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Djibouti launched on Sunday July 11 the partial privatization of its historical operator, Djibouti Télécom, as part of a plan to modernize its economy and reorganize its public enterprises.
Located in the Horn of Africa, this small country of just under a million inhabitants is the latest in the region to open up its telecommunications sector to private investors, following in the footsteps of neighboring Ethiopia , which in June launched the partial privatization of its operator Ethio Télécom.
In a statement released on Sunday, the government of the Republic of Djibouti said that“It will offer a minority and significant portion of its shareholding [dans Djibouti Télécom] to a leading strategic partner ”.
The operator, one of the last national monopolies on the African continent, has around 410,000 subscribers to its mobile services, according to data provided in 2019 by the World Bank.
“Important infrastructures”
The government of this state, which occupies a particularly strategic geographical position in the region, has not specified how much it expects to earn from the sale of this stake.
Djibouti Telecom “Has the latest generation of telecom assets, including the establishment of a 4G network, as well as very large landing infrastructures for twelve high-capacity submarine cables”, argued the government in its press release.
According to him, “Djibouti Télécom occupies a strategic position to connect the sub-region, the continent and the rest of the world”.
A former French colony that became independent in 1977, Djibouti is a stable state in a troubled region with a GDP per capita higher than many countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, around 20% of its population live in extreme poverty and 26% are unemployed according to the World Bank.