“Ethiopia Needs Third Telecom Operator, Invest USD5bln To Triple Towers”: Andualem Admassie (PhD) | The Reporter Ethiopia

In a bid to make Ethiopia’s telecom sector competitive with neighboring countries, Ethiopia needs to invest around USD5 billion in additional investments, said Andualem Admassie (PhD), former CEO of Ethio Telecom and currently Chief External Affairs Officer of Safaricom Ethiopia.

“For instance, in terms of telecom tower infrastructure, ethio telecom has around 10,000 towers. We have 3,500 towers- of which 40 percent we leased from ethio telecom and the rest we built. In total, ethio telecom and Safaricom Ethiopia combined has less than 15,000 towers,” he said.

“In our neighbor countries, telecom-tower-to-population ratio is very advanced. Considering Ethiopia’s large population and the current number of towers, Ethiopia needs up to 30,000 additional telecom towers. Otherwise, it is difficult to achieve the Digital Ethiopia targets set for 2030. Government and private partnership is crucial for the additional investments.”

Ethiopia also needs to allow separate licensing for companies who develop telecom infrastructure, asserts Andualem. “So far, telecom operators are doing the infrastructure development altogether. That makes telecom operators mission deviated. Companies, who solely develop infrastructure, must be allowed in Ethiopia. Once the infrastructure is developed by separate companies, then the operator can just install its system. Even ethio telecom could also sell all its towers to the sole infrastructure developer, and then raise billions of money. Then operators like ethio telecom and Safaricom could focus mainly on telecom operation works, instead of developing infrastructure.”

Then all the telecom operators lease the infrastructure from the tower developers, according to Andualem.

Entry of third operator will also improve Ethiopia’s telecom sector, according to Andualem.

He says Safaricom Ethiopia invested around USD2 billion on operational activities so far, apart from the USD850 million for the telecom permit, and USD50 million for MPesa license. Safaricom also paid ETB12 billion in tax over the past three operational years.

Andualem also argues in order to ensure level field of play for all operators equally, Ethiopia’s telecom domain (.et) must be controlled by a neutral regulatory body.