The Government of Ethiopia, as part of its economic reform to ensure national development by undertaking numerous strategic initiatives, has notably revised its policies and legal frameworks to enable the private sector to play a broader role in the economy, particularly in the telecommunications and financial sectors, allowing for the participation of both domestic and foreign investors.
Additionally, the government has established a capital market to accelerate economic development and growth, attract investors, and develop a robust capital market system that is fair, transparent, and secure.
Ethio telecom, being one of Africa’s pioneering telecom operator, has served a great nation and people by providing telecommunications and digital services across the country for the past 130 years, and has built a significant identity among all Ethiopians. The company has been modernizing, offering beyond connectivity digital solutions and regularly implementing up-to-date technologies, streamlining institutional operations, improving daily lives, and playing a significant role in the country’s overall development.
The company currently serves 79 million telecom subscribers, has built massive telecom and digital infrastructures nationwide, established strategic partnerships with numerous international and domestic organizations/institutions, operated responsibly and with a sense of ownership in the telecommunications ecosystem, created job opportunities for many citizens, supported startups, fulfilled social responsibilities, and contributed significantly to the country’s economic growth.
In recent years, in addition to improving the quality of its services and expanding its service horizon, the company has made extensive investments in telecommunications and digital infrastructure to realize its national digital and financial inclusion plans. In May 2021, it launched telebirr digital payment and mobile money service, which has made a significant contribution to the country’s digital economy. By acquiring 50 million customers, introducing new services, and providing options in the sector, it is accelerating Ethiopia’s digital transformation journey.
As the government has announced that it will begin the first Ethiopian capital market by selling a 10% ownership stake of Ethio telecom to Ethiopians, the company has been transformed from a state-owned enterprise to a share company and was registered as a share company on June 21, 2024, in accordance with the Ethiopian Commercial Code.
This first public share sale in the country’s capital market and the offering of an ownership stake of the country’s largest telecommunications and digital financial services provider to all Ethiopians, will primarily play a significant role in expanding the sector’s role in the Ethiopian economy, improving the company’s efficiency, expanding its access to capital, and further improving the quality and accessibility of its services.
In this first round of the public sale 100 million ordinary shares of Ethio telecom, each valued at 300 birr, are offered for sale. Any Ethiopian citizen/investor who wishes to become a shareholder and meets the requirements outlined in the prospectus prepared for this public offering of shares and approved by the Ethiopian Capital Markets Authority can purchase ordinary shares starting from a minimum of 9,900 birr or 33 shares and up to a maximum of 999,900 birr or 3,333 shares.
In addition to the share price, a shareholding investor/individual will pay a 1.5% service fee and value added tax when purchasing a share and cannot purchase more than the maximum amount specified above.
The share sale will take place from October 16, 2024, to January 03, 2025. Before applying for the share sale, citizens who wish to participate must meet the following prerequisites: be an Ethiopian citizen, register and open account on the registration application, present a legal document that identifies their identity, have a legal power of attorney if they are submitting the purchase application for someone else, be a telebirr SuperApp user, and read carefully the statements about the company and the risk analysis presented in the prospectus before applying. Then, they must carefully fill out the application for share purchase on the telebirr SuperAapp and complete the payment within 48 hours.
The prospectus can be obtained on the company’s website by clicking on www.teleshares.ethiotelecom.et or on the telebirr SuperApp. Since the document was prepared based on the audited financial report for the 2016 EFY, all the figures mentioned in the document reflect the company’s 2016 EFY performance.
The Ordinary Shares will be subject to a lock-in period, during which they cannot be traded, sold, transferred, or otherwise disposed of until the listing process of the company in the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) is completed. Additionally, the company cannot guarantee prospective investors who have made a successful application that they will be issued the allocation that they applied for or any allocation of the Offer Shares. The allocation of the Offer Shares will be at the discretion of the Company.
Since the sale of our company’s shares is conducted only through telebirr SuperApp citizens who are not telebirr SuperApp users can download the application from the App Store, Play Store, or Gallery App, register, and purchase shares, thereby participating in this historic opportunity and becoming a shareholder of the company.
