Ethio telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamru held a high-level strategic discussion with a Mastercard delegation led by Mr. Shehryar Ali, Senior Vice President and Country Manager for East Africa. The session focused on reviewing the progress of ongoing initiatives while advancing innovative, future-ready digital financial solutions designed to expand Ethiopia’s global digital footprint.
This collaboration continues to strengthen cross-border payments and remittance services while identifying new opportunities to deliver enhanced value to customers and businesses.
During the session, the CEO underscored that Ethio telecom’s comprehensive digital ecosystem driven by large-scale, resilient telecom and digital infrastructure that functions as Ethiopia’s digital nerve system and powers the nation’s flagship mobile money platform, telebirr, serving over 58 million customers positions the company to confidently scale industry-leading international financial services.
The dialogue centered on deepening strategic synergies by integrating Ethio telecom’s digital capabilities with Mastercard’s global payment ecosystem. Through this collaboration, both institutions aim to advance next-generation fintech solutions, enhance multi-currency liquidity capabilities, and enable seamless international financial flows, further strengthening Ethiopia’s digital economy and global connectivity.
Mr. Shehryar Ali commended the strong progress achieved, recognizing Ethio telecom’s robust infrastructure, expanding customer base, and innovation-driven approach as key enablers of market-shaping financial solutions. He reaffirmed Mastercard’s commitment to co-creating secure, scalable, and high-impact digital financial use cases aligned with global standards and best practices.
To accelerate the rollout of these cross-border financial solutions, both parties agreed to intensify collaboration, streamline integration processes, and fast-track product development and deployment timelines. Ethio telecom remains committed to accelerating Digital Ethiopia by forging impactful international partnerships that enable inclusive financial access, unlock new economic opportunities, and strengthen Ethiopia’s role in the global digital economy.
Ethio telecom
April 8, 2026
