Ethio Telecom, the state-owned telecom giant that Safaricom PLC entered Ethiopia to compete against with an investment of US$850 million, officially began trading on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) on May 26 under the ticker symbol TELE.
The debut makes Ethio Telecom both the first state-owned enterprise and the first non-financial firm to list on the Addis Ababa-based exchange.
The listing represents a major shift for the telecom operator, which moved from being a tightly controlled state monopoly to a public share company in June 2024.
It also marks another milestone for the ESX, which only launched in January 2025 and now hosts four listed equities following earlier listings by Wegagen Bank, Gadaa Bank and Awash Bank.
However, the listing comes after an underwhelming initial public offering. The Ethiopian government had floated 100 million shares at 300 birr apiece, aiming to raise 30 billion birr, but managed to sell only 10.7 million shares, generating about 3.2 billion birr.
ESX chief executive Tilahun Esmael Kassahun described the listing as a significant step towards greater transparency, public participation and long-term value creation, saying it reflected the government’s commitment to opening up state-owned assets to investors.
Out of the 47,377 investors who participated in the IPO, around 45,000 have already been verified and are now eligible to trade their combined 10.1 million shares. Another 1,646 applications are still under review due to missing national identification details, while 248 foreign applicants are set to receive refunds in full.
Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru said the company deliberately took extra time to verify incomplete shareholder information and audit records before proceeding with the listing in order to safeguard market integrity.
The company enters the market amid strong financial performance. For the financial year ending June 2025, Ethio Telecom posted revenues of 162 billion birr, representing a 72.9% increase year-on-year. EBITDA reached 76 billion birr, surpassing internal targets by 4%.
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During the first half of the 2025/26 financial year, revenues climbed a further 37% to 85.02 billion birr, while net profit stood at 42.36 billion birr. The company also reported a gross profit margin of 49.8% and a subscriber base of 87.1 million users.
The numbers sharply dwarf those of Safaricom Ethiopia. The Kenyan-backed operator reported an 86.6% rise in service revenue to KSh14.1 billion (US$109 million) for the year ending March 2026, though that remains significantly smaller than Ethio Telecom’s scale.
Safaricom Ethiopia’s subscriber base stood at 13.6 million, with network coverage extending to 60% of the population through 3,504 sites. Since entering the market in 2022 and ending Ethio Telecom’s eight-decade monopoly, Safaricom has pushed the incumbent to slash mobile data prices by 70% and accelerate deployment of 4G and 5G infrastructure.
For the ESX, the telecom giant’s listing delivers its highest-profile company yet and marks the exchange’s first IPO listing, given that the three banks previously joined through introductions rather than public offers.
Dashen Bank and Bank of Abyssinia have already completed regulatory registration and are expected to list next, while Abay Bank, Anbesa Bank and Amhara Bank are at advanced preparation stages. The ESX is targeting nine listings before the Ethiopian fiscal year closes on July 7, 2026.
Ethio Telecom is expected to release audited financial statements ahead of its first annual general meeting in September, with dividend payments to private shareholders scheduled to begin in the 2025/26 financial year.
