Ethiopia could drop licence issue if bids don’t match valuations

Ethiopia could drop licence issue if bids don’t match valuations

The government of Ethiopia could shelve its forthcoming licence issue if the bids received for the permits do not match an independent valuation.

Bloomberg cited the minister overseeing Ethiopia’s market liberalisation, Eyob Tekalign, as saying that the government had tasked three independent teams with calculating the value of the two available licences. The government is basing its expectations for the sale on these appraisals.

While Tekalign indicated that the licences could go unsold if they do not attract high enough bids, he added that a sale would likely go ahead in some form, saying: “If we get the value we expect from the bidding process, we will go ahead … If not, we will have another look.”

Last month, the Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA) announced that in response to requests, parties interested in obtaining a licence would be granted an additional month to submit their bids, with the deadline extended to 5th April 2021.th April 2021.

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