Ethiopia plans to sell a 5% stake in its state-run telecommunications firm to its citizens as part of measures to break up the monopoly, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting said on Monday, quoting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The sale of the stakes is part of Ethiopia’s plans to open up one of the world’s last closed telecoms markets in the nation of around 110 million people.
Fana said the government will retain a 55% stake in Ethio Telecom, with the remainder going to international companies.
In June, the telecoms regulator said it had received 12 bids for the two telecoms licences the government plans to award to multinational companies. South Africa’s MTN Group and Vodacom Group are among the bidders.
The regulator has not given a deadline for when it will award the licences. — Reported by Giulia Paravicini, with writing by George Obulutsa, (c) 2020 Reuters