Ethiopian telecoms sell-off flops in wake of economic and security concerns
Investors worried about opacity, restrictions and political instability
Ethiopia’s sale of two telecoms licences, billed by the government as the “deal of the century”, has flopped, dealing a blow to the push to market capitalism championed by Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister.
Two bidders put in offers for telecoms operating licences in the fast-growing but politically unstable east African country of 110m people, the biggest remaining telecoms monopoly in the world, the finance ministry said. The sale was supposed to be the centrepiece of the country’s privatisation drive.
“The telecoms bid is monumental in showing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has remained consistent in the past three years in his vision of driving economic growth through technology,” said Billene Seyoum, Abiy’s spokesperson.
But potential participants from Europe, the Gulf, India and China stayed away. Some complained about the opacity and restrictive nature of a process that banned new participants from offering mobile-money services or bringing in specialised telecoms tower operators to build new infrastructure.
MTN, the South African operator, and a consortium of Kenya’s Safaricom, Vodafone and Vodacom bid for licences. The amount they offered is expected to be disclosed later this month.
Other companies that had shown initial interest, including Etisalat, Orange, Saudi Telecom Company, Axian and Telkom SA, did not bid for licences that the government had said could raise billions of dollars.
As well as economic concerns associated with an overvalued currency and difficulty of repatriating profits, some potential bidders were thought to be concerned about political risk. The government is fighting a protracted conflict in the northern Tigray region and Abiy faces an election in June amid insecurity in much of the country.
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Re: Ethiopian telecoms sell-off flops in wake of economic and security concerns (Financial Times)
The world is dealing the child with reality that he cant handle; it is feeling like child abuse.
PPs collective leadership cant just be limited to security military and the nine governors, it definitely needs to have the Governor of the National Bank in the mix.
PPs collective leadership cant just be limited to security military and the nine governors, it definitely needs to have the Governor of the National Bank in the mix.
Re: Ethiopian telecoms sell-off flops in wake of economic and security concerns (Financial Times)
Opacity right next to political risk can only mean...
1)Stolen transitional roadmap!
2)A nonexistent PP program!
Heck, the collapse of the valuation suggestions are much deeper than the face lift ala a collective leadership that i was suggestion. Implicit in opacity is a suggestion at a holistic look at the country's political issues and birth defects.
National Bank perhaps fuming at this decision because they were counting on this money to re-lubricate the economy. This is a huge mess!
1)Stolen transitional roadmap!
2)A nonexistent PP program!
Heck, the collapse of the valuation suggestions are much deeper than the face lift ala a collective leadership that i was suggestion. Implicit in opacity is a suggestion at a holistic look at the country's political issues and birth defects.
National Bank perhaps fuming at this decision because they were counting on this money to re-lubricate the economy. This is a huge mess!
Re: Ethiopian telecoms sell-off flops in wake of economic and security concerns (Financial Times)
Ethiopia is a bad risk for investment under the galla PM and his ethnic killing squad.