- The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) in a statement has revealed that Ethiopia will reopen bidding for its second telecoms operator licence this month.
- The regulatory agency of the Communication sector said that the government is launching the bid to international operators after seeing the encouraging response of the previous bidding process.
The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) in a statement has revealed that
Ethiopia will reopen bidding for its second telecoms operator licence this month.
The regulatory agency of the Communication sectorsaid that the government is launching the bid to international operators after seeing the encouraging response of the previous bidding process. The Government of Ethiopia, through ECA and the Ministry of Finance, proposes to launch the second new telecommunications license in August 2021, said an official statement from ECA.The statement added that the Request for Proposal (RFP) to re-bid the second license is being finalized and will include integration of Mobile Financial Services in the scope of the license. The ECA, has advised all interested telecommunications operators to stay tuned in for additional information by the Authority on the launch date of the bid process.
After a rigorous process, Ethiopia awarded one license to a consortium led by Kenya’s Safaricom, the Global Partnership for Ethiopia in May this year. The offer finalised was around $850 million and a commitment to invest ten times that amount over the next decade. The Ethiopian government has also cleared the way for Safaricom to introduce its popular M-Pesa the mobile phone-based financial services in the telco’s licence offered in May. The State monopoly Ethio Telecom, also launched a new mobile financial service called Telebirr in May, which saw four million users within weeks.
According to reports, the opening of the first telecom license led to a significant rise in foreign investment inflow to Ethiopia touching nearly 4 billion FDI in the previous fiscal that ended Jul 7.
