May 22 (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s telecommunications regulator awarded an operating licence to a consortium led by Kenya’s Safaricom and Japan’s Sumitomo, Brooke Taye, a senior adviser at the finance ministry, told Reuters.

The total licence fee from the consortium was $850 million, Taye told Reuters. South Africa’s MTN had also bid for a licence.

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by Ayenat Mersie; Editing by Alison Williams)

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