Recommended ICT technology

Telecommunication

I believe Ethiopia needs to make some considerable changes to its telecommunications market. The main measure of a nation's telecommunications infrastructure is teledensity-the number of main telecommunications landlines per 100 people [5]. Less than one telephone line is shared among 100 inhabitants is a serious obstacle in building other basic infrastructure such as the Internet and related technologies. Ethiopia has the second lowest Internet penetration rate in sub-Saharan Africa. There were only 360,000 Internet users as of 2008 in Ethiopia [1]. The government's refusal to permit any privatization of the telecommunications market does not support an economically competitive market for other companies. The state-owned Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) is the sole Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the country, and a telephone service and internet access requires ETC to be involved. As of 2008, there was 3.17 million cellular phones and 908,900 main line phones were in use [1]. ICTs such as the telephone and Internet hold unprecedented opportunities for developing countries. World Bank president Robert Zoellick commented that "the implementation of e-government closes loopholes of corruption and increase overall service delivery" [5]. Access to the Internet is creating a new distinction in society. People who have access to the ICTs have access to all kinds of information, and it puts them in an advantageous position in society. ICT can help farmers use mobile phones to get information on market prices, so they are not disadvantaged through using middlemen.

Challenges

There are government regulatory, technological, cultural, and financial challenges to consider implementing this proposal. Existing government monopoly of the telecommunication sector hinders competition and the results in poor services. Technological challenges in Ethiopia are the availability of technical infrastructure and maintaining the ICT infrastructure. Cultural challenges are that Ethiopians tend lack skills related to ICT and an e-governance system is limited. Financial challenge is the availability of appropriate funding needed to develop the region's telecommunications infrastructure. Ethiopia is a developing country which makes it difficult for the country to invest a large sum of money in an ICT system.

Implementation