NAIROBI: Ethiopian telecommunications company Ethio Telecom has reduced calls from landlines across zones. According to a statement on the company’s website, the rates were cut two-thirds to 83 cents per minute during peak hours and to 35 cents in off peak hours, a reduction of some 230 percent.

The move has left Ethiopian customers excited about the possibility of using their phone more often without extra costs. “I am very excited because I live in Addis [Ababa] and my son lives outside our zone, so to call them will be a great opportunity now,” Hallelujah Tharen, a mother of three, told Bikyamasr.com via telephone.

Ethio also hopes that the move will increase users and more phone calls being made throughout the day. To offset the cost reduction, the company is expecting more usage across the board.

“We hope to be able to create more phone calls going out and this way it will be to create more people using the phone throughout the day to maintain and hopefully boost our revenue,” said Abdurahim Ahmed, Public Communications Head at Ethio Telecom.

The reduction in rates is part of a new business plan by the telecommunications provider that also avoids price variations for in-town calls and out-of-town calls according to Abdurahim.

The number of subscribers to landline services in Ethiopia has been slow to grow compared to subscribers to mobile services increasing by only 37pc since 2005. The number of subscribers reached 836,000 last year after a century of fixed line services offered in the country. In comparison mobile service subscriptions reached 10.5 million in 2011 which is a 931% growth from just six years ago.



Source: www.bikyamasr.com