News Link: Ethiopia Telecom Auction In December – By News Desk
A minimal portion of Telecom Section of Ethio Telecom – the country’s Telecom provider is to be auctioned in December 2020. A spokesperson from Finance ministry said that the second company from the separated portion of Ethio Telecom will be floated. The process will start in 1st December.
Even though Ethiopia is having internal issues with its northern portion Tigray, it wont affect the auction process he added.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s plan is to liberalise Telecom sector to bring development into the country. Telecom is one of the important most sectors of the country. Opening up the telecom sector will bring in more job opportunities and business platforms he foresees.
Ethiopia is one among few countries that have a closed nature of Telecom sector.
On an interview with Reuters, Senior Finance Advisor Brook Taye told that problems of Tigray Military offensives will not affect the project even by a single day. Even though, experts from industry are partially sceptical about the smooth sailing of it.
As a matter of fact, the Telecom liberalization had many hurdles and it got stopped many times including the last one in April.
Ethiopian Communications Authority Director General Balcha Reba says two new licenses will be issued soon. Government has a plan and expecting bidders to quote the best price for the licenses. Also there is a concern shared by experts inside that as Major cities like Mekele and Axum are in control of rebel forces Tigray, the offer amount by the bidders may become lower than expected.
Main bidders who showed interest includes Etisalat of UAE, MTN of South Africa, Orange of France. From December 1st, government expects a time frame of three months to get the tenders submitted by bidders.
Ethio Telecom had all the internal arrangements done for getting separated into multiple organizations – an official said. Nine Months is the expected time of completion of the total process.
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News Link: Ethiopia Telecom Auction In December – By News Desk
