The Ethiopian Communications Authority, the new telecom and radio frequency regulatory agency, is considering issuing two types of telecommunications licenses for full operators and service providers.

In its draft regulatory framework made available for stakeholder consultation, the Authority proposes to issue unified and class licenses for operators and service providers, respectively.

Companies that will get unified licenses will engage with any telecommunications services including voice call, text, mobile data and wireless and fixed internet services as well as sending and receiving telecommunications to and from Ethiopia. A full-service license will be accompanied by a spectrum license that assigns specific blocks of the radio spectrum.

Class service license holders will buy bundle packages from operators to sell to clients. Class licensees can also engage in infrastructure development such as towers and fibre optic installations.

Unified, aka full-service, licenses will be provided for the three telecom operators, including Ethio telecom and the two new operators that are expected to join the industry within six months.

The draft regulatory framework, which covers details from licensing to regulating the operators, was availed to stakeholders last week before being approved and enacted. The consultation was launched on October 22, 2019, requesting stakeholders to submit their views on the proposed regulatory orientation. The consultation process will be open for four weeks.

The draft framework deals with the Authority’s mandate in setting prices and tariffs, internet and domain name administration, interconnection, dispute resolution, setting bandwidth, conducting quality control, acting in the government's interest and not being captured, i.e. avoiding regulatory capture.

Once the Authority issues licenses for the two new telecom operators and Ethio telecom, it will not grant additional new licenses for at least three years, according to the proposed framework. The new operators can build their infrastructure or else lease and rent Ethio telecom's existing infrastructure.

The two new operators and Ethio telecom will be licensed for 15 years, and their license is subject to renewal. The operators are required to keep at least three years of data on their clients. The Authority will regularly monitor the operators using its own equipment. The licensees are also required to submit their quality of service report to the Authority on a quarterly basis.

The regulatory framework forbids operators from charging extremely low tariffs compared with market prices, cross-subsidising [charging one group of consumers higher prices to artificially reduce prices for another group] and forcing customers to subscribe for bulk service.

It also proposed the operators contribute 1.5pc to 2.5pc of their gross revenue to the Universal Access Fund, which will be used to ensure that communications services are accessible to the largest number of users possible. Once the value is set after the consultation process, the Authority will forward recommendations to the Council of Ministers concerning the sources and amount of contributions to the Universal Access Fund.

During the first three weeks of the consultation process, the Authority will gather views from the stakeholders. It will also hold a conference on November 12, 2019, for a preliminary question-and-answer session with interested parties.