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The proceeds from the partial privatization of Ethio-Telcom will be deposited in the Industrial Development Fund account opened by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), The reporter has learned.
While the allocation modalities of the fund will be decided on the basis of a directive from the Ministry, it is expected that it will be used to develop new and existing industrial enterprises on the basis of government industrial policy.
“Under the country’s privatization law, all proceeds from privatization will go to the industrial development fund,” said Brook Taye (PhD), senior adviser to the Minister of Finance.
There was little hope among a few executives that a certain amount of the privatization proceeds would go to further capitalizing Ethio-Telecom or undertaking projects aimed at expanding infrastructure.
However, according to the privatization law approved last year, any proceeds from the privatization will be paid, net of transaction costs, to an industrial development fund administered by the Ministry of Finance.
Forty percent of Ethio-Telecom’s stake will be for sale to eligible investors willing to invest in the telecommunications sector. Five percent of the share will be sold to the public, while the government retains the majority.
Last week, the telecoms giant called interested telecom providers who would be willing to share its infrastructure, including 7,300 towers, 21,327 km of fiber network and 4,000km of metro fibers in cities.
“Ethio-Telecom’s invitation will certainly encourage developers to bid on the two telecommunications licenses to be issued this year,” Brook said.
In addition to upgrading the towers, Ethio-Telecom said it has developed a hybrid power solutions strategy to ensure site availability and make it scalable enough to accommodate the additional requirements of potential tenants.
“More than 50 percent of our sites are backed by diesel generators and power solutions at scale,” the telecommunications giant said in its statement.
