Ethiopia: SIP providers and connecting a number to your PBX

This page continues the general guide to connecting a provider's number to your PBX, which covers what is the same in every country — the two trunk modes, what to ask your operator, what to enter in the provider form, how to test the connection and what your network must pass. Here — only what is specific to Ethiopia.

The data was collected on 10 September 2026 from operator websites, Ethio telecom's official channels, documents of the regulator ECA and the numbering plan notification filed with the ITU; the links are in the "Sources" section.

In brief#

• There is almost no SIP trunk market in Ethiopia. The country has two operators — state-owned Ethio telecom and privately held Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia — and only the first has a publicly announced "SIP Service": 280 Birr per line per month, ordered by e-mail to the corporate desk. It is the only local option for your own PBX.
• No Ethiopian provider publishes trunk parameters. Not a host, port, transport, codec or authorisation mode appears on any website: everything arrives in the provisioning order. You cannot plan the configuration in advance — you can only know in advance what to ask.
• Get legal advice before you order. Article 10(3) of the Telecom Fraud Offence Proclamation No. 761/2012 punishes anyone who "provides telephone call or fax services through the internet" with 3 to 8 years of imprisonment, and Article 10(4) punishes anyone who receives such a service (up to 2 years and a fine of 2,500–20,000 Birr). The Communications Service Proclamation No. 1148/2019 does not list it in its repeal article. There is no public guidance on how this applies to a corporate PBX: details below — the decision belongs with a local lawyer and with written confirmation from the operator.
• Ethio telecom's cloud PBX is not a trunk. "Cloud based hosted IP telephony" (200/300 Birr per extension, from 5 extensions) puts your numbers into the operator's cloud and does not hand them out. If it is already installed, the conversation is about moving the numbers to SIP Service, not about adding a connection.
• Safaricom Ethiopia has no business voice product at all: its corporate catalogue is 4G/5G internet, fibre, AirFiber, VPN, mobile plans, Enterprise APN and bulk SMS. The operator's licence does allow it to sell internet telephony — the product simply does not exist.
• A number without an Ethiopian legal entity means a toll-free +251 800… from an international reseller, forwarded to your PBX's SIP address. Landline numbers in Addis Ababa are advertised by aggregators, but the only way to confirm they exist is to order one in the account.
• A numbering catch. A national number here is exactly 9 digits — a 2-digit area code plus a 7-digit subscriber number — while a line is matched on the last seven: 011 1234567 (Addis Ababa) and 022 1234567 (Adama) produce the same tail and collapse into one line.

Numbers in the country#

The country code is +251, the international prefix is 00 and the national prefix is a leading 0. The plan is closed: inside the country the number is always dialled in full, 0YY XXX XXXX. The area code is 2 digits, the subscriber number is 7, nine together.

• In Addis Ababa the third digit is the city zone (1 north, 2 west, 3 south-west, 4 south, 5 centre, 6 east). That does not matter for us: enter the number as it is.
• No Ethiopian provider publishes the format in which the number arrives in an incoming call. International aggregators almost always use E.164 (+251…). On the first connection open the SIP trace in the trunk menu and create the line to match what actually arrives.
• Operators do not publish codecs either — ask when ordering. We support G.711 a-law/u-law and G.722; a "G.729 only" trunk will register happily and stay silent.
• Short numbers. Ethio telecom's contact centre is 994 and 980. Emergency numbers differ between directories: 911 (general and police), 991 (police), 907 (ambulance, Red Cross), 939 (fire), 945 (traffic police) are the ones usually quoted; there is no single European 112 in Ethiopia. Check the current list with your operator. Emergency numbers cannot be dialled through our PBX — keep an ordinary phone or a mobile on shift.

Who sells a number with a SIP trunk#

Below are cards for the two providers whose trunk to a third-party PBX is described as a product in its own right. The full list of questions for the account manager is in "What to ask your provider".

Ethio telecom — SIP Service#

The state incumbent: until 2022 the country's only operator, today the owner of the entire fixed network and of the 09X mobile ranges. SIP Service is the only publicly announced "SIP for business" product in Ethiopia. It has no product page: the service was announced only in the operator's official channels — "Transform your business communications with our SIP Service… Our packages start at just 280 Birr per line per month", with e-mail addresses for enquiries.

