Safaricom is considering venturing in Ethiopia’s fast-growing mobile market.
Last week, Ethiopia hinted at offering the country’s telecoms market to foreign investment for the first time in history. It said it will be awarding two permits in April 2020.
Ethiopia has given interested companies up to November 22 to submit their bids. Safaricom has expressed an interest in the deal.
The company's interim CEO Michael Joseph has said they are consulting over the same, and if accepted, they will either buy shares in the State-owned Ethio Telecom or start a new one from the scratch.
"We don’t know at this stage. We will decide after the consultation period," Mr Joseph said in reference to next month’s deadline as quoted by Business Daily
Besides Safaricom, other interested telecommunication companies include, Vodafone, MTN, Orange, Etisalat and Zain.
Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) through a statement said they will offer the two licences through a competitive process.
"The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) intends to issue two additional licences for telecommunications services operators through a competitive process pursuant to the Communications Services Proclamation of Ethiopia," the regulator said in a statement quoted by BD.
Ethiopia has emerged to be one of the African countries were investors are much heading to due to its large population.