The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) has announced that it has awarded an operating licence to the consortium Global Partnership for Ethiopia, which is led by Safaricom and includes Vodafone, Vodacom, Sumitomo and UK development finance agency CDC Group. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the consortium won the licence after submitting a financial bid of USD 850 million.
The Council of Ministers unanimously decided to let the ECA grant the licence to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia, which offered the highest licensing fee and a very solid investment case, Ahmed said via his Twitter handle.
ECA director general Balcha Reba said the award marks a new era in the country's telecommunications development, which would benefit all Ethiopians. Reba said the consortium plans to invest up to USD 8.5 billion in infrastructure among other areas, adding that it was expected to create up to 1.5 million jobs.
The operator will begin with 4G services, Reba said. Ethiopia will soon open a bid for the remaining licence, said Reba, adding that MTN’s offer of USD 600 million was deemed too low. Safaricom in 2019 had estimated that it would have to pay about USD 1 billion for a new licence.
Ethiopia is also preparing to sell a 45 percent stake in state-run mobile operator Ethio Telecom. Earlier this month, the operator launched a mobile phone-based financial service. Only Ethio Telecom will be able to offer mobile financial services for the moment as foreign operators are currently barred by law from participating. However, the prime minister said that mobile financial services would be opened up to competition after a year. ECA had earlier listed twelve firms including Safaricom last November as among firms that had expressed interest in entering the country’s telecommunications market.
