Data becomes Ethio Telecom’s largest revenue stream in 2025/26

Data and internet services became Ethio Telecom’s largest source of revenue in the 2025/26 financial year, accounting for 31.1 percent of total income and overtaking mobile voice services at 23.5 percent, according to the state-owned enterprise’s performance report.

The change reflects a broader shift in customer use. Active mobile-data users rose 10.7 percent to 51.53 million, while total data and internet users reached 52.5 million, including one million fixed-broadband customers. Since June 2018, data services recorded average annual growth of 35.9 percent, compared with 9.5 percent for mobile voice.

Ethio Telecom reported close to 216 billion birr in revenue for the year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation reached 113.1 billion birr, up 51.9 percent, while operating profit increased 47.5 percent to 92.9 billion birr.

Telebirr expanded to 60.6 million customers and processed 2.61 billion transactions worth 4.19 trillion birr during the year. Despite that scale, the mobile-money platform contributed 3.6 percent of company revenue, considerably less than connectivity services.

The results show internet access is now the operator’s core commercial engine, while Telebirr’s direct revenue contribution continues to lag its rapid growth in customers and transaction volumes.