Ethiopia halted the sale of shares of its state-owned operator Ethio Telecom to foreign companies, to prioritise domestic retail investors instead, reported Bloomberg. The government wanted to sell 45% of Ethio Telecom to foreign investors in a move to keep the operator competitive against Safaricom. Eid added that Ethiopia will push to sell a 10% stake to retail investors who are “showing appetite. But a sale to foreign investors is not off the table as the process will resume after the company lists on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange that starts operations in October. According to Bloomberg, Ethio Telecom had 74.6 million subscribers in January and reported 11 billion birr ($191.6 million) profit its H1 results.

Source: Ethiopian News June 13, 2024 11:44 UTC