Ethio Telecom has secured two awards at the 16th Annual Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands Awards: Most Admired Ethiopian Brand in Telecommunications and Most Admired Ethiopian Brand Doing Good for Society and the Environment, repeating its double victory from the 2025 edition.
The consecutive wins reflect a fundamental transformation in how one of Africa’s oldest telecommunications operators has repositioned itself for the digital age.
A 130-Year-Old Institution Reinventing Itself
Founded in 1894, Ethio Telecom is among Africa’s oldest and largest telecommunications operators by subscriber base.
That heritage could easily have become a constraint for a legacy organisation moving slowly in a fast-changing market.
Instead, under CEO Frehiwot Tamru, the company has accelerated in the opposite direction: network modernisation, digital inclusion programmes, and the expansion of mobile money services have redefined what Ethio Telecom is and what it offers.
The Brand Africa 100 most admired Ethiopian brand in telecommunications recognition for 2026 captures that reinvention as consumers see it not as an infrastructure provider delivering a commodity service, but as a trusted digital partner embedded in everyday Ethiopian life.
Telebirr and the Digital Inclusion Imperative
How Ethio Telecom is driving digital transformation in Ethiopia runs through Telebirr, which is the company’s mobile money platform that has become a central pillar of Ethiopia’s digital financial services landscape.
In a country where traditional banking infrastructure has historically been concentrated in urban centres, Telebirr extends financial access to populations that formal banking has not reached.
Ethio Telecom’s Telebirr mobile money and digital inclusion work in Ethiopia represents the practical expression of its brand promise.
Connectivity is the foundation; financial services, enterprise solutions, and national digital transformation support are the structure built on top of it.
Together they describe a company that has moved decisively from a traditional telecommunications provider to a comprehensive digital services platform and earned sustained consumer admiration in the process.
Doing Good as a Brand Strategy
The Brand Africa 100 most admired Ethiopian brand doing good for society and environment award in 2026 is the recognition that resonates most directly with how African consumers are evolving.
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Across the continent, brand perception is increasingly shaped not just by product quality or price but by a company’s visible contribution to the communities it serves.
Ethio Telecom’s consecutive wins in this category signal that its corporate social responsibility and environmental stewardship commitments are landing with consumers not as marketing but as genuine institutional behaviour.
In a market where homegrown brands compete alongside multinationals with large promotional budgets, that trust is a durable competitive advantage.
What Brand Africa 100 Actually Measures
The Brand Africa 100 awards in 2026 carry weight precisely because of their methodology.
The rankings are Africa’s leading consumer-led brand study, conducted across approximately 30 countries, representing over 85% of the continent’s population and economic output.
These are not industry panels or expert juries; they are consumer perception surveys at a continental scale, measuring admiration and brand trust where it is formed: in the minds of the people who use these services daily.
Ethio Telecom’s digital services presence in Ethiopia earning top marks in that context is a result that cannot be manufactured through advertising spend alone.
It reflects years of service delivery, digital investment, and community engagement compounding into a brand that Ethiopians genuinely admire.
The Homegrown Advantage
What makes Ethio Telecom’s story instructive for Africa’s broader brand landscape is the source of its competitive strength. The company does not compete on the back of a global parent’s balance sheet or an imported brand identity.
It competes on deep national affinity, local market understanding, and a track record built over more than a century of operating in Ethiopian conditions.
As Africa’s digital economy matures and homegrown enterprises increasingly challenge multinational incumbents for consumer trust, Ethio Telecom’s trajectory offers a template: invest in digital transformation, anchor the brand in social purpose, and let consistent execution do the rest. Two consecutive double wins at Brand Africa 100 suggest the approach is working.
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