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 0.23 birr from 0.35 birr. The company also reduced 33-44% on mobile internet package.
It is also learnt that Ethio Telecom has temporally suspended the sale of mobile broadband Sim cards.
Although a great first step, these rates are still expensive by world standards, especially for a poor country like Ethiopia. In countries like the USA, for example, people pay as low as 600 Br per month for unlimited broadband internet usage. The current mobile internet rate could mean 2-5 times more expensive for businesses and families with moderate to high internet use.
The high rates as well as poor services has affected not only the proliferation of technology into the country, but also business and the overall growth in the country.