Ethiopia and Technology: The case of Ethiopian Telecommunications:

The need for modern telecommunications infrastructure in Ethiopia is a vital asset to the economy as a whole, however the power to control such industry lies on which entity can effectively manage and able to compete in the world market. The debate “Government verses the private sector” with regards to control of our Telecommunication Industry is quickly emerging with strong points from both entities.

It is very true the deployment of modern networking will accelerate Ethiopia’s entry into the globalization to fuel the expansion of its domestic economies in conjunction with the growth of the world-wide global economy. However who should lead the role to this promise land?

The world of telecommunications, just as with every other technology-related industry is a very dynamic one with a constant need to remain competitive and up-to-date, hence no telecommunications company wants to be left behind. The merging of SBC with ATT, MCI-Verizon/MCI and now ATT with Bell South should send a signal to those countries that these companies have realized that telecom competition is rapidly becoming about network breadth and service depth. Sadly the speed of the technology and Globalization seems running against Ethiopia simply because we are not motivated by profit, rather by political forward looking policies:   Since all the mass media from TV, radio, internet, voice and data are transmitted through telecommunication it is not hard to determine how telecommunication can serve as an important key for any government in power in order to secure power.

What is forgotten is that most of those telecommunication networks are bought through loans from IMF and related agencies. Countries are obligated to pay the interest on these loans to their lenders. The speed of technology and globalization is running faster, yet, Ethiopia and other African countries are behind in paying their interest simply because they are not generating profit to pay their debt and they are not even getting more loans from these agencies to improve their existing out dated network.  Even if they get the loan the interest on these new loans will be more expensive and even hard to pay them back. Hence, the lack of a viable telecommunication option devoid of political motives, result in some catastrophic economic consequences.

It is not really competitive  for us while other countries are enhancing DSL by driving Fiber Optical (carries more data and it is the fastest) to carry IP traffic while we are struggling with Dial -up and worst of all our services are lacking behind every nation on the planet.

One of the solution to this problem is, when it comes to large infrastructures like telecommunication, should be to have an overseeing independent governing body, (non-partisan organization) like the one in USA. FCC is an independent entity responsible for the air wave and telecom infrastructure in the USA. This independent body should be the watch dog of the private sector to ensure fair and balance practices by the private sector. The government allowing the private sector to take control, will ensure free market where demand and supply will determine the price with guidelines, including but not limited to price control, monopoly, abuses, and various measures set by the government. This will bring checks and balances in the industry which will yield to growth and better services for everyone.

Obviously, national security concerns should be weight in also.  It is always more reliable/viable to control the critical components of the telecommunication infrastructure under all circumstances. Therefore, the national security component must be a very important if not the most important factor to consider here.

Yetbarek D. Bezabih

Jan 10, 2007

Sr. Telecommunication Analyst