2merkato

Ethio Telecom (formerly known as Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation), now managed by a French company, made a record profit in the first year of the two-year contract.

The net profit has not been declared but sources at the telecom company say that it is likely to be higher than ever before.

The company had planned to make 9.9 billion birr and grossed 9.1 billion birr in the just ended fiscal year which is greater than that of the previous fiscal year by 2.1 billion.

Ethio Telecom earned 5.6 billion in revenue in the first two quarters of the fiscal year according to Jean Michel Latute, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopia’s sole telecom provider. 

The revenue was raised from mobile, internet and other services said Latute.

Ethio Telecom has reduced tariffs across zones for calls made from landlines in Ethiopia as of the 1st of January. Rates were reduced by 66.3% to 83 cents per minute during peak hours and to 0.35 cents at off peak hours, a 228% reduction.  

The move is targeted to encourage an increase in the number of subscribers to landlines in the face of falling revenue and low numbers of new subscribers for fixed line services.

The Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute announced that it has earned 27.2 Million US dollars from textile exports. The Institute earned this revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

The revenue is 87% more than the target set for this period according to a press statement made by the Institute. The revenue is also 18.6 million US dollars more than the amount earned in the same period last fiscal year.

Textile industries in Ethiopia were urged to enhance environmental protection in their treatment of effluents by the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute.

The textile industry is a significant source of green house gases and all stakeholders in the sector need to put in place mechanisms to prevent environmental pollution noted Sileshi Lemma, Director General of the Institute at an awareness raising workshop held this week.  

Textile manufacturers need to use renewable sources of energy instead of fossil fuels towards limiting the impact on the environment said Amha Bekele, Research Laboratory Director with the ETIDI.