What it includes. SIP lines at 280 Birr per line per month plus per-minute charges from the business fixed-line price list (0.23 Birr per 6 minutes within a city, 0.46 Birr per minute between cities, 7.19–9.36 Birr per minute for international destinations). Numbers are either your existing fixed line or ISDN numbers, or new ones from the operator's range.

What to enter in the admin panel (Telephony → "Trunks and connections" → "Add provider"):

What to set up with the provider: send an enquiry stating the number of lines and numbers you need → sign the contract and pass the document check (a letter with the corporate seal signed by the manager, a copy of the Business License and TIN) → give them the static public IP of your PBX ("Server" tab → "Static IP") → ask them to allow media to that address on UDP ports 10000–20000 and to enable the G.711 a-law/u-law codecs → clarify the format in which the number will arrive in an incoming call.

Catches ⚠️

• The product assumes a customer sitting on the operator's own link. Ethio telecom's cloud telephony is explicitly described as delivered "through VPN and internet connectivity"; whether a PBX located outside the country is accepted must be settled before you pay — make it your first question.
• You pay per line, not per channel capacity. Ten simultaneous calls means ten lines on the invoice; the economics differ from a usual trunk with a session package.
• Not a single public parameter. Filling in "typical" values is pointless: the trunk will either fail to come up or reject the call. Do the first connection together with the operator's engineer.

Sources: SIP Service announcement (14.07.2025) · Fixed Line Service — Business — 10.09.2026.

PBX.IM — a storefront for Ethiopian numbers#

An international aggregator with a country storefront called "Ethiopia SIP Trunking Provider". It advertises numbers in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and Mekelle, as well as toll-free, shared-cost and mobile numbers, "powered by Ethiopia's leading network carriers" with Ethio telecom and Safaricom Ethiopia named explicitly, and separately promises to handle local compliance for you.

What to enter in the admin panel

What to set up with the provider: create an account → request a +251 number of the type you need and pass the document check → route the number to the trunk → give them the static IP of your PBX if asked → make sure G.711 is enabled in the account.

Catches ⚠️

• The storefront promises more than can be confirmed. The page text is a boilerplate template repeated for dozens of countries; as of 10.09.2026 landline numbers in Addis Ababa are not confirmed at any international aggregator. The only test is to order a specific number in the account.
• The number stays Ethiopian. Buying it through a foreign intermediary changes neither the country's legal framework nor the questions raised by "the number is here, the PBX is abroad".

Source: PBX.IM — SIP Trunking Provider in Ethiopia, 10.09.2026.

Who else sells telephony in the country#

• Ethio telecom — Cloud based hosted IP telephony. The operator's cloud PBX in partnership with WebSprix: Standard at 200 Birr and Advanced at 300 Birr per extension per month, a call centre at 1,500 Birr per agent, minimum 5 extensions; it includes an IVR, recording, queues and a mobile app. The product provides no outward trunk: "customer can use their existing number resource (fixed line, ISDN) or request for new number resource assignment", and the service "shall be delivered through VPN and internet connectivity", i.e. the number lives in the operator's cloud. The only sensible scenario for us is to ask for the numbers to be moved to SIP Service and connected as a trunk.
• Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia. The country's second operator and its first private one: the licence was won in May 2021 and the commercial launch was on 6 October 2022. There is a corporate section, but it consists entirely of internet and SMS: 4G/5G Business Internet, fibre, AirFiber, VPN, mobile plans, Enterprise APN, bulk SMS; voice packages live only in the personal section. The operator's licence does cover internet telephony, so an enquiry to corporate sales is worth making: ask whether a trunk to a third-party PBX exists, whether a PBX outside the country is allowed and which numbers are available. In neighbouring Kenya, Safaricom sells a trunk only when the PBX is physically in the country — the Ethiopian arm is likely to inherit the same condition.
• WebSprix IT Solution PLC. The largest private ISP in Addis Ababa (fibre for business and homes, internet TV, hosting, cloud). It sells neither its own numbers nor its own SIP trunk publicly, but Ethio telecom names it as the partner behind the cloud PBX — so the platform's technical parameters are most likely handled there. The numbering capacity will still come from a licensed operator.
• Local PBX integrators — PBX System Ethiopia (Addis Ababa; Asterisk, Yeastar, Grandstream, Sangoma), EADOM Networking Communication and Installation (Xorcom distributor) and VDS Ethiopia. You cannot buy a number or a trunk from them, but they usually know which parameters Ethio telecom puts in the provisioning order and can help with the on-site installation.

