Communications News - Ethiopian News

By Staff Reporter

December 6, 2019 (Ezega.com) -- The Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA) has announced that it has aborted cyber attacks launched against financial institutions across the country.

Internet connection was cut off for about thirty minutes as the agency was struggling to defend the financial institutions from the attack, Deputy Director-General of the Agency Engineer Worku Gachena has said.

Swift actions are needed to thwart cyber attacks as the grand attacks have been increasing alarmingly in Ethiopia, according to Deputy Director-General.

Cyber-attacks have increased from 479 and 576 to 791 grand

July 6, 2019 (Ezega.com) -- Ethiopia announced it will soon sell 49 percent stake in Ethio Telecom to private companies. It will also open the telecom sector to two other competing multinational companies, in addition to Ethio Telecom.

Ethio Telecom, which is 100 percent owned by the Ethiopian government, has so far been the sole owner of the telecom space in Ethiopia.

In a statement to the media, State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign said the government will also offer a minority stake in Ethio Telecom, and foreign firms will be invited to bid.

There will be 'two plus one' operatores,

June 18, 2019 (Ezega.com) -- The Ethiopian parliament approved “Communications Service Proclamation” law. The law is meant to liberalize the Ethiopian telecom sector and establish a new telecom regulatory authority.

According to the new proclamation, telecommunications services, including ownership of a Telecommunications Operator or a Telecommunications Network, will be open to private domestic and foreign investors

Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said the government is preparing to privatize some state-owned entities. Minister Ahmed Shide further said Ethio Telecom will be split into two, according to FBC report. No further information wa

May 27, 2019 (Ezega.com) -- Ethiopia and China have signed agreement to jointly build a communication and broadcast satellite, according to FBC report.

The agreement was signed by in Addis Ababa by Dr. Solomon Belay, Director General of Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute, and Han Chinping, Deputy President of Chinese Rocket Company.

The satellite will be built by experts from both Ethiopia and China and will be locally sourced for 50% of the raw materials, according to the report.

Ethiopia’s Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing Satellite ETRSS-1 will be launched into space in November 2019, the Ministry s

December 20, 2018 (Ezega.com) - Ethio-Telecom announced rate reductions on international calls and international Short Message Service (SMS) effective  December 21, 2018.

International calls rates will be reduced from 10 to 40 percent, whereas international SMS rates will be reduced by 51 percent.

Rates will be reduced by 40 percent for calls to South America, 20 percent on 70.9 traffic to Europe, and 20 percent on 99.8 traffic to North America.

Also, 15 percent reduction will apply on 85.6 percent traffic to Oceania, 15 percent reduction on 98.94 traffic to Asia and Middle East, and 10 percent reduction on 28.3 percent traffi

September 23, 2018 - Just five months into the new government of Dr. Abiy Ahmed, the administration is back into the old habit of tampering with internet in times of crisis, according to Netizen Report.

According to the report, "on September 17, in what appeared to be an effort to quell social unrest, mobile internet networks were shut down across the capital city. Ethio Telecom, the country’s sole, government-owned internet and phone service provider, did not offer any public statement about the shutdown."

Dr. Abiy Ahmed came into office in April 2018 partly on promise of widening the political space and gauran

August 22, 2018 - Ethio telecom today introduced new tariffs on its services, effective from today August 22, 2018, according to FBC news report.

The just announced new tariffs for internet, voice call, and SMS services gives major break to Ethiopian users who have been paying exorbitant amounts to the state monopoly for decades.

The company reduced 43% on mobile internet, 40% on voice call, 43% on SMS and 54% on broadband internet services.

Accordingly, the new tariff for mobile phone call will be 0.50 birr per minute, down from 0.83 birr. The price for mobile internet service per MB is reduced to 0

August 3, 2018 - Several foreign companies are showing interest in Ethiopia's telecom sector, including acquiring minority shares, according to Reuters.

The companies that have shown interest include Vietnam's state-owned telecom company Viettel, Johannesburg-listed MTN, and France's Orange.

Viettel is eyeing opportunities in Ethiopia, a company official said on Monday, after the government there announced its intention to liberalise key economic sectors including telecommunications.

The Ethiopian government announced last month that it plans to sell minority shares in Ethiopian Airlines, Ethio Telecom, and other st

July 25, 2018 - The board of directors of Ethiopia's lone telecom company, Ethio Telecom, appointed new CEO, Frehiwot Tamiru, replacing Andualem Admassie (PhD), who served for five years. Andualem is now assigned as Director of the Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency.

According to reports from Capital Ethiopia, it is also learnt that the company replaced 40 individuals who were working in different positions of the company were relived on Wednesday.

