👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Banking on Ethiopia

Summary

Kenyan banks KCB and Equity Bank are positioning themselves to enter Ethiopia’s newly liberalised banking market, attracted by a 120 million-strong population and fresh rules allowing foreign banks to set up subsidiaries or take minority stakes. KCB has been in talks since mid‑2025 and may seek up to a 40% stake in a local lender; Equity signalled its intent in September.

In Gabon, Airtel Gabon and Moov Africa‑Gabon Télécom agreed to share network infrastructure to cut costs, expand coverage and support the country’s digital ambitions — a move reflecting a wider trend of infrastructure sharing in Africa.

In Nigeria, unkept promises on Right‑of‑Way (RoW) fee waivers are slowing fibre rollouts: only four states honoured zero RoW pledges, while others charge high fees that inflate construction costs and threaten broadband targets. Separately, the federal government has scrapped a controversial 5% excise duty on telecom services — a welcome relief that could reduce costs for consumers and free up telco resources for investment.

Extras: TechCabal highlights a special figure — ₦597.65 billion in revenue from Nigeria’s information and communication sector in 2024 — and offers a brief crypto snapshot for the morning.

Key Points

KCB and Equity Bank are preparing to enter Ethiopia after banking reforms allow foreign lenders to operate there for the first time.
KCB may acquire up to a 40% stake in a local Ethiopian bank; Equity has publicly signalled intent to enter.
Airtel Gabon and Moov Africa‑Gabon Télécom will pool infrastructure to reduce duplication, lower costs and improve coverage.
Most Nigerian states have reneged on zero RoW pledges, keeping fibre deployment expensive and hampering broadband targets.
Nigeria has abolished the 5% excise duty on telecom services, which could ease cost pressures on users and telcos but won’t reverse recent tariff hikes.
The information and communication sector in Nigeria generated ₦597.65 billion in 2024, while data consumption climbed ~90% since 2022.

Context and Relevance

This edition matters if you follow finance and telecom expansion in Africa. Ethiopia’s market opening is a major regional shift: entry by Kenyan banks would deepen East African financial integration and intensify competition. Telecom infrastructure sharing in Gabon is part of a pragmatic trend across the continent to meet coverage goals without bankrupting operators. In Nigeria, unresolved RoW costs remain a practical barrier to meeting national broadband targets; the removal of the 5% telecom levy is a policy win but not a silver bullet.

Why should I read this?

Want the TL;DR without scrolling through seven links? This newsletter bundles the week’s moves that actually change markets — banks pushing into Ethiopia, telcos pooling kit in Gabon, and the nitty‑gritty of Nigeria’s broadband roadblocks (and a small win on the tax front). Quick, useful and saves you time — read this if you keep an eye on African fintech or telco strategy.

Author’s take

Punchy: If you care about where capital and connectivity flow next in Africa, the Ethiopia story is the one to watch. The telco and policy updates show how regulation and local politics still shape technology outcomes more than shiny products do.