People attend the Huawei Ethiopia forum, organized in collaboration with Addis Ababa University, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)
Ethiopia's state-owned telecom provider Ethio-Telecom said its mobile money service solution TeleBirr has garnered more than 21 million subscribers since it launched the service in May 2021.
ADDIS ABABA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's state-owned telecom provider Ethio-Telecom said its mobile money service solution TeleBirr has garnered more than 21 million subscribers.
Ethio-Telecom launched the TeleBirr mobile money service solution, built by the Chinese tech giant Huawei, back in May 2021.
People attend the Huawei Ethiopia forum, organized in collaboration with Addis Ababa University, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)
Noting that the platform has been subscribed by over 21.14 million users within a short span of time, the telecom service provider on Friday said TeleBirr-based transactions have reached 25.67 billion Ethiopian birr (about 490 million U.S. dollars) integrating with 13 banks to transfer money from bank to the platform.
Ethio-Telecom has recently signed agreements with Ethiopian Airlines to enable passengers to purchase domestic flight tickets and with Ethiopian electric utility and water and sewerage services, providing institutions to collect the TeleBirr-based monthly service bill payments, among others.
On Friday, Ethio-Telecom and Ethiopia's National Lottery Administration signed a strategic partnership agreement to launch a digital lottery via TeleBirr. The company said it is strongly committed to implementing TeleBirr integrated service payments with other similar institutions and making all payments possible in one place in the near future, thereby strengthening the initiatives of making digital Ethiopia's set vision a reality.
Ethiopia is undertaking extensive telecom modernization services with the help of Chinese firms as part of the East African country's aim of realizing digital inclusion and boosting the size of its digital economy, with the provision of reliable, high bandwidth and high-speed telecom services.
Ethio-Telecom in May launched a pre-commercial 5G services trial in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, in partnership with Huawei. Ethiopia's first 5G service, which was launched across six mobile stations in Addis Ababa, is said to be part of the Ethiopian government's digital transformation aspirations. ■