International providers with Ethiopian numbers#

Cards for the popular international providers are already in the catalogue when you add a provider — the server address and mode are filled in for you. What is specific to Ethiopia:

• Global Call Forwarding (United World Telecom) sells toll-free 800 xxx xxxx only for Ethiopia — "free to call from anywhere within the country". This is forwarding, not a trunk: the incoming call is sent on to your number or SIP address, and there is no registration for our PBX. The admin panel has a line source called "Forwarding" for exactly this scheme — the wizard shows the address to enter in the reseller's account; with SIP forwarding also give them the static IP of your PBX so calls are recognised as coming from that provider. Outbound calls from such a number will not work, and the number's owner pays for incoming calls, so the bill grows quickly with call volume.
• CommPeak advertises local, national and toll-free Ethiopian numbers routed over SIP; the inventory is not confirmed on the storefront — confirm it by ordering. TollFreeForwarding and smaller resellers such as CallHippo, Freezvon and HotTelecom mostly offer toll-free numbers and "numbers for receiving SMS".
• DIDWW keeps a "SIP Trunking Services in Ethiopia" page, but Ethiopia is not in its published coverage; DIDWW suggests requesting missing codes by e-mail to its sales team.
• Telnyx has no +251 country page, and Ethiopia is absent from the list of countries under its own licence — check availability by searching in the portal. Twilio publishes only call termination into Ethiopia and has no +251 numbers. didlogic has no Ethiopia page at all.
• Common to all of them. Numbering capacity under Directive No. 795/2021 is issued only to a telecommunications operator, so any +251 at an aggregator is resold capacity of Ethio telecom or Safaricom, with all of their document requirements. Advertised activation times run from 10–15 days for local numbers to 20–25 days for toll-free. The caller ID can only be your own number, and emergency calls through an aggregator do not work.

Number porting#

• Portability formally exists: the regulator refers to Number Portability Directive No. 831/2021. There is no public procedure, application form or turnaround time — ask your operator.
• In practice there is nowhere to port to. While there are two operators and one of them has no business voice product, porting only becomes a question if Safaricom Ethiopia launches a SIP trunk.
• An Ethiopian number cannot be taken to a foreign provider — porting exists only between licensees inside the country.
• A number registered to an individual gives no trunk. Corporate services are contracted to a company: a number registered to the director as a private person counts as a subscriber line, not a corporate one.

Rules and documents#

If it does not work#

1. The parameters did not come from the provisioning order. Nobody in Ethiopia publishes a host, port or authorisation mode. If the order does not state the mode, ask directly: registration or an address whitelist. With a whitelist the registration checkbox must be cleared, otherwise the trunk will stay "not registered" forever.
2. The operator did not allow a PBX outside the country. Local products assume a customer on Ethio telecom's own link. If the trunk is ordered and no calls arrive at all, first check whether your public address is allowed in the order: your PBX's IP is static and shown on the "Server" tab.
3. Registration is green but no incoming calls arrive. Check whether the operator routed the number to this trunk and in which format it arrives: locally it may be the national 0… format, at aggregators E.164. Open the SIP trace and align the line with what actually arrives.
4. The call connects but there is no audio. Ask about codecs: our PBX speaks G.711 and G.722. A "G.729 only" trunk looks healthy and stays silent. The second common cause is media not being allowed to our address — ask for it to be whitelisted.
5. A call to the second number is handled by the first number's scenario. The line is matched on the last seven digits while the area code takes only two: 011 1234567 and 022 1234567 collapse into one line. Split such numbers across separate trunks, or route by trunk rather than by line.
6. A toll-free 800 number gives no outbound calls. It is forwarding, not a trunk — outbound calls must leave through a different trunk.

The remaining common causes are in the general section of the overview; address and port checks are under "Test the connection".

FAQ#

Which provider should I approach first in Ethiopia?#

Ethio telecom and its "SIP Service": it is the country's only publicly announced SIP product for business, at 280 Birr per line per month. Enquiries go to Corporate.Enterprise@ethiotelecom.et or Enterprise.Customer@ethiotelecom.et, followed by a contract at the corporate office. Plan for a month to six weeks: correspondence with sales, the contract and document check, then the provisioning order with the parameters.

Why do Ethiopian operators publish no host or port?#

Because they genuinely do not: neither Ethio telecom nor Safaricom publishes trunk parameters, and SIP Service does not even have a product page. Everything arrives in the provisioning order from an engineer. Filling in "typical" values is pointless — the trunk will either fail to come up or reject the call.

