Tag: Ethio Telecom

Orange expresses interest for stake in Ethio Telecom

Frank

ETHIOPIA – French multinational telecommunications company Orange has submitted an expression of interest to participate in the ongoing partial privatization of Ethiopia’s Ethio Telecom firm for an undisclosed value, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Paris has revealed. Henok Teferra Shawl said in a tweet Orange had “formally submitted an interest to participate in the partial privatization of @ethiotelecom.” In June 2021, Ethiopia launched a tendering process for the proposed sell-off of a 40% stake in the state-owned carrier Ethio Telecom to private investors, part of the government’s broader plan to open up the Horn…

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Ethio Telecom and Ericsson join hands to deploy 4G network in South West region of Ethiopia

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ETHIOPIA – Telecommunication company Ethio Telecom has partnered with Ericsson to expand its 4G services into the South West region of Ethiopia. According to a press release from the Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company, the Ethiopian service provider will use Ericsson Radio System products for this deployment of which the core expansion will be carried out in Ethio Telecom’s regional data centres and those in Addis Ababa. “We are excited to collaborate with Ericsson in expanding our 4G/LTE Advanced service. This will bring high-speed internet to the South West…

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Ethiopia moves to sell 40% stake in Ethio Telecom

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ETHIOPIA – The government of Ethiopia has launched a tendering process for the proposed sell-off of a 40% stake in state-owned telco Ethio Telecom to private investors, part of its broader plan to open up the economy. Interested investors can now submit expressions of interest (EOIs), the first of a series of stages that will lead to picking of a successful bidder, Zinabu Yirga, Deputy Director of Public Enterprises Holding, and Administration Agency told a press conference in the capital, Addis Ababa. “The government wants state-owned enterprises to be competitive and…

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Ethio Telecom opens new Huawei-built modular data center

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ETHIOPIA –  Ethiopian telecommunication company Ethio Telecom, has launched what it says is the biggest Tier III-ready modular data centre in Ethiopia. The incumbent operator said that the new data centre, in the Gola Sefer district of the capital, Addis Ababa, was supplied by Huawei. “The newly built data centre will firstly serve existing service provision such as mobile money and business support systems, and the extra capacity could be used for new business such as colocation and cloud service in the future,” said Ethio Telecom. Chen Mingliang, CEO of…

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Safaricom gets 56% stake in Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium

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ETHIOPIA – Mobile network operator Safaricom,  has raised its controlling stake in Global Partnership for Ethiopia, the consortium that has made a bid for one of two telecoms licences in Kenya’s northern neighbour, to 56 percent from the 51 percent. The details of the consortium’s latest ownership structure were disclosed by South Africa-based Vodacom Group which owns a 34.9 percent stake in the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed telco. “The consortium is 56 percent owned by Safaricom, 6 percent by Vodacom, 25 percent by Sumitomo the Japanese conglomerate and 10 percent by CDC, the…

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Ethio Telecom launches mobile money service TeleBirr

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ETHIOPIA – Telecommunication company Ethio Telecom has announced the roll out of a mobile money service TeleBirr, which will be  available to its subscribers from May 2021. The telco has made the move to consolidate its market dominance before the entry of new operators into the country. The TeleBirr mobile money service will allow customers to send, receive and store money using their mobile phones and customers will be able to pay for goods, services and utility bills, as well as receive money from people in the diaspora, access loans…

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It’s all systems go as Ethiopia opens telecoms licence bid

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ETHIOPIA – The bid for the long-awaited Ethiopian telecoms operator licence opens today and interested mobile operators have a month to submit their proposals. The publication of the bid documents paves the way for the issuance of two licences as Ethiopia, for the first time, opens its telecoms sector to the private sector. The Ethiopian Communications Authority last week held a conference with the bidders before floating the final bid and bidders were briefed on the ICT policy and the digital economy of the country, mobile and financial services, and investment laws.…

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Ethiopian Communicatons Authority shortlists six firms for telco licence

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ETHIOPIA – The Ethiopian Communications Authority has shortlisted a consortia of 12 companies that had expressed interest in entering the country’s telecommunications market, one of them being Kenya’s telecom giant Safaricom. The firms will be required to submit their technical and financial bids by April 5, compared with a previous deadline of March 5. The Ethiopian Communications Authority announced that it had received expressions of interest from scores of firms, including telcos and non-telecom operators by June 22 which included the Safaricom consortium, Etisalat, Axian, MTN, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company,…

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United Kingdom’s CDC Group targets US$1b of African investments in 2021

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AFRICA – CDC Group, a development finance institution owned by the UK government is planning about US$1 billion in Africa investments this year in sectors including infrastructure and finance and is part of a consortium considering a bid for a new telecommunications license in Ethiopia. The U.K. development-finance institution is matching a similar outlay made on the continent in 2020, Chief Executive Officer Nick O’Donohoe said in an interview with Bloomberg.  CDC will target markets such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria, while also considering putting money into more remote, frontier…

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Ethio-Telecom to invest in the country’s financial sector

Frank

ETHIOPIA – Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers has amended the Ethio – Telecom establishment regulation to boost the telecom giant’s operation besides its traditional telecommunication service. Capital newspaper has reported that the regulation amendment mainly targets to allow the state telecom operator to invest in the financial sector. Currently, the government is in the process to partly selling minority shares of Ethio Telecom to foreign and local investors, while retaining majority shares in the telco. Financial experts said that the Council of Ministers decision passed on January 8, would not contradict…

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