MTN Justifies its Low Bid for the Ethiopian Telecommunications License

In order to justify its low bid for the Ethiopian telecommunications license, MTN has cited the absence of mobile money opportunity in the agreement and the operator’s capital allocation framework.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO, commented on the decision saying that it was based on the Group’s capital allocation framework and the obstacles it identified regarding the conditions of the operating licence.

“We have focused particularly on the absence of Mobile Money in the licensing regime, and there were issues regarding how the telecommunications structures would be integrated in Ethiopia. We certainly assessed these things and the short-term risks that we saw, and we felt the financial offer was appropriate,” said Mupita.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer

According to the list of qualified bidders that was released by the regulator in April for the first telecoms license, Only two bidders qualified – the Global Partnership for Ethiopia (Vodafone, Vodacom, Safaricom, Sumitomo, and CDC Group) and MTN International (Mauritius) Limited.