ETHIO TELECOM LAUNCHES ITS PRE-COMMERCIAL 5G SERVICE!

Ethio telecom has been a pioneer telecom service provider in Africa. We have been introducing
latest technologies to support socio economic development of Ethiopia from the establishment
to date, playing enabling role in the overall development of the nation in all-weathers.
Continuing our effort in enhancing and modernizing our telecom services, today we are pleased
to announce the launching of our pre- commercial 5G services in Addis Ababa in six mobile
stations.
The fifth generation network (5G) characterized by the fastest speed (up to10 Gbs), low latency
(less than 1 ms) and massive communication capability (up to 1 Million connections within 1
km2), can unlock blazing fast speeds in more places, real-time responses and massive
connectivity. With such high speeds, superior reliability and negligible latency, 5G will impact
industries such as mission critical services requiring real time decisions, Manufacturing plants,
remote Health care, precision Agriculture, self-driving vehicles, IoT, real-time operations making
them all a reality.
As part of the pre-commercial trial service, we have begun our service in the Capital and will
expand our footprint to regional cities up to 150 sites over the coming 12 months. We shall
further roll out 5G sites to more areas based on feasible business demands.
However, our full commercialization of the service is dependent on the readiness and demand
from the players in the ecosystem: customers’ readiness to use the service, availability of 5G
enabled devices and Smartphones, the need and readiness of enterprises to use the service.
Our pre-commercial deployment of the 5G service in Addis Ababa, as the capital city of our
country and the diplomatic seat of international and continental institutions is in line with our
aspiration to become a preferred operator as well as with our 3 years’ growth strategy and
technology roadmap. The Ethiopian Communication Authority has furnished us with temporary
5G Spectrum approval to implement the pre-commercial trial of the service while our Strategic
Partner Huawei technologies has deployed the 5G network.
This 5G service will provide our customers with best-in-class solutions, improve their experience
and allow our enterprise customers to boost productivity, enhance operational efficiency, and
introduce new solutions to their customers.

Next-generation 5G networks can provide data speeds at least 20 times faster than 4G
and are seen as important for emerging technologies like self-driving cars and enable
communication and interconnectivity between smart devices.

Next-generation 5G networks can provide data speeds at least 20 times faster than 4G and are
seen as important for emerging technologies like self-driving cars and enable communication
and interconnectivity between smart devices.
Ethio Telecom Chief Executive Officer Frehiwot Tamru said the service will first be available in
the capital Addis Ababa, before eventually spreading to other parts of the country.

"The 5G service is launched in selected places in Addis Ababa," she said at a launch event. "In
the coming 12 months, we will have 150 5G sites in Addis Ababa and outside Addis Ababa."