary expenditure while improving productivity and protecting investment in network infrastructure and digital services.
Ethio telecom’s customer base also continued to expand, reaching 90.12 million during the financial year. This exceeded the company’s target of 88.63 million and represented annual growth of 8.3%.
Active mobile subscribers reached 72.09 million. The number of active mobile data users increased by 10.7% to 51.53 million, while active mobile voice users reached 66.95 million.
Fixed broadband also crossed an important milestone, reaching just over one million customers. Combined data and internet users stood at about 52.5 million.
Network expansion has accompanied that subscriber growth. Ethio telecom deployed 603 new mobile sites during the year, including 195 in rural areas, while total network capacity increased to 115.1 million.
The operator also expanded 4G coverage to another 264 towns, taking the total to 1,200. Its 5G network reached seven additional cities, bringing the total number of cities with 5G services to 33. Telebirr remains central to Ethio telecom’s expansion beyond conventional telecommunications.
The mobile financial services platform reached 60.6 million registered customers during the year after adding 8.54 million users. It recorded 19.48 million customers who had been active within the previous 90 days.
Telebirr processed 2.61 billion transactions during the financial year, representing year-on-year growth of 145.3%. The total value of those transactions reached ETB 4.19 trillion, up 76.2% from the previous year. Since its launch, the platform has processed transactions worth ETB 9.13 trillion.
Ethio telecom has also expanded telebirr beyond payments and money transfers into lending and savings services. Working with financial institutions, the platform facilitated ETB 19.51 billion in collateral-free digital loans to 5.65 million customers during the year.
Digital savings reached ETB 18.75 billion across 1.3 million customers, representing an increase of 66.9% from the previous year. The company’s growth has been supported by continued investment in telecommunications and digital infrastructure.
Ethio telecom added 793 kilometres of new backbone fibre during the year, bringing its national backbone fibre network to more than 23,442 kilometres. It also connected another 841 mobile sites to fibre.
International internet capacity increased to 4.3 terabits per second, while the operator continued expanding data centres, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity systems.
Its data centre network now includes six Tier III-certified facilities with a combined five-megawatt IT load capacity and 640 racks. The infrastructure supports government institutions, businesses and Ethio telecom’s own digital platforms.
These investments reflect the company’s wider strategy of moving from a traditional telecommunications operator towards what it describes as an integrated technology company.
Ethio telecom’s total assets increased by 27% to ETB 420 billion during the year. The company attributed the expansion to investments in networks, technology infrastructure and digital capabilities.
Its contribution to government finances also remained substantial. Ethio telecom reported ETB 73.5 billion in tax contributions during the year, comprising direct and indirect taxes as well as contributions to the National Disaster Recovery Fund. The company says cumulative tax payments since 2018 have now reached ETB 244.5 billion.
Ethio telecom has also expanded into areas outside its traditional telecommunications business. These include cloud services, e-commerce, digital identity registration and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Ethio telecom’s latest results come as Ethiopia’s telecommunications industry undergoes significant change. The market is no longer defined solely by voice calls and traditional mobile services, with internet connectivity, fintech and digital platforms becoming increasingly important.
Competition has also changed the operating environment following the entry of Safaricom Ethiopia. That has placed greater pressure on Ethio telecom to invest in network quality, digital products and customer services while protecting its dominant market position.
The 2025/26 results suggest that data will play an increasingly important role in that strategy. With internet services now generating a larger share of revenue than voice, the company’s financial performance is becoming more closely tied to Ethiopia’s wider digital transformation.
Telebirr adds another dimension. Its growing transaction volumes show that Ethio telecom is competing not only in telecommunications but also in a rapidly developing digital financial services market.
For Ethio telecom, the challenge will be to sustain that growth while improving service quality and continuing the network investment required by a customer base that has now passed 90 million.
The shift from voice to data may ultimately prove the most significant feature of this year’s results. It signals how quickly Ethiopia’s largest telecommunications operator is changing as connectivity, mobile finance and digital services become increasingly central to the country’s economy.
