MTN Group confirms that it is participating with equity partners in a bid for a telecoms licence in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most-populous country which represents the last and largest telco liberalisation opportunity in the world.

Our participation is aligned with our strategy, Ambition 2025, focusing on capturing growth from digital acceleration across the continent. It has been made in partnership with Silk Road Fund from China. Other partners will be disclosed on a successful bid outcome.

“Ethiopia provides the largest telecommunication and digital services growth opportunity in Africa over the medium term and fits into our pan-Africa focus and platform strategy. We are being guided by our capital allocation framework in our assessment of this opportunity,” commented MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita, in confirming the MTN and Silk Road Fund equity partnership bid.

MTN has a long history of building and operating market-leading operations in numerous markets across Africa and the Middle East, including establishing greenfield operations. At the end of 2020, MTN Group had 280 million subscribers across 21 markets.