- In a significant policy change, The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) Ethiopia’s central bank has drafted a Bill that will amend its national payments law to allow operators like Safaricom to introduce its M-Pesa in the market.
Ethiopia so far has one of the world’s most closed telecoms markets that did not give permits to foreign operators to offer mobile financial services. A consortium led by Safaricom last year won the first private mobile telephony licence, but did not have a permit for mobile financial services such as M-Pesa. In a significant policy change, The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) Ethiopia’s central bank has drafted a Bill that will amend its national payments law to allow operators like Safaricom to introduce its M-Pesa in the market.
Since Safaricom pioneered Mobile financial services with M-Pesa in 2007 in Kenya, it had become an integral part of African telecoms operators’ businesses plan, offering people an alternative to weak banks. As M-Pesa has done in Kenya, it has the potential to transform Ethiopia’s economy by making money transfer simple and easy.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had unveiled an ambitious plan in 2018 to liberalise Ethiopia’s telecoms sector to usher in a modern, digital economy. Ethiopia’s 110 million population offers a potential market for the telecom sector. State monopoly Ethio Telecom, introduced a new mobile financial service called Telebirr in May last year, that saw four million users within weeks. The Ethiopia government proposes to sell a 45 percent stake in Ethio Telecom, part of a broader liberalisation plan including the auctioning of two new full service telecoms licences. Ethio Telecom with its subscriber base of 58.7 million, the biggest single-country customer base of any operator in Africa makes it very attractive for investors. Safaricom has been eyeing the Ethiopian market for year lured by the country’s huge market.
Read Also: https://trendsnafrica.com/privatisation-of-ethio-telecom-deferred/
https://trendsnafrica.com/ethio-telecoms-revenue-surges-to-us-1-29-billion/
