Via The East African, news of the Ethiopian Government’s plan to invite bids for a 40% stake in Ethio Telecom, one of the most profitable companies in the country, with some 45 million subscribers:

The Ethiopian government on Tuesday announced that it has launched a bidding process for private investors to buy a 40 percent stake in state-owned telecommunications service provider, Ethio Telecom.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance, which is leading the bidding process, released the request for proposal (RFP) for the partial privatisation.

“The Government of Ethiopia has released an RFP for the Partial Privatization of Ethio Telecom to invite proposals from interested parties who can add value to the company by bringing in best practices in operations, infrastructure management and technological capabilities,” the ministry said.

The RFP is open to all interested parties and is not limited to companies that have previously submitted an expression of interest.

It also stated that any interested party must pay a non-refundable $20,000 in order to obtain the RFP and must submit a confidentiality undertaking to the Ethiopian government.

“An interested party may obtain the details of the account for payment of the RFP fees as well as the form of the confidentiality undertaking by sending a written request to telecombid@mofed.gov.et starting today” it said.