Ethiopia Offers New Hope for Phone Providers
- Africa’s second-most populous country to open up mobile market
- Orange, MTN, Vodacom lead companies eager to access industry
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Yabsira Tadesse had no trouble getting a new SIM card when he popped into an Ethio Telecom store in northern Addis Ababa the other day. He still thinks it’s intolerable that the state-owned behemoth is the only option for phone and internet users in a country of 100 million.
“The status quo is terrible,” the 22-year-old student said, standing next to a dirty sign displaying the company’s green logo. As the owner of a fledgling cryptocurrency business, Yabsira is dependent on Ethio Telecom’s occasionally patchy service. He also said he fears the state uses the group to spy on him. If a new wireless carrier “can come here and government lets them be competitive, I would be the first to line up and support it.”