Ministry Calls for Partial Privatization of Ethiotelecom


Ministry Calls for Partial Privatization of Ethiotelecom

The partial privatization of Ethiotelecom is reinstated as the Ministry of Finance announced for Request for Proposal (RFP) last week. The Ministry announced a 45pc stake in the public enterprise would be availed to private investors, and a five percent stake to be floated to the general public. The Ministry floated a bid to call for expression of interest last November. According to officials, the call is open to interested parties, and not limited to companies that have already submitted an expression of interest. In 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s (PhD) administration decided to partially privatize state-owned enterprises. A year later, Deloitte was hired as an advisor for the denationalisation of the state-owned telecom at a cost of 3.78 million dollars sourced from the World Bank. Ethiotelecom bagged 33.8 billion Br in revenues, showing a 20pc increase compared to the same period of the previous year. The net profit has reached 8.18 billion Br in the first half year of 2022/23. It has garnered 31.3 million internet users from a 70 million total customer base, showing a growth rate of 15.1pc from last year.


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Yirgalem Hospital Inaugurates New Oxygen Production Plant

A new oxygen production plant has been inaugurated at Yirgalem Hospital Medical College in Sidama Regional State. The launch was attended by the regional state's chief administrator Desta Ledamo and Health Minister Mekdes Daba (PhD). Desta noted that a new kidney dialysis centre will soon be opened as well. Mekdes stated that the Ministry is working to increase the number of oxygen production facilities from the current 10 to 34 nationwide. The Yirgalem plant cost 86 million Br to build and h...


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Corridor Develops with Parking, Recklessness Concerns, Research Finds

Research involving 400 respondents across four first-round corridor development routes revealed major challenges to the initiative. The study, conducted by Shaka Analytics and ETC Institute in collaboration with the Addis Abeba City Transport Bureau, examined the impact of the program on transportation patterns, transit accessibility, and parking availability. The routes—Arat Kilo to Bole Deldey, Embassy of England to Arat Kilo, Mexico roundabout to Wello Sefer, and Piassa to Arat Kilo—we...


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Digitalisation Spreads to the Court System

Ethio telecom and the Amhara Regional State Supreme Court have agreed to implement a Smart Court project in Bahir Dar to modernize court operations using digital technology. This agreement includes building a modern network infrastructure, implementing cloud services, creating a modular data centre, establishing a network operations control centre, and connecting the region's courts with a secure digital network. The project is designed to facilitate secure digital information exchange betwee...