Ethio Telecom reports higher half-year earnings and revenues

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -Ethiopian state-owned telecoms company Ethio Telecom said on Tuesday that its half-year earnings rose, helped by rising revenues.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were up 14% to 19.77 billion birr ($352.23 million), while revenues in the same period were up 26% to 42.86 billion birr, Chief Executive Officer Frehiwot Tamiru said in a statement.

Ethio Telecom is in competition with Safaricom Ethiopia, which launched commercial mobile network services in October 2022 and now covers at least 21 cities across the country.

Subscribers to its mobile phone-based financial service Telebirr, launched in May 2021, grew to 41 million out of its 74.6 million total subscribers, Frehiwot said.

($1 = 56.1275 birr)

(Reporting by Tiksa Negeri; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexander Winning)