African Phone Provider Sets Up in Capital

The telecommunications company Vodacom Group officially opened its representative office in Addis Ababa on December 3, 2013. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and dignitaries including the British ambassador to Ethiopia.

The chief operating officer (COO) of Vodacom International Limited, Romeo Kumalo, said during the launch, "Ethiopia is a very important market to us. We obtained our investment license and commercial registration several months ago, and we hope to develop a long-term relationship with the Ethiopian people and learn more about this exciting market."

The COO added, "We are starting with a small staff to engage with our international customers, such as Kenya Airways and DHL, and at the same time looking closely at the Ethiopian telecom market, as we hope to join the sector."

"But to give a telecom service it might take too long, but we will wait to see what will happen," he said. "But until then we will work closely with Ethiopian people and engage in different social affairs, such as establishing partnerships with different NGOs."

In this regard, Vodacom has signed a partnership agreement with the Federal Ministry of Health and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). They aim to establish low cost neo--natal intensive care units in Shashemene Hospital of the Oromia region and Sodo Hospital in the Southern Nation's Nationalities and Peoples Region, with the view to save the lives of pre-term and at-risk newborn babies.

source: www.allafrica.com

After seizing equipment, Ethiopia goes ahead with Huawei deal

Despite the incident, Huawei has been picked by Ethio Telecom, a state-owned telecom company, to roll out a high-speed 4G network across the country's capital, Addis Ababa, as part of a $1.6 billion deal signed earlier this year with Huawei Technologies and ZTE.

In October this year, Ethiopian tax authority ERCA said it would confiscate the equipment and slap the company with a tax avoidance charge, after the equipment had been held in a warehouse for almost a year. The equipment was imported into the country toward the end of 2012 after Ethio Telecom made known plans to expand its network in the East African country.

Ethio Telecom is the sole telecommunication services provider in Ethiopia and the only operator in the East Africa region that is still under tight state control. The Ethiopian government has refused to open up its telecom sector to private investors.

According to a Ethiopian government official, Ethiopia and China became involved in diplomatic talks over seizure of the equipment. The two countries are said to have agreed that it was important to maintain good bilateral relations by allowing Huawei to take back the equipment.

However, the Chinese company has also been ordered by ERCA to pay five percent of the total tax due on the equipment as well as warehouse charges incurred over the past one year.

"We had planned to slap the company with tax avoidance charge and confiscate the equipment. But the two countries got involved in the issue and it was agreed that it was important to maintain cordial bilateral relations," an ERCA source said on condition of anonymity. He said China has been a major funder of several ICT projects in Ethiopia, including the $1.5 billion Millennium project aimed at creating a fiber-optic network across the country.

source: www.pcadvisor.co

Ethiopia: Paving the Way for Dubai 2020 Expo

Dubai has been climbing the ladder of economic prosperity during the past thirty or so years. Recently a small city in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) , Dubai, has secured the opportunity to host the upcoming World Expo in 2020.

In relation to the 2020 Expo, and eying more business ties, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry is joining hands to promote the expo. Last week, Hassan Al Hashemi, vice president of international relations for the chamber, was in Addis Ababa to confer with the East and Southern African countries' diplomats. In addition to improving business ties with the region, he has a mission to prepare Africa for the Dubai expo.

On that occasion, Al Hashemi sat down with Birhanu Fikade of The Reporter to discuss Dubai business community's interest in Ethiopia and its challenges. Excerpts: The Reporter: I understand that you [members of the Dubai Business community] are showing interest in Ethiopia's banking and telecom sectors. Did you approach the government in this respect?

Hassan Al Hashemi: What we have been hearing from the business community in Dubai is that there is a lot of potential in Ethiopia. Surely, we can bring a lot of know-how to these sectors that you mentioned. But the banking sector needs to be opened to foreign investors. It's an important sector. I know from our members that they are very much interested to be able to set up representations in the banking industry. I know the telecommunication sector as well interests them . Our major telecom operator, Etisalat, is very much interested in the Ethiopian market. We understand the policy of the government; and we respect it. According to the our member businesses, there is a lot to improve in those industries like the retail trade, telecommunication, and banking. More specifically, Islamic banking modality is very important to the market.

source: www.allafrica.com

vodacom seeks entry into ethiopia's telecom sector

South Africa’s Vodacom Group has opened its first office in Ethiopia in an attempt to establish its presence in the country.

The company, which has a strong presence in several African countries including Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC, Nigeria, and of course South Africa, has described Ethiopia as the “most fantastic telecoms market on the continent.”

“We would invest here tomorrow… One operator, 80 million people, the economy growing at 7% – it’s a great market,” Vodacom Group chief executive officer, Romeo Kumalo told Reuters.

The Telecoms firm says it will soon apply for a license to offer value-added services – all other services aside from standard voice calls. This is seen as an attempt to position itself in anticipation of the government’s opening of the country’s telecommunications sector to private investors.

More than 200 Telecoms companies have applied for similar licenses from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, but only MTN group has been granted the authority to offer value-added services. But MTN is yet to set up shop in the country.

Ethiopia’s state-run Ethio Telecom continues to maintain a monopoly in telecoms and refuses to liberalize the sector saying the USD 321 million generated by the company every year is used to finance infrastructure projects. Foreign investors continue to show great interest in the sector, which Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has described as a “cash cow”.

Ethio Telecom recently made deals with Huawei and ZTE to expand the mobile phone infrastructure throughout the country. The two deals will see the introduction of a 4G network in Addis Ababa and expansion of mobile phone and 3G internet access throughout the rest of the country.

source : www.zegabi.com

Huawei to roll out 4G service in Ethopia's capital Addis ababa

Ethiopia's Ethio Telecom said has selected  Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, launch a high-speed 4G network across the Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa. Early this year Ethio Telecom had signed a $1.6 billion deal with Chinese frims Huawei and ZTE to expand mobile phone infrastructure across Ethiopia. Reuters has quoted Abdurahim Ahmed, Ethio Telecom's head of communications as saying “"In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services - the 2G, 3G, IP and the like.” More than 400,000 subscribers are likely to benefit from the 4G roll-out which will be completed in eight months. The rapid growth of Africa's telecoms industry is being linked with its economic growth. The continent’s telecom subscriber base was 650 million last year.

source: www.telecomtiger.com