The Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) announced that the two African telecom giants namely MTN and the Vodafone/ Vodacom consortium have submitted their bids for full telecom licenses in the country.

In its press release issued earlier this week, the ECA announced the close of bid submission period for the two new nationwide telecommunications services licenses that had been opened from the publication of Authority’s Request for Proposals (RFP) on November 27, 2020.

Commenting on the close of bid submissions, ECA Director-General Balcha Reba (Engineer) said that the Authority is delighted to have had interest from established telecom operators from around the world.

“Commensurate with this unprecedented opportunity, including from Africa’s two telecommunications ‘giants,’ MTN- the largest mobile operator on the continent, and the Vodafone/ Vodacom consortium including Kenya’s largest telecoms provider, Safaricom.”

The director-general acknowledged the diligence and commitment from all participants in meeting the strict requirements set out in the RFP and for their engagement throughout the process. “The ECA will be looking for the best all-round partners from the bids submitted and we are confident that competitive bidding will ensure that Ethiopia gets the best deal.”

In responding to the RFP, each bidder had to comply with strict technical qualification criteria to demonstrate the company had the technical expertise required to manage a license of this size in Ethiopia. There were also strict financial qualification criteria to show each bidder had the resources to manage a license of this scale.

Following an extensive review of the final qualifying submissions, the Authority will select the winner of the two licenses and a formal public announcement will be made after the technical and financial evaluation is completed, it was learnt.