Today, it is well recognized that the expansion of information and communication technology plays a pivotal role in the all-around political, economic and social development of the country.
Cognizant of the paramount significance that the telecom sector could play in expediting the social, political and economic development of the country, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation has been exerting its level best to raise the standard and quality of telecommunication services at national & international level and to become competent telecom service provider both at the continent and global level on the one hand and to successfully meet the society’s ever increasing modern telecom service demand on the other.
In this regard, with the new endeavor to completely overhaul the national telecommunications and information technology infrastructure, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation has been embarked upon expanding modern Next Generation Network NGN information and communications network infrastructure in order to provide reliable and cost-effective communication infrastructure system capable of supporting voice, data and video services equitably across the country and to the rest of the world with high quality and capacity digital connectivity.
The existence of dependable international network connectivity that could comply with the Corporation’s ongoing huge telecom network expansion projects is mandatory. As part of its objective to accomplish the expansion of huge, speedy and dependable network capacity that could support reliable internet, voice and data services, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation has signed a contract agreement with SEACOM telecom company for the procurement of international fiber optic bandwidth connectivity through submarine fiber communication system via Djibouti, with a total cost of 47 million USD 634.5 million Ethiopian Birr.
The agreement would cover a total capacity of 20 STM-1 3, 1000 mega bytes per second. Out of this total leased capacity, 16 STM-1 2,480 Mbps capacity will be utilized for commercial purposes while the remaining 4 STM-1 620Mbps capacity will be used for E-Government development program.
The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation has opted to sign this new contract agreement with SEACOM mainly due to SEACOM’s reliable and high potential capacity in enabling Eastern and Southern African countries to connect to the rest of the world via India and Europe as well as its least price offering for the implementation of this project as compared to the cost of other international communications.
This newly international fiber optic bandwidth connectivity will contribute a lot in enhancing the standard of the Corporation to provide quality telecom services both at the international and national level. This will also enable ETC to strengthen more the development of school net, agrinet and health activities, and the promotion of democracy and good governance with information communication technology as well as to provide effective telecom services to its customers.
SEACOM is a company that has a total capacity of 1.28 Tbps /17,000 Km/ undersea fiber optic cable system that enable to connect eastern and southern African countries with the rest of the world with reasonable price. African countries which are connected to the SEACOM system to date include South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
ETC has currently utilized a total of 897.4 Mbps capacities of broadband network gateway with the break down of 537 Mbps of optical fiber, 342.4 Mbps of satellite and 18 Mbps via microwave for international links. This international fiber optic bandwidth connectivity thus will enable the Corporation to raise the current 537Mbps capacity of fiber communication system of the country to 3,637 Mbps by 677.28% and to increase the total 897.4 Mbps capacity of broadband network gateway currently used by the country to get international links via microwave, satellite and fiber by 445.44 percent
The implementation of this project is highly expected to play a crucial role in the enhancement of international connection capacity, supporting fast, reliable and high bandwidth connectivity, the advancement of information and communications technology ICT development program as well as the achievement of the ultimate expansion of the ongoing modern Next Generation Network NGN information and communications network infrastructure in the country.
This, in turn, would play a comprehensive contribution in making the country get access to modern information and communications technology ICT, in enhancing the revenue generation capacity of the Corporation, enabling the society to obtain efficient modern telecom services and in accelerating the development of school net, woreda net, agri net, distance education, tele-medicine, rural connectivity, dependable TV broadcasting and other related services. Above all, it is believed to play its dominant role towards the successful realization of many-sided developmental goals of the Government of Ethiopia that could enable the country become categorized among the middle income earning countries within the coming few years through effective implementation of the development strategies, policies and programs.
Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation
March 18, 2010
