Ethiopian Electric Power and Safaricom Ethiopia signed a 5 years lease agreement to share optical fiber infrastructure in the country. Ashebir Balcha, CEO of Ethiopian Electric Power, and Anwar Soussa, CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia signed the agreement. The agreement covers the first phase of 4097 km, the second phase 2078 km, and the third phase 2904 km optical fiber line rental.

Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, Asheber Balcha noted that the agreement lays the foundation for the two companies to work together. Anwar Sowssa, CEO of Safaricom-Ethiopia, on his part, lauded Ethiopia’s growth in the telecom sector and expressed his company’s willingness to work with the EPP. He added that work is underway to provide quality telecom service to the public.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) is expected to earn up to 140 million ETB a year in the first phase of its optical fiber line rental. The EPP owns up to 15,000 km of optical fiber lines out of which 8745 km is leased to Ethio-Telecom.