In an effort to venture into the Ethiopian market, Safaricom has opened talks with undisclosed investors to form a consortium. The consortium, Safaricom hopes, will bid for one of two Ethiopian telecoms licenses expected to be made available in April this year.
The company said it has been "racing to assemble the group of investors" ahead of its Ethiopia bid. Safaricom is seeking a consortium because of the high entry costs likely to be over $1 billion.
“We have not made any decisions yet as the constitution of the consortium has not been finalized,” Michael Joseph, acting Safaricom CEO, said speaking to the Kenyan news outlet Business Daily on Monday. “It’s a consortium because it’s a big investment. I cannot provide names”.
In a recent move to open up its economic space, Ethiopia plans to award telecom permits later this year, opening its over 110 million population telecom market to foreign investment for the first time ever.
Source: Business Daily (Kenya)
