Ethiopia Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband Statistics and Analyses 2017 – Research and Markets

Ethio Telecom’s monopolistic control has stifled innovation, restricted network expansion and limited the scope of services on offer in the country.

DUBLIN (Business Wire)–The “Ethiopia – Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband – Statistics and Analyses” report has been added to Research and Markets’ offering.

Ethio Telecom soon to connect to Gulf2Africa cable

Ethiopia is one of the last countries in Africa allowing its national telco, Ethio Telecom, a monopoly on all telecom services including fixed, mobile, internet and data communications. This monopolistic control has stifled innovation, restricted network expansion and limited the scope of services on offer. A management contract with Orange Group had dramatically improved performance for Ethio Telecom though there remain weaknesses in quality of service. Although the contract was considered a first step towards privatization and the introduction of competition, the government in 2013 again rejected calls to privatize the incumbent and allow market competition, citing the need for higher profits from the company to subsidize an unrelated railway project.

Although there is considerable investment in telecoms services some $3.1 billion has been invested in telecom infrastructure and service expansion projects over the last decade the sector is heavily regulated and the government has complete control over networks, with virtually unlimited access to the call records of all phone users and to logs of internet traffic. Most of the technologies deployed have been provided by ZTE and Huawei, which have often been favored for offering vendor financing.

Despite major vendor contracts aimed at improving the reach and capabilities of mobile networks, the country’s mobile penetration remains among the lowest in the world. Nevertheless, growth is strong and considerable growth potential remains. Under the auspices of the government’s Growth and Transformation Plan, the country could have some 103 million mobile subscribers by 2020, as well as 56 million internet subscribers.

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