Agency Pop-up to Regulate Telecom Industry

The government is drafting a new proclamation to form a body to be tasked with regulating the telecom and postal services and  reports directly to the Office of the Prime Minister.

The current Standardization & Regulation Directorate that has been operating under the former Ministry of Communications & Information Technology will be dissolved, replaced by the new federal entity, Telecom & Postal Services Regulatory Agency.

The bill has been under draft for the past six months jointly by the Directorate, Ethio telecom, Ethiopian Postal Services and the Ministry of Finance.

The first draft of the proclamation has been finalised and is expected to be legislated and become effective in the coming two months, according to a senior executive who is familiar with the process.

“In order to transfer the telecomindustry, the major precondition is forming a strong regulatory body,” Frehiwot Tamiru, CEO of Ethio telecom, told journalists during a press conference held at the end of last month. “The Agency will be more essential when the sector is liberalised.”

The latest announcement of the partial privatisation of the state telecom company instigated the drafting of the new proclamation, according to the senior executive.

In early June of last year, the Executive Committee of the ruling EPRDF unanimously voted to partially privatise some of the most profitable state enterprises with the government retaining majority stakes.

Ethio telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise and Ethiopian Electric Power, as well as state-owned railways, sugar factories, industrial parks, hotels and manufacturing plants, are among the state enterprises that will be partially privatised with that decision.