France's Orange submits interest for stake in Ethio Telecom - official (updated)
20/07/2021 12:44
(Adds details)
ADDIS ABABA, July 20 (Reuters) - France's telecom firm
Orange ORAN.PA has submitted an expression of interest to
participate in the ongoing partial privatisation of Ethiopia's
Ethio Telecom firm, Ethiopia's ambassador to Paris said on
Twitter on Tuesday.
Henok Teferra Shawl said in a tweet Orange had "formally
submitted interest to participate in the partial privatisation
of @ethiotelecom."
Last month, Ethiopia launched a tendering process for the
proposed sell-off of a 40% stake in the state-owned carrier
Ethio Telecom to private investors, part of the government's
broader plan to open up the Horn of Africa country's economy.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NW0A9
The telecoms business in Ethiopia, a country with a
population of more than 100 million people and one of the
region's biggest economies, is considered lucrative and is
expected to draw significant investor interest.
As part of the process to open up the telecoms sector in May
authorities handed out the first private operator licence to a
consortium led by Kenya's Safaricom SCOM.NR , Vodafone VOD.L ,
and Japan's Sumitomo 8053.T .
Ethio Telecom reported an 18.4% rise in full-year revenue to
end-June to 56.5 billion birr ($1.29 billion). urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2OP1RZ
(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Elias Biryabarema,
Editing by Louise Heavens)
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