The deadline to provide a Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the second private telecom service is once again extended by a month after the Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) put forth the notice nearly three months ago.
While the instructions for the requests will remain unchanged, an extension of the deadline is expected to provide investors additional time to prepare comprehensive submissions, according to officials.
They believe the initiative is one of the efforts to transition the telecom sector into a competitive market structure and strengthen private sector growth.
Challenging the 128-year monopoly of state-owned telecom service, Safaricom is the first private telecom operator in Ethiopia after getting the first international telecom license with 850 million dollars.
Having launched its telecom services in 2022, it has garnered over five million subscribers as it nears its first-year mark since launching. Over two months ago, Safaricom launched M-pesa, a mobile money service. The service has over 50 million customers across seven countries while recording over 314 billion dollars worth of transactions a year.
