16 January 2025
Ethio Telecom executives have announced a five-week extension until 14 February of the validity of the public offer to sell 10% of its shares.
Launched in October 2024, this offer proposes 100 million ordinary shares at a unit price of 300 birr.
Local media suggests that experts are questioning the reliability of the financial data provided in Ethio’s prospectus, based on a revaluation carried out by the Deloitte consultancy. This revision values the company’s assets at 130 billion birr in June 2024, compared to 51 billion declared the previous year.
The 10% opening of Ethio Telecom’s capital, which is the first step in the partial privatization plan to sell 45% of the shares, is expected to raise 30 billion birr. The funds are expected to be used to support the operator’s growth with the launch of 5G service in 15 additional cities, the establishment of 331 rural connectivity solutions, 165 mobile network sites, 496 sites to cover 1,000 rural kebeles, as well as the construction of 320,000 new optical distribution networks (ODNs) to increase fixed network capacity and accommodate additional customers.
