Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO, has confirmed that Safaricom has put in a bid for one of the two telecom licenses Ethiopia has made available. 

Since Ethiopia announced it is opening up its telecom market in June 2019, several telecom giants have been eyeing the Ethiopian market. Currently, the government-owned Ethio Telecom is the sole telecom services provider to the over 100 million people of Ethiopia.

Mr. Ndegwa maintains Ethiopia is "probably one of the few remaining market opportunities for telecom firms."

The Ethiopian government invited bidders for two telecom licenses last month.

Each of the two telecom license bids Ethiopia has put forward has been estimated to be worth around $1.5 billion. In February, it has been reported that Safaricom is looking for partners for Ethiopia's billion-dollar bid. The CEO, however, has recently made no mention of such partnership.

Other telecom providers speculated to looking to invest include MTN, Orange, and Zimbabwe’s richest man Strive Masiyiwa's Econet.