Ethiopia Internet Case Study

capital, but is probably more related

additional leased lines, however these

to the limited availability of telecom

will only be deployed once the tariff

infrastructure. ETC does give line

and procedures for allocating leased

installation priority to signed up

data lines are finalized by DDN.

EthioNet subscribers who also require

a telephone line, but this is still subject

EthioNet also has a Web development

to availability of infrastructure.

and hosting unit called EthioPages. It

Unfortunately, the wireless local oop

currently hosts websites for a total of

(WLL) system that has been deployed

69 organizations, including 18 NGOs,

in some areas does not adequately

23 government organizations and

support data communications.

27 private companies (see Table 7).

These are not problems simply

3.2

Pricing structure for

confined to areas outside the capital 

Internet services

even in Addis Abeba lack of phone

lines and access to computers is a

The tariff for the EthioNet's dial up

severe problem for many potential

service is based on five subscriber

customers, as is demonstrated by the

categories as shown in Table 8 (C1 5).

usage statistics on the international

The fees established at the launch of

link. Traffic falls off dramatically

the service were based on the

between 1700 hours and 0800 hours,

expectation of fewer customers and

showing that there is limited

were subsequently revised downwards

residential consumer use, with most

by 25 50 per cent in November 1997

of the activity taking place during

and have since remained as Table 8.

office hours using business phone

lines and computers.

Website development is also provided

by ETC and has a complex pricing

As of December 2001, 66 per cent of

strategy:

the user base comprised private

accounts, 5 per cent was government,

Uploading & verifying pages  

20 per cent international

25 Birr per screen page.

organizations, embassies and

Web page Development (Text

businesses, and 9 per cent academic,

file)   100 Birr per screen page.

health and agriculture. In the two

Scanning artwork   50 Birr /

years between December 1999 and

image.

December 2001, the total number of

Scanning artwork with animation

dial up minutes per month more than

  300 Birr per image.

doubled, from 3'443'549 to 7'768'617,

Multimedia file creation (wav,

which translates to a small decrease

PDF, jpg etc)   Birr 150 per

in usage during that period, from 23 to

image/file.

22 hours per month per user. During

Real Audio media production  

the same period the number of

40 Birr/ file hour

accessible dial up lines grew from

Real Video production at 50 Birr/

224 to 1'088, of which 384 are now

file hour.

located outside Addis Abeba. Monthly

Interactive web page customized

revenues during this period increased

format using HTML Coded Forms

190 per cent, from 2.3M Birr/month

(CGI, Java etc)    200 Birr per

to 4.4M Birr/month. Interestingly,

page and 5 Birr per custom field.

almost all of this increase took place

Logo design   80 Birr/image.

between March and December 2001,

Database development   80 Birr/

during which time the user base grew

hour.

by 160 per cent.

Banner advertising   400 Birr/

month.

EthioNet has provided ten 64Kbps

Hard disk rental   17 Birr/MB/

leased lines so far, with most having

month (html), and 42 Birr/MB/

been made available to government

Month for multimedia files.

organizations and some international

Web page formatting using

organizations such as UNECA.  There

Tables   Birr 50 per file and 2 Birr

is a waiting list of about 55 for

per table element.

20