Airtel Africa to focus on current markets, will not bid for licences in Ethiopia: CEO

NAIROBI: Airtel Africa will focus on growing in the markets where it already operates on the continent and will not bid for licences in Ethiopia, where the nation of 110 million people is opening up its telecoms sector, the company’s CEO said on Friday.

Africa’s second most populous nation, one of the last remaining closed telecoms markets on the continent, plans to sell a minority stake in state-owned Ethio Telecoms within nine months and is tendering for two new licences, a process that was expected to start last month.

But Airtel Africa Plc Chief Executive Officer Raghunath Mandava told Reuters that the Africa-focused telecoms company sees more room to grow in the 14 countries it has already invested in, including in its biggest market in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation.