2. Communication technology status

allowed until quite recently, although

typically paying bills four months later

there have been many clandestine

than the billed month (for example,

installations. Recently, it became

bills for November 2001 were being

possible to obtain a TVRO licence,

paid in March 2002).

which costs Birr 1'000 for the initial

application, and Birr 336 per year

Nevertheless, the cost of the mobile

(respectively about USD 115 and

service is relatively affordable in

USD 40).

E t h i o p i a   c o m p a r e d   w i t h   o t h e r

countries (See  Table 4) mobile to

Directory services are updated every

mobile calls are charged at 0.75 Birr

4 years. Mobile numbers and Internet

per minute (about 9 US cents). The

addresses will be listed in the

i n i t i a l   s u b s c r i p t i o n   f e e   i s   s t i l l

upcoming 2002 directory, however a

relatively high, although the monthly

web based version is not currently

r e n t a l   i s   a l s o   b e l o w   a v e r a g e

planned.

(see Figure 4). Perhaps surprisingly,

the low tariff is not a barrier to

2.2.2 Mobile

profitability, as is evidenced by

In contrast to other developing or least

comparing the service with Ghana's,

developed countries, in Ethiopia the

which has 90'000 users with a higher

use of mobile phones is not yet

usage dimensioning than the ETC

widespread. The first, and still the

service (18m Erlangs in Ghana

only, mobile service in the country is

compared with 25m Erlangs for ETC)

the GSM facility launched by ETC in

and generates the same amount of

1999 under the name of  Ethio

revenue as Ethiopia's 30'000 users.

Mobile . ETC initially underestimated

the market for mobile services, which

N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g   t h e   e v i d e n t

rapidly reached its maximum capacity

difficulty of ETC in satisfying the

of 28'000 subscribers, at which point

g r o w i n g   ( q u a n t i t a t i v e   a n d

new subscriptions were suspended (in

qualitative) demand for this service

mid 2001) until new capacity could be

(the waiting list now is over 40'000),

added. Initially, ETC also sold

there are no plans to allow another

handsets, but has since dropped this

operator to enter the market in the

as it was unable to fulfill customer

near future.

demand for greater variety, resulting

in a large number of users importing

2.2.3 The digital data network

their own handsets. For the moment,

(DDN)

mobile services cover the area of

E T C   b e g a n   t o   d e p l o y   a   l i m i t e d

Addis Abeba and its surroundings,

number digital circuits for customers

and the cities of Debre Zeit, Nazareth,

in late 1999 following increasing

Mojo and Sodore, for a total of 120 Km

demand for leased lines for Internet

of road coverage. There are four

access, 5 lines were deployed that

gateways to the PSTN from the

year, growing to 10 by December

GSM 2002, after which time coverage

2000, although 2 are used by ETC.

will be expanded and new services will

X.25 has not been deployed in the

be implemented. Doubts remain,

country and so far is not envisaged.

however, as to the demand for SMS,

In 2001, a dedicated digital data

as the technology is designed to

n e t w o r k   ( D D N )   s e r v i c e   w a s

support Latin fonts, and will not enable

developed which now provides the

messaging using the Amharic fonts

underlying infrastructure for ETC's

used by the inhabitants of Ethiopia.

Internet service and will provide

other data related services such as

As with fixed line and Internet

ISDN, data transmission for banking

services, ETC practices an unusual

networks and distance education

billing system: ETC calls each

transmissions, in the near future. A

customer every month to

t o t a l   o f   9   c i t i e s   h a v e   b e e n

communicate the amount of the bill,

commissioned (Jimma, Bahir Dar,

which then has to be paid directly at

M e k e l l e ,   D e s s i e ,   S h a s h e m e n e ,

the ETC offices. Due to backlogs in the

Awassa, Nekemti, Nazareth and Dire

system, it seems that customers are

Dawa), with a further 6 points of

9