Safaricom to know fate of Ethiopia licence by May
The outcome of Safaricom’s bid for an operator licence in Ethiopia, one of the world’s last major closed telecoms markets, will be determined by May this year. Ethiopia has committed to awarding two telecoms licences to multinational mobile companies in May this year. The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) director general Balcha Reba has said that interested bidders have until April 5 to submit their bids, which will be assessed within one-month and the results announced by May. Safaricom which had expressed an interest in a consortium with Vodafone and Vodacom, has signed an agreement to borrow up to $500 million (Sh55.7 billion) from America’s sovereign wealth fund US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to fund the Ethiopia expansion if successful.
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