Two companies submitted proposals :
MTN Group and the Global partnership for Ethiopia (Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, Sumitomo Corporation, and the CDC Group;
Global partnership for Ethiopia’s bid was worth $850M while MTN Group that has lost put in $600M.
Ethiopia will launch another process to seek another operator .
Press Statement from Ethiopia Prime Minister’s Office
Among the key activities the government has been implementing in the last three years as part of the Home Grown Economic Reform Agenda is enabling private sector participation in State Owned Enterprise holdings. One of these is the long overdue work of permitting foreign companies with experience and potential in provision of telecom services. Accordingly, per the call made by the Ethiopian Communications Authority for expressions of interest, 12 companies expressed interest to participate in the bid. Nine of these companies have purchased the bid document. And Two technical and financial proposals were submitted to the Technical Committee established by the Ministry of Finance. These were by:
- Global partnership for Ethiopia (Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, Sumitomo Corporation, and the CDC Group; and
- MTN International (Mauritius) Limited
Photo Courtesy: PM office Ethiopia
After in-depth discussions by the Council of Ministers, the council proposed that considering the first company submitted a bid offer of USD 850 million (more than the $ 650 million offered by the second company); that it will create jobs for 1.5 million citizens and considering more than USD 8 billion in domestic investment will be activated, Global Partnership for Ethiopia has been selected as having the potential to provide high-quality telecom services to the people of Ethiopia.
The Council of Ministers also unanimously decided to expedite tasks that would enable the issuance of the second telecom license through the Ethiopian Communication Authority.
