By Tizita Kebede
The Daily Monitor
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) announced on Wednesday its plans to start off operation of installed high-tech multi-inclusive equipments, and thus entertain about 6.5 million more customers during the current fiscal year.
While conferring with local media regarding the corporation’s performance assessment report at ETC’s head office, Amare Amsalu, CEO of the Corporation, Zelalem Bekele, Chief Technical Director, and Abdurahim Ahmed, Communication Affairs Division Manager, divulged the finalization of imports of varied facilities that can enable customers nationwide to utilize them from any locality which are cost effective at the same time.
The CEO said that in addition to the 4000 optical fiber installation, a 2000km additional installation carried out in last year’s budget year will help avoid the internet disconnection problems, particularly due to the malpractices of cutting off the fiber wires that had been witnessed in certain areas. Complementary radio equipment installations in all the service areas have also been operational and now are undergoing pilot-testing, according to Amare.
In parallel, ececutive officer addressed the need to engage in microwave transmission services where there are not optical fiber facilities. Wireless mobile phones are being allocated during this quarter year period to that end, he said.
To alleviate the problems related to the broad band internet network connections, Amare and his colleagues informed the press that 155 mega bites of more fiber links have been created both through links with Sudan and Djibouti, apart from installations of New Generation fixed network facilities which provide all-inclusive services delivery via data and audio-visual services that make use of fiber networks instead of copper networks which render limited internet connection and band width services.
“We believe this umbrella project will bring overall changes in service rendering in the capital as well as in the regions through out the country,” said Amare adding that after the installations are due, about 670 weredas will be capacitated to use the ellaoate broad band services such as video-conferencing, high speed data sending and receiving, among other cost effective transactions.
Meanwhile, to deliver automated services to the people a grand Customer Care and Billing project has been finalized during the past budget year, according to Amare. This project is undertaken such that it can serve close to15 million customers.
Updating ETC’s poor call centre services has also been imperative, admitted Amare besides to contending that, in order to escalate ETC’s present call centre to international standards and enable it to give appropriate services, a vast 750-seat modern call centre has already been built which is believed to entertain 16 million users at a time.
The officials in addition disclosed that to enclose the lower and lower middle section of the society in the phone service delivery, projects are underway to install up to 60,000 cost effective public pay-phones that can serve customers across the country wherever there are mobile as well as wire phone service signals and not necessarily terminals.
Besides to pay-phones, 15,000 E-cards have also been imported to serve those who cannot always purchase a 25 birr voucher card which is the minimum price needed to make a call with a mobile phone.
With the provision of services for the previous year’s 800,000 customers and this year’s 639,074 new customers, the corporation has procured 3.38 billion financial revenue with a 1.065 billion net profit during the past fiscal year, added the CEO.