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Ethiopia Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband Statistics and Analyses 2017 - Research and Markets

[August 21, 2017]

Ethiopia Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband Statistics and Analyses 2017 - Research and Markets

The "Ethiopia - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

Ethio Telecom soon to connect to Gulf2Africa cable

Ethiopia is one of the last countries in Africa allowing its national telco, Ethio Telecom, a monopoly on all telecom services including fixed, mobile, internet and data communications. This monopolistic control has stifled innovation, restricted network expansion and limited the scope of services on offer. A management contract with Orange (News - Alert) Group had dramatically improved performance for Ethio Telecom though there remain weaknesses in quality of service. Although the contract was considered a first step towards privatisation and the introduction of competition, the government in 2013 again rejected calls to privatise the incumbent and allow market competition, citing the need for higher profits from the company to subsidise an unrelated railway project.

Although there is considerable investment in telecoms services some $3.1 billion has been invested in telecom infrastructure and service expansion projects over the last decade the sector is heavilyregulated and the government has complete control over networks, with virtually unlimited access to the call records of all phone users and to logs of internet traffic. Most of the technologies deployed have been provided by ZTE (News - Alert) and Huawei, which have often been favoured for offering vendor financing.

Despite major vendor contracts aimed at improving the reach and capabilities of mobile networks, the country's mobile penetration remains among the lowest in the world. Nevertheless, growth is strong and considerable growth potential remains. Under the auspices of the government's Growth and Transformation Plan, the country could have some 103 million mobile subscribers by 2020, as well as 56 million internet subscribers.

The country's broadband market is also set to develop further following massive increases in international bandwidth, improvements in national fibre backbone infrastructure and the growing availability of mobile broadband services via 3G and LTE (News - Alert) networks. After years of low uptake due to prohibitive pricing, retail prices are now comparable to other more developed markets in the region.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive summary

2. Key statistics

3. Country overview

4. Telecommunications market

5. Regulatory environment

6. Fixed network operator

7. Telecommunications infrastructure

8. Smart infrastructure

9. Fixed-line broadband market

10. Digital economy

11. Mobile market