Anti - Corruption Commission, Board discussing accusation of corrupt practices at ETC

ETC employees accuse Huawei, tender process

By Groum Abate

 Some employees of the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) reportedly submitted a letter of complaint to the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, to the Board of Directors and to the management of ETC stating that the winner company, Huawei Technologies, influenced the evaluation and awarding of the ‘national switching network’ and wireless local loop tender.
Sources told Capital that the Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission and the board of the corporation are discussing the issue starting this week after they received the complaint for a better understanding of the complaint.
According to our sources the staff of the corporation in their written letter noted that two of the evaluating committee members of the tender attended the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting in Switzerland some months back, paid for by the winner, Chinese telecom company, Huawei. However, it is customary for telecom giants to invite potential customers to international trade fairs or meetings, covering expenses to demonstrate their new products or advances in technology.
Sources told Capital that the letter that was submitted before two weeks also stated that other companies were technically more qualified and furthermore offered favorable pricing than Huawei.
This is not the first time that employees of ETC presented a written complaint alleging that top management is involved in corrupt practices in the awarding of project bids. In the past they have voiced their concern regarding the controversial nationwide mobile expansion project of the ETC to the Board of Directors, warning of impeding failure of the mobile service if such practices are not stopped.
The national switching network that is worth over 20 million dollars will cover the whole country including one international gateway exchange and eight toll exchange offices in each regional center. Huawei has signed the contract with the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) last Sunday to provide a total solution to optimize ETC’s current national switching network. The project is expected to replace ETC’s existing analogue switches and some out-dated digital switches.