The Safaricom-led consortium recently received Ethiopia’s first private national telecoms licence, according to the media. Nearly three years after the Prime Minister’s announcement to open Ethiopia’s telecommunications sector, the permit has been granted to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia.
The Safaricom consortium includes Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, Sumitomo Corporation, and the CDC Group with a bid offering of $850 million. The offer beat MTN’s coalition to acquire Ethiopia’s first private national telecommunications licence.
In February 2021, the Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) denied Safaricom’s claims to have been shortlisted for the list of bidders for an operator’s licence. Their statements said the regulator had explained that it did not receive proposals and there was no shortlist. It is unclear if this was a smokescreen or not.
Ethiopia received sustained pressure from the World Bank and other international organisations for initial plans that included issuing two licences. However, those plans were suspended in April 2021 when Etisalat of the UAE and France-based Orange, the two initial bidders, backed out.
Council Ministers of Ethiopia continue to plan to issue another licence and have unanimously decided to expedite tasks that would enable the issuance of the second licence. Currently, the country has a population of over 114 million people and is the second-largest in Africa. As the telecommunication market is untapped, the licence is considered a massive win for the consortium. Also, the country is currently entangled in a six-month-old conflict in its northern Tigray region, which might be challenging for the consortium. It faces disputes in Sudan and Egypt over border territory and the massive dam on the Blue Nile River.