ETHIOPIA: TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR UPDATE - PART I OF II -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 003485 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECPS ECON ETRD EINV ET SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR UPDATE - PART I OF II - INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. This is part one of a two part cable on the Ethiopian telecommunications sector. Part one covers current infrastructure and future plans while part two covers policy matters. Meetings with Ethiopian telecommunications officials reveal a telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) sector that languishes in a monopoly state. Ethiopia's closed telecom and ICT sector remain underdeveloped, even in comparison to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. While ambitious efforts to upgrade infrastructure are underway, government policies (septel) are likely to keep the sector underdeveloped. ¶2. Ethiopia's telecom and ICT sectors lag behind the rest of the world, including neighbors in sub-Saharan Africa. According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) statistics for 2006, Ethiopia has 2.01 total telephone subscribers and 1.09 mobile phone subscribers per 100 people, the lowest in Africa. In contrast, Kenya has 19.31 total subscribers and 18.47 mobile subscribers per ¶100. Even Somalia, suffering from decades of anarchy, outpaces Ethiopia on phone penetration with 7.29 total and 6.08 mobile subscribers per 100 people. Similarly, Ethiopia has fewer internet subscribers (0.03 per 100 people) than Kenya (0.53) or Somalia (0.11). END SUMMARY. TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE AND FUTURE PLANS -------------- ¶3. Mobile and Fixed Telephony: The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) reports a current subscriber base of 3 million fixed and mobile accounts. Most customers are in Addis Ababa and other major cities. The mobile phone system has experienced growing pains, with widespread service outages occurring twice in the two week period while Chinese company Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited (ZTE) was launching 1.2 million phone lines added for the Ethiopian Millennium in September. ETC mobile users consistently experience "network busy" messages and dropped calls. ¶4. SMS messaging, which was discontinued in the wake of the disputed 2005 elections, was restored for the Ethiopian Millennium celebrations in September. (NOTE: Although ETC Director General Amare Amsalu stated that SMS was cut off in 2005 for purely technical reasons, messaging was discontinued in a time of civil unrest. Most observers believe that the Ethiopian Government (GoE) shut off text messaging to prevent its use in organizing demonstrations. END NOTE.) An infrastructure project currently underway with ZTE is expected to provide GSM mobile coverage to 85% of the country The GSM expansion is part of a 1.5 billion USD overhaul of Ethiopia's telecommunications (see septel) and is expected to be completed by 2010. ETC reports that provision of third generation CDMA mobile service will begin soon. Among other features, third generation will allow transmission of video over mobile phones. Extensive expansion of fixed line service is not anticipated. ¶5. ETC views expanding telecommunications to the rural population as its primary mandate. Rural telecommunications is being expanded via fixed wireless service at the village, or woreda level. ETC's goal is universal coverage, which it defines as one phone within 5km walking distance. Of the 15,000 village-level units targeted for such fixed wireless service, 7,200 now have coverage in place. Each woreda has at least one dedicated line each for use by health, agriculture and education workers as well as one for public use. ¶6. VOIP: Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls are illegal in Etihopia, but a large number (estimated at over 100) of internet cafes in Addis Ababa currently offer clandestine VOIP service. VOIP service is popular for international calls because of reduced costs. According to ETC and its regulator the Ethiopian Telecommunications Authority (ETA),VOIP is prohibited because of a lack of bandwidth. With ETC charging 0.23 USD per minute to terminate an international call, VOIP clearly represents potentially significant lost revenue for the GoE. Recent reports indicate that entities are illegally terminating calls in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, costing ETC up to 80 million birr (nearly 9 million USD) per year in revenue. ¶7. Internet: ETC is the sole provider of internet service in Ethiopia. Licenses have been granted for "virtual internet service providers" which will buy bandwidth from ETC and re-sell service. These providers are not yet operative due to bandwidth constraints, but ETC Chairman Amare is optimistic that they will begin offering service in Addis Ababa within a few months. Ethiopia has 0.03 internet subscribers per 100 people, one of the lowest in the world. Most access is provided in internet cafes at a cost of 0.15-0.20 birr per minute. Nearly all internet cafes and private users have dial-up access at 56k bps. ADDIS ABAB 00003485 002 OF 002 ¶8. Broadband access, while available, is prohibitively expensive, with a set-up cost of over 10,000 USD and monthly charges of over 5,000 USD for a 2MB leased line (compared to 17 USD installation and 7 USD monthly for dial-up). Moreover, Ethiopia's broadband is described as "fractured" and provides speeds only marginally faster than a dial-up connection. U.S. company Cisco announced in August that it would replace, for free, Ethiopia's broadband connection with a ring net fiber optic solution. ETC expects the upgraded broadband to come online in summer 2008. In the wake of the 2005 elections, users reported that many websites including opposition-oriented sites and blogs were inaccessible using ETC. Pro-opposition blogs and websites continue to be inaccessible in Ethiopia. Although ETC denies any blocking, the sites were (and continue to be) accessible by using anonymizer websites and proxy servers. ¶9. Fiber Optic: There are currently 4,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables laid throughout Ethiopia, with another 24,000 kilometers of fiber in the country awaiting installation. Ethiopia's fiber network connects at the Sudanese border to the submarine cable landing at Port Sudan, which is part of the Fiber Optic Link Around the Globe. There are plans for additional connections to submarine cables. One, a project by U.S. company SEACOM, would land at the Somaliland Port of Berbera. Another, the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) would land in Mombassa, Kenya and Djibouti. Both the ETC Board Chairman Debretsion and ETC Managing Director Amare indicated that negotiations are progressing with SEACOM, and that project is likely to come online well before EASSy. According to Amare, however, security at Berbera port is a concern. ICT INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLANS -------------- ¶10. The Ethiopian ICT Development Agency (EICTDA) Head Ato Debretsion (who is also the ETC Board Chairman and former Deputy Director of the National Intelligence and Security Service) highlighted current e-government applications. Woreda Net is designed to provide ICT services such as video conferencing, directory services, mail services, voice services, and Internet connectivity to the federal-level, regional-level and Woreda-level (county-equivalent) government entities. Ato Debretsion highlighted Woreda Net's use in conducting court hearings from rural areas via video conferencing. Additional planned e-government applications include agricultural marketing, health and education programs. Additionally, EICTDA has preliminary plans to develop an IT park where companies can develop software and other applications. Debretsion sees potential for Ethiopia to become an outsourcing center similar to India. While the Council of Ministers has agreed that ICT is a sector that deserves attention and incentives, the details of any incentive package for investors are to be determined. COMMENT -------------- ¶11. The Ethiopian Government's tight controls and insistence on being the sole provider of telecommunications and ICT infrastructure and service has left the country's telecommunications system is woefully underdeveloped. The low telecommunications penetration rate has had had a stunting effect on achieving broader economic growth, particularly in rural areas. With its highly rural, scattered and agriculturally-based population, the GoE recognizes the need to expand telecommunications to the far reaches of its vast territory but insists on maintaining control of modalities for implementation. Currently telecommunications services reach only a fraction of the country's 80 million citizens, and most of them are in urban areas. The GoE is undertaking ambitious activities to quickly expand coverage, which, if successful, will offer new opportunities for economic growth and development, especially in rural areas, but without engaging the private sector, progress will remain slow in coming. END COMMENT.