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Shouldn't Ethio-Telecom Investigate the Collapses of New Telecom Towers in Addis? [opinion](AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Contrary to the huge investment on the telecom sector of the country by taxpayers, the quality of the network infrastructure has remained doubtful even after the announcement made by the operator- ethio-telecom- about the completion of the Addis Ababa network expansion project as well as that of 4G technologies. As the operator announced the completion of the network expansion project and the installation of the 4G broadband technologies in the capital Addis Ababa- which is part of the 1.6 billion dollars project, some of the towers witnessed a collapse while others suffered less grave damage. Three towers of different sites appeared to fail to give service within weeks of being put into commercial usage. This has in turn clouded fear on the expected service provision. Though the country has been investing billions of dollars in the sector, the investment could hardly address the serious connectivity problems citizens are facing in their day-to-day activities. In the last six years alone, over 3.1 billion dollars went to the sector so as to improve the network infrastructure. The 1.6 billion dollar vendor financing project signed in August 2013 between the sole operator of the sector- ethio-telecom- and the two Chinese telecom companies -ZTE and Huawei -is among the biggest projects expected to enhance the connectivity level in the country. In the project that divided the country into 13 zones, the capital Addis Ababa was considered one zone and given to Huawei- the Chinese private owned telecom giant in Ethiopia for the first time. The award also includes the 4G technologies. The other 12 zones, which are equally, shared by Huawei and ZTE- another Chinese telecom giant that has been working on the network infrastructure in the country since 2007-are still waiting for the order of the operator to implement the new project despite the fact that only a year is left for the time scheduled for the completion of the project. That is not in fact what is surprising. What is surprising is that even the already completed network infrastructure - the one in the capital- seemed to fail to address the connectivity problem. Internet browsing and phone connectivity has remained questionable. As a result, the country's ranking in the digital economy is reducing against the investment and expectations. In the 2013 ranking by the United Nation's International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Ethiopia's rank has shown a one rank drop from the previous year; from 150th to 151th out of 157 countries. According to the available figures, the average call drop in the city for instance, often goes over 50 percent. The performance of the service when it comes to Internet browsing too is not exceptional despite the cost. which is among the most expensive in the region. Of course, the operator announced last week that it reduced existing tariff of the monthly payment of 3G mobile and Internet services for 3G technology subscribers. It reduced the tariff from a 100 birr to 60 birr while the cost for upgrading from 2G to 3g remained intact- 30 birr. The reduction is believed to increase the current 300,000 3G subscribers in the country. Once the 1.6 billion dollar project is completed, the total number of mobile subscribers is expected to grow to 50 million from its current 23 million. What is more attention grabbing currently however, seems to be the tower failure issues that have occurred recently. The telecom towers erected in 412 sites in the city are among the factors that put the quality of the network infrastructure under question. The infrastructure, especially the towers and RRUs are failing to give the expected service within weeks and this in turn has clouded the hopes of residents being offered efficient and modern services in the sector. Among the 412 sites that are part of the expansion project, this writer came to know three collapsed towers in different sites of different sub-cities. These are sites in Kolfe Keranio, Gulelle and Nifas Silklafto sub -cities. The tower in the Asko area in a specific place called Romie Meda of Gulele sub-city was erected three months ago and collapsed within two months. It is now cleared and to be erected again on a different foundation. Another site appeared in front of the Ethiopian Electric Power distribution station in the Kara area of Kolfe Keranio sub-city (with a site ID 111690) was bended and now under development to erect it better. The third site is in Hanamariam area. In addition to the collapsed towers, some other towers are also erected on ongoing and unfinished buildings. As you all might have already known, ethio- telecom admitted the case at Hanamariam. but it claimed that it failed due to civil works going on around the tower. Contrary to what the operator says, however, the factors that are hindering the tower services are mainly attributed to the contractors that are in charge of building the foundation and the quality of some technical equipment of which the tower is made up of. The work of building the foundation of the towers is basically given to a number of small scale enterprises that organized themselves into groups and are financed by the government. These enterprises are blamed for the quality problems of the foundation while the vendor is responsible for the towers that are imported from China and Egypt. In the Kara site for instance, the contractor that was awarded to work on it at the very beginning is no longer working there after the blending of the tower. At this particular site, this writer has learnt of another small-scale enterprise that agreed to build the fence for the tower, and is now working on part of the foundation as well. According to close sources disclosed to this writer, the site was finally accepted after a debate between stakeholders including the vendor and ethio-telecom. In the case of the Kolfe site on the other hand, the legs of the tower were a bit sunk in- ten millimeters down, but it finally collapsed and was cleared by the vendor. Towers of all the 412 new sites use two kinds of towers- towers with a height of 30 meters and 45 meters. The other thing that put the quality of the towers at risk is that some parts of the towers that were rusted burst. By and large, it seems like the right time for the operator to investigate the cases and come up with a solution that enables us be offered better services that fits the huge amount of money we tax payers are investing. Ed.'s Note: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Reporter. Copyright The Reporter. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |