by The Fikiria Desk | May 22, 2021 | Property
A telecom licence is bought in a boardroom but delivered in the ground. On 22 May 2021, a Safaricom-led consortium won Ethiopia’s first private nationwide telecommunications licence, ending the state operator’s exclusive position with an US$850m offer. The...
by The Fikiria Desk | May 22, 2021 | Content
In a story this large, the risk is not too little information but too much of the wrong kind. Speculation about what Ethiopia’s telecoms opening will eventually mean will run well ahead of what can actually be verified. On 22 May 2021, the disciplined task is...
by The Fikiria Desk | May 22, 2021 | Consumers
For more than two decades, one of Africa’s largest populations has bought its airtime from a single seller. Ethiopia’s more than 100 million people have had no rival network to Ethio Telecom, no competing tariff to weigh, no second brand to reach for when...
by The Fikiria Desk | May 22, 2021 | Lifestyle
The most consequential infrastructure is often the kind people stop noticing. A reliable signal changes how a city moves, how a traveller navigates, and how a small hospitality business finds its customers, quietly and everywhere at once. On 22 May 2021, a...
by The Fikiria Desk | Sep 9, 2019 | Consumers
For the Ethiopian household, an economy that grew quickly did not always show up at the counter. Prices for basic goods stayed high, service from state monopolies stayed uneven, and access depended on queues rather than choice. On 9 September 2019 the government...