The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has made a surprise announcement that on April 8 it will increase the capacity of broadband internet in Ethiopia by 445 percent. Currently, a trial of the international broadband fibre connection through Djibouti is being conducted. The connection is owned by Seacom, a Mauritian company.

Although it had been known that negotiations between ETC and Seacom had been ongoing for over two years, it was not expected that an agreement would result in the extra capacity being delivered within such a short space of time.

Amare Amsalu, CEO of ETC, stated confidently that a new IT chapter for Ethiopia is about to begin, as the enhancement of international connection capacity is expected to support fast, reliable and high bandwidth connectivity.

At the signing ceremony held last Thursday, March 18 between ETC and Seacom for the procurement of international fibre optic bandwidth connectivity through submarine fibre communication, Amare told journalists that the corporation will provide a 20 STM-1 (3,100 megabytes per second [mbps] ) internet service for the public as of April 8. The existing capacity delivered by ETC from optical fibre, microwave and satellite is only 897.1 mbps.

An anonymous expert at ETC corroborated the view of his CEO, saying that the new international connection will provide the capacity for many extra users to access the internet at much higher speeds than have been available up until now. He added that the development will also make international communication via the internet a far easier task.

Over the last few years, the state monopoly telecoms provider, ETC, has laid about 10,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable across the country for the access of international gateways via Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya. "We have also finalised fibre optic cable extending about 70km from the Somaliland border," Amare said. Four years ago, optical fibre connected Ethiopia and Sudan via the northern border town of Metema with a capacity of 537 mbps.

From the new capacity, 16 STM-1(2,480 mbps) will be utilised for commercial purposes, while the remaining 4 STM-1(620 mbps) will be used for e-government programs.

ETC currently has a capacity of 897.4 mbps, which breaks down as 537 mbps of optical fibre, 342.4 mbps of satellite and 18 mbps from microwave via Djibouti for international links. The new connectivity will enable the corporation to raise the current 537 mbps capacity of fibre communication of the country to 3,637 mbps, or increased it by 677.28 percent, and to increase the total 897.4 mbps capacity currently used via microwave, satellite and fibre by 445.44 percent.

The new connectivity comes at a total cost of 47 million dollars (634.5 million birr) and has the capacity to provide for 20 million customers. Currently there are tens of thousands of Ethiopian internet subscribers, with Addis Ababa having the major share.

It is hoped that plentiful and readily available bandwidth will result in lower telecommunications costs and new opportunities across many sectors of the Ethiopian economy, including ICT industries, but also educational, clinical, and scientific projects that rely on the real-time sharing of data around the world at fast speeds. It will also enable new technologies, such as high definition TV and peer to peer networks.

Amare said that Seacom offered the lowest price out of the companies that bid to implement the scheme. He also stated that Seacom has agreed to provide a reduced charge for e-government services. School net, woreda net, revenue net, telemedicine and agrinet are some of the existing e-government programs.
The contract will last from seven to 20 years, according to Abdurahim Ahmed, Head of Corporate Communications at ETC.

Currently, out of total internet usage, data downloading takes an 85 per cent share, which shows that a high bandwidth service will save time and expense, Abdurahim explained at the ceremony.

Seacom, the privately-funded and over three-quarter African-owned submarine fibre optic cable firm, has a total capacity of 1.28 terabytes per second. It owns 17 000km of submarine fibre optic cable enabling eastern and southern African countries to connect to the rest of the world via India and Europe. It is the first such cable to connect to the east African coast.

African countries connected to the Seacom system to date include South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia. Three of these countries, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, are landlocked countries unable to link directly with the international fibre optic cable. Ethiopia has been trying to link with the international line due to a lack of agreement with neighbouring countries about cable extending procedures and related issues, including sovereignty- and security-related matters.

Source: Read More @CapitalEthiopia