Can I get an Ethiopian number without a company in Ethiopia?#

From a local operator — practically no: under Directive No. 799/2021 a corporate number requires a letter with the corporate seal, a Business License and a TIN. There is one real workaround — a toll-free +251 800… from an international reseller, forwarded to your PBX's SIP address. It is a shop-window number: incoming calls arrive, outbound calls will not go out through it, and you pay for the minutes.

Will Ethio telecom's cloud PBX work for me?#

Not for connecting to our telephony. "Cloud based hosted IP telephony" puts the numbers into the operator's cloud and provides no outward trunk; phones register to its platform. If it is already installed, the conversation with the operator should be about moving the numbers to SIP Service.

What about the law on telephony over the internet?#

Article 10(3) of Proclamation No. 761/2012 punishes whoever provides telephone services over the internet, and Article 10(4) whoever receives them; later laws did not repeal this provision. A licensed operator is explicitly allowed to run internet telephony, but there is no public guidance on how the rule applies to a corporate PBX located outside the country. Before launching, obtain an opinion from an Ethiopian lawyer and written confirmation from the operator.

Do emergency calls work through such a number?#

No. Ethiopian emergency numbers (911, 991, 907, 939, 945) cannot be dialled through our PBX, and through an international aggregator they do not work at all. Always keep an ordinary phone or a mobile on shift.

Sources#

All links checked on 10.09.2026.

Regulator and law

• Ethiopian Communications Authority — the regulator's website — https://www.eca.et/
• ECA — services section: licences, numbering, short codes — https://www.eca.et/services/
• Communications Service Proclamation No. 1148/2019 (PDF) — https://www.eca.et/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-06-23T12-21-40.305ZCommunications-service-proclamation-1148-2019.pdf
• Telecommunications Licensing Directive No. 792/2021 (PDF) — https://www.eca.et/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-03-24T06-45-04.775ZTelecommunications-Licensing-Directive-No.-792-2021-English.pdf
• Telecommunications Numbering Directive No. 795/2021 (PDF) — https://www.eca.et/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-03-24T06-45-11.282ZTelecommunications-Numbering-Directive-No.-795-2021-English.pdf
• SIM Card Registration Directive No. 799/2021 (PDF) — https://www.eca.et/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-03-24T06-44-00.693ZSIM-Card-Registration-Directive-No.-799-2021English.pdf
• Telecom Fraud Offence Proclamation No. 761/2012, Article 10 (original text in the UNODC SHERLOC database) — https://sherloc.unodc.org/cld/en/legislation/eth/telecom_fraud_offence_proclamation_proclamation_no._7612012_/part_ii/article_10/article_10.html
• ITU Operational Bulletin — Ethiopia, country code +251, national numbering plan — https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/02/02/T02020000440001MSWE.doc

Operators and providers

• Ethio telecom — "SIP Service" announcement with the 280 Birr per line tariff (14.07.2025) — https://t.me/ethio_telecom/8787
• Ethio telecom — Cloud based hosted IP telephony — https://www.ethiotelecom.et/cloud-based-hosted-ip-telephony/
• Ethio telecom — partnership with WebSprix on the cloud PBX (23.11.2023) — https://t.me/ethio_telecom/5228
• Ethio telecom — Fixed Line Service, Business (tariffs) — https://www.ethiotelecom.et/fixed-line-service-business/
• Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia — website — https://www.safaricom.et/
• WebSprix IT Solution PLC — services — https://websprix.com/services
• PBX.IM — SIP Trunking Provider in Ethiopia — https://www.pbx.im/services/sip-trunking-provider/et
• Global Call Forwarding — Ethiopia Virtual Phone Numbers — https://www.globalcallforwarding.com/services/virtual-phone-numbers/ethiopia-virtual-phone-numbers/
• CommPeak — Virtual Phone Numbers for Ethiopia — https://www.commpeak.com/services/virtual-numbers-dids/ethiopia
• DIDWW — SIP Trunking Services in Ethiopia — https://www.didww.com/voice/global-sip-trunking/Ethiopia
• PBX System Ethiopia — a local PBX integrator — https://www.pbxsystemethiopia.com/

Related pages#

• Connecting a provider's number to your PBX — the general steps, trunk modes, network and connection test.
• Setting up SIP phones — how to connect desk phones, DECT and gateways to extensions.