Ethiopia’s efforts to liberalize its economy has led to opening up space in its telecom sector. The licenses will open up the countries telecoms industry, which is considered the big prize in the country’s push to liberalize the economy. There are over 110 million people in the country — a market that both Safaricom and MTN hope to tap into.
The Horn of Africa’s finance ministry said on Monday it had received two bids, from South Africa’s MTN and a consortium including Kenya’s Safaricom (Vodafone and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp are part of the consortium). The company estimated in 2019 that it would have to pay about $1 billion for a new licence.
The liberalization will also involve the sale of a 45% stake in Ethio Telecom, which has said it also plans to launch mobile money transfer services.
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According to Reuters, who spoke to Brook Taye, a senior advisor at the finance ministry, it will take Eithopia’s government at least a week for the winners of the licenses to be announced. He said;
“We will select the winners after the technical and financial evaluation is completed,” Balcha Reba, director-general of the Ethiopian Communications Authority, said at a news conference on Monday. The government may award one or two licenses and has the right to cancel the bidding process, he added.
Broke said that other countries like Orange and Etisalat were more interested in buying a stake in Ethio Telecoms than starting up their own telecom network from scratch.
The Ethiopian government has however forbid the bid winners who will secure full operating licenses from operating any mobile money services.
