Ethiopia to Improve Telephone SystemThe Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) has decided to increase its telephone lines from 540,000 to 800,000 in the coming five years with an investment of more than 400 million U.S. dollars, the Ethiopian News Agency reported here on Monday.The agency quoted ETC General Manager Amare Alemayehu as saying that the corporation is ready to boost the telephone lines by about 800,000 at the end of the 5-year plan period. Moreover, the corporation would install wireless telephone lines and introduce advanced technology to expand its services throughout the country, according to Amare. The manager noted that mobile phone subscribers in the country are expected to increase from 24,000 to 61,700 in the coming years. Since the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean war, the Ethiopian government has taken a series of measures and invest large amount of money in improving the telephone system. In February, the ETC decided to introduce tele-medicine services with a vision to ensure the access of medicine to the majority of the society through the internet installation of the service system, and it would invest 2.5 billion birr (one U.S. dollar is equal to 8.4 birr) in promoting the growth of digital and mobile telecommunications and internet services |
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