Ethiopian govt offers 40% of Ethio Telecom to international operators, 5% to public

Ethiopia's Ministry of Finance has decided to offer a 5 percent stake in Ethio Telecom to the public, with a cap on the number of shares an individual can buy, reports Addis Fortune. The minority stake in the telecom company will be sold to thousands of Ethiopians. Forty percent of the company will be privatised to one of the international telecom operators,  and the government will retain a majority share. 

Ethio Telecom has hired KPMG East Africa to conduct an asset valuation and a second draft report on the work, which was submitted a month ago. Once the ministry hires a transaction adviser, it will undertake legal due diligence, identify bidder selection criteria, support the bid preparation, and assist in partner selection and negotiation.

Ethio Telecom is one of the highest-earning state-owned enterprises. During the first half of this fiscal year, the company generated over ETB 22 billion in revenue, of which USD 73 million was in foreign currency. 

In the reporting period, it paid ETB 3.9 billion and ETB 2 two billion to the government in the form of taxes and dividends, respectively. By the first half of the current fiscal year, the number of telecom service users in the country reached 45.6 million, up 10.9 percent from the same period the previous year. Of the total customer base, 44 million use mobile devices, 22.7 million use data and 1 million fixed-line users. Telecom penetration has reached 45.4 percent.