Safaricom Gets Shortlisted for Ethiopian Telco-License bid

Safaricom gets shortlisted to bid for one of the two Ethiopian telecoms licenses that will be offered this year.

The Ethiopian Communications Authority has cut the list down from 12 companies that had expressed interest in acquiring the licenses.

Safaricom has signed an agreement to borrow up to Sh55.7 billion from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to fund the Ethiopia expansion.

Firms will be required to submit their technical and financial bids by April 5, compared with a previous deadline of March 5.

“There are about five to six consortia who are qualified to bid. Bids are due to be submitted in April,” said Safaricom Chairman Michael Joseph in an interview.

The Horn of Africa nation’s telecoms industry is considered the big prize due to large market size, which serves more than 100 million people.

Ethiopia is pressing ahead with the auction of new licenses and the sale of a 45% stake in state monopoly Ethio Telecoms, despite a military conflict in the northern Tigray region.

Winners will be given full operating licenses but they will not be allowed to offer mobile-based financial services such as M-Pesa.

They will also be required to set up their network infrastructure such as cellphone towers.

The Ethiopian Communications Authority announced that it had received expressions of interest from scores of firms, including telcos and non-telecom operators by June 22.

They included the Safaricom consortium, Etisalat, Axian, MTN, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company, and Telkom SA.

Others were Liquid Telecom, Snail Mobile, Kandu Global Communications, and Electromecha International Projects.

The Ethiopian Communications Authority is yet to disclose which of these firms have been dropped from bidding.