Frehiwot previously worked in the former Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation as deputy CEO for Internal Support Service. She then left to set up

June 11, 2017 - The Ministry of Industry is looking into a proposal submitted by by mobile assemblers, requesting revision of its value addition requirements, according to the reporter.

This proposal came a year after a similar amendment of a value addition directive by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC). This particular directive changed the old directive which gave import privileges with an exemption of 30 percent or more, according to the rate of value addition on raw materials by local manufacturers.

It has transformed the expected value addition from one that universally applied for each indus

April 21, 2017 - Information Network Security Agency (INSA) has launched a National Integrated Satellite Television Transmission Platform that would serve public and community media in Ethiopia, reports ENA.

INSA Director-General, Major General Teklebirhan Wolde-Aregay said the platform named “Ethiosat” will contribute to the effort underway to ensure equality and fairness of media usage as well as to create informed community.

Currently, there are 15 to 20 television channels that rent satellites individually to transmit their programs, the director-general stated, adding that the platform would create opportunities to all television sta

March 8, 2017 - Ethioppia just signed agreement with a US-based company to digitalize TV transmissions, according to ENA. The Information Network Security Agency (INSA) will oversee the project to be implemented by the U.S. based GatesAir, according to the report.

The transfer of TV transmission technology from analogue to digital is expected to cost 34 million USD, coordinator of the project Gosa Demsei told ENA.

The project will be implemented in three phases, he said. He mentioned that the development of infrastructures, launching trial service and fully transfer into the digital system are the phases.

Upon com

December 10, 2016 - The US Chargé d’ Affaires in Ethiopia, Peter Vrooman, called on the Government of Ethiopia to provide uninterrupted internet and mobile access to businesses that operate in Ethiopia.

Launching the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Ethiopia, Vrooman said that continued access to the internet and mobile data are key requirements for all companies and also for the international financial institutions that evaluate foreign projects in Ethiopia.

Avoiding mentioning the current internet shutdown directly in his inaugural speech, the Chargé d’ Affaires instead pointed out that Ethiopia should reconsider the vitality of

December 2, 2016 - All mobile Internet services were restored on Friday evening December 2 after being shut down for the last two months, according to Capital. Social media and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook, and Instagram are still blocked. In Addis Ababa, this is the longest sustained mobile Internet service shutdown that has taken place.

The unrest that started more than a year ago precipitated internet interruptions in Ethiopia. Since the state of emergency was announced, in particular, the Ethiopian government imposed a number of restrictions on internet usage, including access to much of social media

November 1, 2016 - Lately, a glance at the business centres and Internet cafes that line the streets of Addis Ababa tends to reveal a strange lack of customers. Even in the late afternoons when schools let out and students crowd the streets. Morning customers aren’t plentiful at the best of times, but now, with the declaration of the state of emergency and the shutdown of social media and mobile Internet networks, business centres that usually see many customers a day now don’t see even half that number. The answer to this seeming paradox may lie in the shutdown of social media sites. There are four mill

January 14, 2013 - Ethio Telecom terminated its contract with France Telecom (Orange) contract was terminated without bonus payment, according to Capital. According to the report, the sole communications provider in Ethiopia, Ethio Telecom, which was managed by the European telecom firm for the past two and half years, is now back in the hands of Ethiopians.

The company that was selected from various international firms has concluded its contract with some success in relation to modernizing the operation and upgrading parts of the

August 12, 2012 - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the Chinese private telecom vender contending to clinch Ethio Telecom’s upcoming billions of dollars lucrative project against rival ZTE, the Chinese state-owned telecom equipment manufacturer, topped world’s leader Ericsson in half-year revenue, according to the Reporter.

The two, however, are neck and neck, according to freshly released reports, and a new contract or fluctuation in currency in countries the two companies are based and established could see them changing places once again.

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June 15, 2012 - The Ethiopian government has banned the use of VoIP services like Google Talk, according to Al Jazeera. Using VoIP services is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison, according to new law dated May 24, 2012. This law actually passed last month, but mostly went unnoticed outside of the country. Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns” and to protect the state’s telecommunications monopoly.

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October 3, 2011 - The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) has allowed companies running Internet-dependant operations to acquire VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal), according to The Reporter.

The ministry issued some months ago a directive allowing companies and organizations which are dependent on the Internet and those working in remote areas of the country where there is no access to the Internet to use VSAT, according to Debretsion Gebremichael, Minister of MICT.

The move came on the heels of complaints from companies whose operations h

March 18, 2010 -- The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has signed agreement with SEACOM to connect Ethiopia to its sea fibre optics network, reports IT News Africa.

The privately funded submarine fibre optic cable system will provide Ethiopia with international broadband fibre connectivity and a backhaul link through Djibouti.

“As we have seen in other countries that gained access to SEACOM, it is only a matter of time before the direct socio-economic benefits created by cheap and readily available bandwidth begin to man