# Hormuud Telecom: Somalia's largest phone and mobile money company

> Hormuud Telecom in facts: founding, owners, EVC Plus and WAAFI, network coverage, cables, licences, jobs and its foundation.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/economy/hormuud-telecom/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## How it began

Hormuud Telecom was founded on **2 April 2002** in Mogadishu by a group of Somali shareholders, starting with 16 network sites ([Wikipedia, Hormuud Telecom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuud_Telecom)). It grew during the years when Somalia had no working national government, building its network without a state regulator ([University of Oxford research](https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1ac123d0-39ae-4ad2-8717-23e6b4fedcf2/files/rnz806072v)).

It is privately owned by many Somali shareholders. Sources give very different counts, from about 18,000 to more than 189,000 investors ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuud_Telecom)).

## Size

- **Mobile money:** Hormuud's **EVC Plus** is reported to handle about 155 million transactions worth about $2.7 billion a month, and to pay aid for more than 145 aid groups ([TechCabal, June 2026](https://techcabal.com/2026/06/19/techcabal-daily-somalias-accidental-bank/)).
- **Jobs:** more than 20,000 full- and part-time staff in 2021, about 45 percent of them engineers, which would make it the largest private employer in the country ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuud_Telecom)).
- **Market share:** estimates range from about 39 percent (Omdia, late 2023) to 45 to 47 percent ([Connecting Africa](https://connectingafrica.com/5g-networks/hormuud-telecom-launches-5g-in-somalia); [TS2](https://ts2.tech/en/internet-access-in-somalia-growth-challenges-and-the-future-of-connectivity/)).

## Services

- **EVC Plus** mobile money, used through simple phone codes on any phone. Its first transfers date from 2011 or 2012, depending on the source ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuud_Telecom)).
- **WAAFI**, a smartphone app for payments and international transfers, launched in 2021 (same source).
- Mobile, fixed-line and home and business internet.
- **Phones on credit:** Hormuud planned to finance 100,000 smartphones for low-income users by the end of 2026, with a $19 deposit and no credit history needed ([TechCabal](https://techcabal.com/2026/06/19/techcabal-daily-somalias-accidental-bank/)).

## Network

- **4G** covers more than 70 percent of the population ([TechCabal](https://techcabal.com/2026/06/19/techcabal-daily-somalias-accidental-bank/)).
- **5G** launched in 2024 in Mogadishu, Kismayo, Galkayo, Baidoa, Dhusamareeb, Beledweyne, Afgoye, Merca, Dhobley and other towns ([Connecting Africa](https://connectingafrica.com/5g-networks/hormuud-telecom-launches-5g-in-somalia)).
- **Undersea cables:** Hormuud owns the Somali segments of the PEACE cable, 40 percent of the Somali landing of DARE1, and a share of G2A ([National Communications Authority](https://mail.nca.gov.so/what-we-do/submarine-cables)).

## Licences

- In February 2021 the Central Bank gave EVC Plus Somalia's **first mobile money licence** ([VOA](https://www.voanews.com/a/africa_somalia-issues-first-license-mobile-money-service/6202644.html)).
- Hormuud holds spectrum licence NCA-MFSL-003/2023 and is listed as compliant by the National Communications Authority ([NCA, licence register](https://mail.nca.gov.so/services/licenses)).
- The GSMA re-certified EVC Plus for secure mobile money in August 2025 ([Garowe Online](https://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/somalia/somalia-hormuud-telecom-re-certified-by-gsma-for-secure-mobile-money-services)).

## The foundation

The **Hormuud Salaam Foundation**, set up in 2009 with Salaam Somali Bank, gave more than $5 million to COVID-19 response in 2020, built Somalia's first public oxygen plant in 2021, and gave $1 million for flood relief in 2023 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuud_Telecom)).

## Why it matters

A company built by Somali shareholders after 1991 now carries much of the country's daily payments and data. See [Mobile money in Somalia](/en/economy/mobile-money/) and [Telecoms and internet](/en/economy/telecoms/).

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