Series 5: After Access-Assessing digital inequality in Africa
Policy Paper No. 7: Steps and Issues of Privatization of the Telecom Sector in Ethiopia
The announcement of the privatisation of Ethio Telecom has generated much interest and have improved the prospects of a competitive ICT sector in Ethiopia. This paper discusses some of the critical steps that the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia needs to consider during the privatisation of the fixed, mobile, Internet and data monopoly operator – Ethio Telecom The privatisation process will not only address the debt burden of the state-owned enterprise, but will also create a dynamic ICT ecosystem, which in turn will create more jobs and innovation. Privatisation alone is not sufficient to bring about improvements in the telecommunications sector. Experiences from around the world show that a series of activities should accompany the announcement to privatise the incumbent operator.
The main ingredients for successful privatisation include:
• ongoing communication of the objectives and the process of privatisation to ensure that it is transparent and accountable to the public, the private sector and the Ethio Telecom employees
• putting complementary policies and a sector law in place to drive the privatisation process and liberalisation of the sector
• restructuring the telecommunications company and market
• establishing an independent regulatory agency with a plan for regulatory capacity building for the staff and decision makers
• introducing competition in the different segments of the telecommunications market
• implementing an innovative valuation process and a proper sequencing of regulation, competition and privatisation, all of which are also important.
ቴሌኮምኒኬሽንን ዘግይቶ ወደ ግል የማዘዋወር አደጋዎችና እድሎች፡ የኢትዮ ቴሌኮም ጉዳይ
(“Risks and Opportunities of Late Telecom Privatization: The Case of Ethio Telecom” በሚል በዶ/ር ሊሻን አዳም ከተፃፈው የተወሰደ)ዋናውን ሪፖርት በwww.researchictafrica.net) ይመልከቱ
መግቢያ
ኢትዮጵያ ቴሌኮሚኒኬሽን በመንግስት ሞኖፖሊ ከተያዘባቸው ከአምስት የማይበልጡ ጥቂት አገሮች አንዷ ናት፡፡ የቴሌኮሚኒኬሽን አገልግሎት በግል ከሚሰጥባቸው ብዙ አገሮች እንደ ጎረቤቶቻችን ኬንያ ሶማሊያና ሱዳን የመሳሰሉት ያለው ዕድገት የሚያሳየው ይህ ዘርፍ ከመንግስት ይልቅ በግል፣ ከሞኖፖሊ ይልቅ በውድድር ላይ ቢመሰረት በጥራቱና በተደራሽነቱ የተሻለ አገልግሎት ለመስጠት ያስችላል፡፡
በአዲስ የለውጥ ምዕራፍ ላይ የሚገኘው የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት የቴሌኮሚኒኬሽኑን ዘርፍ ወደ ግል ለማዛወር ዕቅድ እንዳለው ገልጿል፡፡ እንደ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ዶ/ር አብይ አህመድ ገለፃ ይህ የማዛወር ሂደት የመንግስትንና የህዝብን ጥቅም በሚያስጠብቅ መልኩ እንደሚካሄድ፣ በተለይም መንግስት ከፍተኛውን ድርሻ (Golden Share) በመውሰድ የግል ባለሀብቶች የሚያደርሱትን ተፅዕኖ እንደሚቋቋምና በዘርፉ ልምድ ያካበቱ የግል ካምፓኒዎች ብቻ እንደሚሳተፉ ነው፡ ፡ለዚሁም እንዲመቻች ዘንድ ሃያ አንድ አባላት የሚያካትት የመንግስትን ሀብትን ወደ ግል ለማዛወር የሚያደርገውን ጥረት የሚከታተል ካውንስል በነሃሴ ወር ተቋቁሟል፡፡ በተጨማሪም መንግስት የቴሌኮም ህግን በማርቀቅና አዲስ የቴሌኮም ተቆጣጣሪ ድርጅት በማቋቋም ላይ ነው፡፡
