Ethiopia awards telecom licence to Safaricom-led consortium
Al Jazeera
The consortium, which includes Vodafone and Vodacom, paid $850m for the licence, officials say.
Ethiopia’s telecommunications regulator has awarded an operating licence to a consortium led by Kenya’s Safaricom and Japan’s Sumitomo, according to officials, a move that will end the state’s monopoly over its stunted telecoms sector. The consortium, which includes Vodacom, Vodafone and British development finance agency CDC Group, paid $850m for the licence, Brook Taye, a senior adviser at the finance ministry, said on Saturday. South Africa’s MTN had also bid for a licence, but its bid of $600m was deemed too low.More Related News