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A discussion forum jointly organized by the
Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) and the Addis Ababa Chamber of
Commerce and Sectorial Associations (ACCSA) on the future growth of the
telecommunications business and the involvement of the private sector was
conducted in Sheraton Addis on Thursday, March 23, 2006. The forum was attended
by members of ACCSA, ETC officials and representatives of various organizations.
In
his opening remark, ACCSA President, Ato Eyesuswork Zafu said that a wide range
of views are currently being forwarded on the privatization of the telecom
sector both from the public and various organizations. He added that there is no
better body to give clear and reliable explanations on the issue than getting it
full-scale from the horse’s mouth.
He
therefore invited Ato Tesfaye Birru, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the
Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) to highlight the participants of
the forum on the current activities of ETC as well as on the regulatory issues
of the telecom sector and other related issues.
Ato Tesfaye Birru, CEO of ETC, on his part
raised a range of points on the background, strategies, and role of the telecom
sector as well as its future prospects, the possible challenges posed on the
sector and the role and possible involvement of the private sector in the
telecom industry.
He
said that just as humanity, liberty and equality, access to information
infrastructure is a fundamental right of the people in our Age of Information.
Hence, there is a need to fulfill this basic right through the provision of ICT
infrastructure to which the ETC is totally committed.
He
added that we have missed to be part of a number of revolutions such as the
agriculture, industrial, and nuclear revolutions, but we are currently doing our
level best to embrace the Information Technology (IT) revolution. ICT and
streamlining of ICT are proved to be crucial to create an informed society and
information-based economy.
It
is also vital for the promotion of justice, health, education and the overall
development of the economy of the country, he said, adding that, the development
of ICT infrastructure is believed to be instrumental in serving as a backbone to
take part in the ongoing information revolution.
Ato
Tesfaye also underlined that the development of the telecom sector kicks off
from full and sustainable provision of equitable and non-discriminatory access
of the general public to telecom infrastructure facilities and services. “We
want to engage in business but first ensuring that all have access to the basic
infrastructure as it is their fundamental and universal right”, he added.
He notified the clear understanding stating
that everyone has the indispensability right on the use of telecom
infrastructural facilities for business purposes. He however stressed on the
need to working harder than ever to leapfrog in the harnessing of the telecom
infrastructure for business activities as Ethiopia is one of the least developed
countries.
With regard to the issue of the
privatization of the telecom sector, Ato Tesfaye said that ETC has been looking
for a strategic partner on the extension of infrastructure and the rendering of
ensuing services, but since those who offered for this were mostly mediocre, the
attempt was not successful.
He
explained that the installation of basic infrastructure requires huge investment
capital due to which the private sector has been repelled from participation. On
top of this, the privatization of telecom sector also demands a strong and
adaptable regulatory body and pertinent policy, and the transformation and
promotion of the incumbent towards competition, according to the CEO.
Both
for the full involvement of the private sector and equitable provision of
services for the public, At Tesfaye said that the establishment of electronic
highways and public roads is a necessity.
The CEO further stated that despite the
lack of strategic partners and the huge cost of investment on connectivity, ETC
has been doing its best possible to fulfill the necessary infrastructure for the
uplink and thus opened the way wide for basic service rendering and enhancing
access of connectivity for business and development endeavors.
Ato Tesfaye indicated that ETC has been
working hard towards infrastructure development although much remained to be
accomplished on the service provision in which the private sector could fully
participate with a better benefit and prospect.
With regard to harnessing the telecom
infrastructure, Ato Tesfaye stressed that the main business lies on effective
rendering of the downlink service but not connectivity both for business and
profit makers, adding that, there are lucrative opportunities in involving the
private sector in the telecom industry including, among others, outsourcing,
maintenance, and customer premises facilities.
Nevertheless, Ato Tesfaye said the stated
opportunities are not yet fully utilized. He also reiterated that ETC has been
encouraging the private sector participation and remarkable achievement has been
witnessed towards this direction within relatively a short period of time.
The Ethiopian Telecommunications Agency,
which is the regulatory body of the telecom sector, is currently engaged in the
issuance of VAT licenses over and above reselling of service access. Over 5000
outsourcing licenses have so far been issued, he said.
The private sector,
according to Ato Tesfaye can therefore lease connectivity and render services,
or involve into the sector with its own web servers and other necessary telecom
infrastructure. He also pointed out that there are untapped opportunities for
the private sector in the areas of content and application services, software
development and application as well as core center licenses.
According to the CEO, ETC has also left the
supply of apparatus to the market needed for ICT to the private sector, which
really is believed to be a profitable business. On the issue raised from the
participants stating that ETC has licensed private sector participation on only
a limited segment of the available opportunities, Ato Tesfaye responded that
such allegation is far from the truth on the ground and is only an opinion that
has rolled down from the past when the sector was not reformed.
Instead, he said, ETC would be happy and
gain the maximum benefit if the investors of the Ethiopian nationals are engaged
in the telecom sector. He even added that ETC would help the participation of
the private sector in the provision of services by providing relevant trainings
and pursuing in-service capacity building programs as well as through the
enhancement of joint ventures with the private sector.
Ato Tesfaye said ETC is currently engaged
in the implementation of a number of huge telecom projects in which most of them
are successfully accomplished. The projects include, among others, deployment of
broadband network, telecom technology updating and provision of state-of-the-art
infrastructure, building redundancy in networking, connectivity projects both in
urban and rural areas, he indicated.
He stated that the national transmission
line has been fully digitized with a high capacity of 156MB microwave
transmission facility together with the deployment of the Optical Fiber High way
Project, a very reliable, feasible and promising infrastructure, for over
4,000kms fanning out from the metropolis and planned to cover all parts of the
country.
According to the CEO, the Optical Fiber
Highway Project deployment has been successfully undertaken within only a few
months of period through the all-round mobilization of the community in the
project implementation areas. The implementation of the fiber project would
enable to offer data, voice and video services in an integrated manner to the
users from the same platform using only one single route coupled with the
provision of ample access to the Broadband Multimedia Network.
Remote areas which were once unreachable
with telecom services are currently managed to get connected through the
broadband network access in which over 5,000 of the 15,000 rural kebeles have
currently got access to various telecom services through the implementation of
the rural connectivity project all over the country, he said.
Ato Tesfaye however said that there are
only a handful of organizations that are currently utilizing the broadband
multimedia and Internet facilities and services of the Corporation.
Finally Ato Tesfaye pointed out the
presence of the challenges ahead, which according to him should be overcome with
a view to effectively coping with the global telecom technology. |
