Ethiopian regulator says tender for third international licence to be issued in June
The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) is to launch a tender for a second international telecoms licence in June, according to Reuters. More details will be made available prior to the unspecified launch date.
The Ethiopian government’s strategy of introducing two operators to compete with the state-owned incumbent, Ethio Telecom, has not run smoothly. Safaricom Ethiopia, which is part owned by Kenya’s Safaricom bought one full-service licence, but there were no viable takers for the third licence when they were on offer in May 2021.
The new plan was launched to offer the second licence again in January 2022: applications had to be with the Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) by 20 December 2021, but it was thought that the armed conflict in northern Tigray was scaring potential investors away.
Selling a stake in the state incumbent
In February the regulator reiterated plans to sell a stake in Ethio Telecom, raising the maximum on offer to 45%, up from the 40% previously stated. Ethio has at least 70 million subscribers and has been rolling out new services including the mobile financial service Telebirr.
Meanwhile, Safaricom is making progress and will roll out its M-Pesa mobile money service over the next few months.