Global Partnership for Ethiopia Group Awarded Nationwide Telecom License

Addis Ababa May 22/2021 (ENA) The Council of Ministers has given a green light today to the Ethiopian Communications Authority to grant a new nationwide telecom license for Global Partnership for Ethiopia (a consortium of telecom operators made of Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, Sumitomo Corporation, and the CDC) Group.

The Global Partnership for Ethiopia group offered the highest licensing fee and a very solid investment case, it was learned.

After an in-depth discussion, the Council of Ministers decided to grant the license to Global Partnership for Ethiopia by considering its huge experience in the sector to render quality services and its advantages to the Ethiopia economy, the council stated.

Global Partnership for Ethiopia is expected to investment 8 billion USD in the sector and create more than 1.5 million jobs for citizens.  

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote on his Facebook that the unanimously made decision is historic and thanked all that have taken part in this and for pulling off a very transparent and effective process.

"With over 8 billion USD total investment, this will be the single largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Ethiopia to date," the premier added.  

The government of Ethiopia has been working for the past three years to privatize public enterprises as part of its economic reform programs.

Meticulous and time consuming preparatory activities were undertaken over the past years in order to find capable foreign companies in the sector.  

Accordingly, based on the call made by the Ethiopian Communications Authority on May 21, 2020, some 12 foreign telecom companies expressed interest to take part in the bidding process.

Out of the 12 companies, 9 had purchased bidding document, the press release of the Office of the Prime Minster stated.  

Based on the scrutiny made by a technical committee at the Ministry of Finance, Global Partnership for Ethiopia (a consortium of telecom operators made of Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, Sumitomo Corporation, and the CDC Group), and MTN International (Mauritius) Limited fulfilled the appropriate requirements.