Ethiopia Signal Telecom Firms
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Authority has floated Request for Proposals that leads to pick two private telecom service providers. The bidding will be open for the next three months, after which the winners are licensed by April 2021, according to Eyob Tekalign (PhD), state minister of Finance.
Government decided to privatize 40pct of the state monopolized telecom sector for private firms, as part of the ongoing economic reform initiative over the last two years. A national privatization committee has been through the technical details, to facilitate the partial privatization of the sector for two nationwide full-service telecommunication licenses. Some 12 foreign telecom firms have already shown interest.
The privatization move will increase the number of telecom operators to three, including the state owned ethio telecom, which will own 55pct. Shares will be floated for the general public of Ethiopians, for the rest 5pct of the telecom sector.