Thread by @mmnjug

Ethiopia has cleared the way for @SafaricomPLC to introduce its popular M-Pesa in the market of 110M people after deciding to include the mobile phone-based financial services in the telco’s licence offered in May. - @BD_Africa

#LetsGoBeyond

Ethiopian authorities told @BD_Africa that the @SafaricomPLC licence will be upgraded to include mobile financial service when it completes bidding for its second telecoms operator permit. The bidding will be opened this month.

A consortium led by @SafaricomPLC secured the first licence, which doesn'tt have a permit for mobile financial services like M-Pesa, in May. The consortium will start ops next year when Ethiopian authorities say the telco will have the right to operate mobile financial services.

This marks a departure from last year’s directive that only allowed locally owned non-financial institutions to offer mobile money service, dimming the hopes of foreign firms like @SafaricomPLC that are seeking a presence in Kenya’s neighbouring country.

The Horn of Africa nation sold only one of two full-service licences on offer in May, citing a lower-than-expected price for the second one, which it now wants to offer again.

The government expects prospective bidders to include firms which had expressed interest in the previous attempt to sell the licence but whose bids were deemed insufficient.

Ethiopia had one of the world’s closed telecoms markets. Mobile financial services have become a significant part of African telecoms operators’ businesses since Safaricom pioneered them with M-Pesa in 2007, giving people an alternative to banks.

State monopoly Ethio Telecom, which launched a new mobile financial service called Telebirr in May, snapped four million users within weeks, showing the potential of the market.

The barring of foreign firms meant that for operators like @SafaricomPLC to offer the service in Ethiopia, they would need a partnership with Ethio Telecom, which is in line to be privatised through the sale of a minority stake.

The Ethiopian government is also preparing to sell a 45% stake in Ethio Telecom, part of a broader liberalisation that include the auctioning of two new full service telecoms licences.

A monopoly, Ethio Telecom is seen as the biggest prize due to its huge protected market. Its subscriber base of 50.7M makes it the biggest single-country customer base of any operator in Africa.

Players like @SafaricomPLC are attracted by the growth potential in that market whose 110M people means the country offers a penetration rate of 46%. By contrast, Kenya’s 52.2M mobile phone subscribers gives it a penetration of 118%.

Mobile money services like M-Pesa have the potential to transform Ethiopia’s economy, as it has done in Kenya, by allowing people to sidestep a rickety and inefficient banking system and send money or make payments at the touch of a phone button.

The ability to access digital banking services is likely to be a game-changer for Ethiopians whose banking sector has no way of transferring funds from one bank to another.

.@SafaricomPLC is one of several Kenyan firms that have been eyeing the Ethiopian market for years due to the country’s huge population. Ethiopia has kept foreign involvement in the economy at a bare minimum.

However, the country has consistently registered robust economic growth, averaging 10% in the past five years, and its ongoing economic reforms look set to strengthen investor sentiment.

Its population, the second-largest in Africa after Nigeria, also offers immense opportunities for business.

.@SafaricomPLC can now offer MPesa services in Ethiopia after the gvt decided to include the mobile money services in the licence issued to the consortium in May bit.ly/3fy8SdF by @BD_Africa