The Ethiopian Communication Authority (ECA) plans to issue an Expression of Interest for a third telecom provider in February 2023.
ECA’s Director General, Balcha Reba, speaking on this, said,
“Preparations are being made to float an expression of interest to bring potential investors who can buy the third license or the second new full-service license.”
How Ethiopian Issue The Third Telecom Provider License
The authority will award the license through a competitive procurement process during the first quarter of 2023. This will begin by posting an Expression of Interest at the beginning of February and leaving it up for a month while it reviews responses in March.
The applicants will also provide mobile services after meeting the requirements of the National Bank of Ethiopia.
Back Story
Remember that the Ethiopian government in October 2018, said it would reform the telecommunications sector. Eventually, in June 2020, the government requested proposals for two additional telecom licenses. While it selected one telco, it canceled the other.
Eventually, in June 2020, the government requested proposals for two additional telecom licenses. While it selected one telco, it canceled the other.
Also in May 2021, the ECA awarded Ethiopia’s first ever competitively-tendered Unified Telecommunications Operator License to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia (‘License A”), Safaricom.
For those who do not know, Safaricom Telecommunications is a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation (Japan), Vodafone Group (UK), CDC Group, and Vodacom Group (South Africa).
After a while, the ECA issued a Request for Proposal (REP) on September 28, 2021, for a second license. However, in December 2021, it terminated the process when it announced that bidders had temporarily withdrawn their bids because it had received “concerns and requests from multiple prospective bidders to delay the process.”
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