Safaricom surges after securing Ethiopia mobile financial services licence

NAIROBI: Shares of Kenyan telecoms operator Safaricom surged more than 9% on Friday after it secured a mobile financial services licence in Ethiopia, market participants said.

Ethiopia’s Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said on Thursday his country had given Safaricom the licence in one of Africa’s largest telecoms markets as the company formally switched on the first privately-operated network in the country.