Johannesburg – Africa’s largest telecoms firm, MTN, was considering having another go at becoming a mobile operator in Ethiopia after losing to Kenya’s Safaricom over a week ago, said the group on Friday.
Ethiopia’s communications regulator awarded Safaricom, a member of a consortium led by Vodafone, the parent company of Vodacom, MTN’s rival, with a licence to operate telecom services in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country.
MTN chief executive Ralph Mupita told shareholders during the company’s 26th annual general meeting (AGM) held virtually on Friday that MTN would apply its mind should the Ethiopian government reissue the licence.
“There are views that the Ethiopian authorities will reissue the licence with mobile money, and if they do that and do that and in a relatively short period of time, we will apply our minds on the issue, we have not made a firm decision on that,” said Mupita.
The Vodafone consortium is reported to have bid $850-million (R11.7 billion) while MTN which made a bid in partnership with the Silk Road Fund from China placed a $600-million bid.
Mupita said while MTN was saddened by not being named winning bidder, the group remained comfortable with its bid.
