Safaricom can now tap into the lucrative Ethiopian market after the country awarded an operating licence to a consortium that is led by the Kenyan telco.
This paves the way for the company’s expansion into Ethiopia, which has massive opportunities for growth owing to its over 112 million population.
This comes following a decision by the Ethiopian government to award the bid for a second nationwide telecommunication licence to a consortium that includes Safaricom and parent companies Vodacom Group of South Africa and Vodafone Group of UK.
“The Ministry of Finance and the Ethiopian Communications Authority warmly welcome the award of one new telecommunication licence to the Global Partnership for Ethiopia, a private consortium of Safaricom (Kenya), Vodafone Group (UK), Vodacom Group (South Africa), DCD Group (UK) and Sumitomo Corporation (Japan) and Development Finance Cooperation (DFC) today,” said the country’s minister of finance in a statement yesterday.
According to senior government officials who spoke to news agencies, the consortium placed a USD850 million (Sh85 billion) bid to bag the licence.