Ethio telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamru held a high-level strategic discussion with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)President and CEO Samaila Zubairu to explore a transformative financing partnership that would propel the implementation of Ethio telecom’s ambitious “Next Horizon: Digital & Beyond 2028” strategy.
During the engagement, Frehiwot highlighted Ethio telecom’s strong institutional resilience and execution capability demonstrated through the successful delivery of its two consecutive three-year transformation programs, BRIDGE and LEAD. She emphasized the company’s instrumental role in advancing the national Digital Ethiopia 2025 agenda and reaffirmed that the newly launched “Next Horizon: Digital & Beyond 2028” strategy is fully aligned with Ethiopia’s Digital Ethiopia 2030 roadmap.
She further articulated Ethio telecom’s strategic ambition to expand beyond the Ethiopian market and position itself as a leading regional digital infrastructure and services provider, contributing meaningfully to Africa’s broader digital transformation journey. Achieving this scale of impact, she emphasized, requires strong and forward-looking financing partnerships capable of enabling large-scale infrastructure expansion, AI-driven platforms, hyperscale cloud ecosystems, and seamless cross-border connectivity.
Frehiwot underscored a critical continental imperative: for Africa to fully harness the transformative potential of the artificial intelligence era, the continent must prioritize robust, secure, and resilient telecom and digital infrastructure as the foundational backbone of inclusive growth.
Mr. Samaila Zubairu commended Ethio telecom’s impressive performance trajectory, institutional strength, and visionary leadership. He expressed strong interest in AFC partnering in this next phase of growth, reaffirming AFC’s commitment to supporting high-impact infrastructure platforms that drive sustainable economic development across Africa.
“Let’s accelerate this together,” Mr. Zubairu remarked, underscoring AFC’s intention to serve as an active strategic partner in advancing Ethio telecom’s mission to expand digital access, innovation, and economic opportunity throughout Africa.
