Safaricom Ethiopia has leased industrial land from the Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation for its modern data center to be built at a cost of 60 million dollars. The two parties have signed a leasing agreement today, which will allow the telecom operator to develop data centers on a 10,000 square meters expanse of land.

As per the signed agreement, Safaricom Ethiopia will have access to data centers in IPDC’s ICT Park, and it will invest 60 million dollars to lease 10 thousand square meters of industrial land where it will build its own modern data center. The deal will see the creation of permanent and temporary job opportunities for more than 56 citizens.

Speaking at the press conference held today, the CEO of the Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation, Mr. Sandokan Debebe, said that Safaricom Ethiopia’s participation in industrial parks will help the country realize its ‘Digital Ethiopia’ plan. Mr. Sandokan confirmed that the corporation will provide the necessary cooperation to implement the agreement with Safaricom Ethiopia.

Safaricom Ethiopia, CEO Anwar Sousa, also thanked the IPDC for its continued support. He said that  this investment is one of the many projects the company will carry out with the corporation in the future.

Anwar said that the information center that Safaricom Ethiopia will build is Tier 3 and will lay the foundation for the construction of Digital Ethiopia. He pointed out that the information center that will be built will mainly provide services to Safaricom Ethiopia, but it can also serve other institutions.

Safaricom Ethiopia is an African telecom operator company that has joined the Ethiopia’s telecom sector as an alternative telecom operator. It has recently started a trial operation in four cities in the eastern and northern parts of the country. Until the coming month of April, 2023, the company has planned to extend its service to 25 cities.