Ethiopia needs 1.5 billion USD for telecom tower infrastructure over the next five years. This is according to an independent tower company which conducted a study. The telecom company is interested in bidding when privatization begins next spring.
Helios Tower, a Pan African company is based in the UK. Ethiopia needs an additional 2,000 telecom towers in the next five years and this would bring the total number to 10,000. It would still be the lowest in the world according to Helios. South Africa has 30,000 for 60 million people.
In an event held at Hyatt Regency Hotel on December 4, 2019, entitled: “open access infrastructure the back bone of telecommunication growth,” the role of tower companies developing a country’s telecommunication service and infrastructure was examined.
“Mobile telecommunication infrastructure and market liberalization creates economic growth and improves people’s lives,” said Kash Pandya, CEO of the company.
The CEO said they were ready for the bidding process to operate in the country adding that they have the feasibility and the capital needed for the task.
As the principal business model lies in building, acquiring and operating telecommunications towers that are capable of accommodating and powering the needs of multiple tenants, Helios expressed its interest to buy towers.
The company is known for buying towers that were held by single operators and providing services utilizing the tower infrastructure to the seller and other operations.
For the construction of the tower, Helios is experienced working with land lords to secure plots of land between 50m2 and 300m2 as well as rooftops.
Helios Towers owns and operates telecommunications towers and passive infrastructure in five high-growth African markets namely in Tanzania, DRC and Congo, we own a strong urban portfolio in Ghana and we also established a presence in South Africa in 2019.
As part of their feasibility studies, the company involved quality steel manufacturing companies as a motivating factor and the high number of young graduates in the country.
As a pan African tower company, Helios will work to supply its own power sources from Solar panel, generators and hybrid power to avoid power interruption.
Ethiopia needs thousands of tele towers
University unrest fosters corruption
Unrest in Ethiopian public universities has led to increased enrollment in private higher institutions which in turn has led to corruption. Brokers are asking parents for up to 50,000 birr for registration via dealers Capital learned.
Because there have been ongoing ethnic based clashes in public universities all over the country students have left their campuses, opting instead for private schools in Addis Ababa causing their numbers to mushroom.
At the end of August, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education announced that it would sign binding agreements with stakeholders in the education sector to prevent the violence, although little change has occurred.
Last month, alone two students at Woldia University in the Amhara region and one student at Dembi Dollo University in the Oromia region were killed.
Officials from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education think that the problem behavior is being conducted by people from outside the campus using fake student IDs.
As almost all private higher educational institutions have closed registration, parents are looking for ways to register their children through corrupt back channels.
The Higher Education, Relevance and Quality Assurance Agency (HERQA), says they take special cases into account. They don’t have a mandate to decide the registration timetable. It is determined via a monthly report.
Some of the private educational institutions that Capital approached said, they already closed registration for many programs but there are still some students getting in through illegal means.
There are close to 236 private higher education institutions in the country. Most are in Addis.
Alemayehu Kebede Advisor at Ministry of Science and Higher Education, says Ethiopian universities have been facing recurrent ethnic-based conflicts, students have lost their lives and property has been damaged. He adds that one of the sources of conflict is where students and lecturers are places so they are trying to revise this practice.
There are more than 50 public universities in Ethiopia and the country allots a budget of 23 billion birr for higher education.
Safety First
The City Government of Addis Ababa Fire and Disaster Risk Management Commission has inspected the safety level of Dashen Bank’s headquarter building which was inaugurated two years ago. They have issued a fire safety certificate.
In November 2017 Dashen inaugurated its 21-story headquarters, with a built up area of 2,700 square meters, while the total area is 4,200 square meters.
In the certificate the city Fire and Disaster Risk Management Commission appreciated the bank’s effort to fulfill the required criteria of the commission.
The Dashen facility is one of the few fire safety certified buildings in Addis Ababa.
Easier trade between African countries to help women
A continental gathering organized by the Centre for African Women and Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) concluded that intra-African Trade should increase in order to take advantage of opportunities. To encourage this women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment must be promoted.
During the gathering held last Tuesday at the African Union Hall with the theme “Boosting Intra African Trade, African Women Taking the lead”, President Shale Work Zewdie, Fathi Mahmat African Union Commissioner, and high officials attended the inaugural summit.
“African women entrepreneurs should work to catch the untapped market opportunities within the continent”, Shale Work Zewdie said. 
African States have an intra-trade rate of 16 percent, the lowest in the world whereas Asian countries have an intra-trade trade rate of 60 percent.
“African women are the majority of the African population and the backbone of the economy it is for all those reasons that the AU places women’s issues in their all programs to finance women entrepreneurs,” said Fatih Mahmat African Union Commissioner.
The commissioner further stressed the need to produce quality products and consume within the continents adding that the core of AFCTA is boosting intra-Trade for economic development.
“We need to focus on trade instead of aid as it fuels the economy through job creation by centering the majority of women entrepreneurs,” said Nigist Haile CAWEE Executive Director.
“Working on value-chains through the provision of technical and marketable skills that can help women to get involved in income generating activities,” Nigist adds.
Close to 200 women entrepreneurs from across African continents were participating in the first gathering and a sideline showcased their local products aiming at promoting “Made in Africa” “Buy in Africa”.
Established some 16 years ago, CAWEE had been working in organizing advocacy, consultative forums which addressed the challenges Ethiopian women entrepreneurs face in order to create a class of globally competitive women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia.
CAWEE also has a program formed in part of the overall response to African regional integration challenges and is aligned to NEPAD’s broad vision of economic growth led by the private sector and rooted in greater regional and inter-regional trade.
According to Nigist, CAWEE planned to conduct the gathering every year in the seat of AU in partnership with the UN agencies and AU various commissions in order to encourage African women entrepreneurs taking the opportunities to benefit from untapped market.
