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

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

Ethiopia is one of the last countries in Africa to allow its national telco a monopoly on all telecom services including fixed, mobile, internet and data communications. For many years Ethio Telecom’s monopolistic control stifled innovation, restricted network expansion and limited the scope of services on offer. However, a management contract with Orange Group has dramatically improved the company’s performance, though there remain weaknesses in quality of service. Although the contract was considered a first step towards sector privatization and the introduction of competition, the government has rejected calls to progress along these lines, citing the need for higher profits from the company to subsidize unrelated projects.

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. Policies have been guided by the government’s Growth and Transformation Plan.

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