FILE PHOTO: Customers receive assistance from staff members at an Ethio Telecom branch in Addis AbabaINTERNATIONAL – Ethiopia will award two telecoms licences to multinational mobile companies, a senior official said on Friday, in the first detailed announcement of the government’s plans for opening one of the world’s last major closed telecom markets. The government will also offer a minority stake in Ethio Telecom, the monopoly operator, and foreign firms will be invited to bid. Ethiopia is also one of the final frontiers globally for multinational telecoms companies. “SENSIBLE APPROACH”A senior executive at one of the companies interested in entering Ethiopia told Reuters that the market structure announced on Friday is “as expected and very sensible approach”. The government will expect the winning companies to start operations next year, initially using Ethio Telecom’s infrastructure to run their networks, the sources said.

Source: Ethiopian News July 05, 2019 15:22 UTC