Tuesday February 1, 2005

ETC to issue mobile phones in 2 weeks

 ZTE, NOKIA networks match

 ZTE officially hands over 200,000 lines to ETC

 By Tedla Yeneakal

 The controversy of ‘incompatibility’ between the recently installed NOKIA mobile network and the previously installed mobile network of ZTE has come to a halt when the network problem was solved and the system proved to be working properly.  

Refuting the report that NOKIA’s network could not match with ZTE’s but was fully compatible with Ericsson’s network, officials of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) declared that the network problem was due to parameters and resource problem and that has been solved now. Several additional parameters have been put up in certain areas to meet the traffic and the network is now working properly.

In spite of various complaints and harsh criticisms from the public about the Chinese corporation ZTE, blamed for all the network failures in the past year, the later officially handed over the 200,000-line mobile expansion project it had entered into contract with ETC in June 2003.

“The opinion that ZTE was responsible for the poor quality of the network was a fallacy. It was wrong to completely point fingers at ZTE as it was a complicated problem and one company can not take the entire responsibility,” a major telecom consultant told Capital, underlying that the problem is now solved.

“Contractually from now on it is ETC’s responsibility for the operation, maintenance and management of the network since it has accepted the proficiency of ZTE’s entire project,” he said. “The acceptance signifies that, since the training was completed, ETC has acquired the skills, knowledge and technology that comes with such big projects.”

The project was intended to provide 100,000 lines to Addis Ababa and another 100,000 lines to 13 regional cities and towns throughout the country.

According to a press release from ZTE, the transfer of the regional network to ETC will materialize over the coming months whereas outstanding civil works and network optimization activities would be completed in two weeks time.

ETC has recently awarded two contracts to ZTE to construct an optical access network in Addis Ababa and to build a rural wireless communication system in Northern Ethiopia.

ZTE Corporation is an international communication solutions provider that achieved annual revenue of 4.2 billion USD in 2004.

In related news, following ETC’s public announcement for subscribers about the date of registration to acquire mobile phones, Communications Division Manager of ETC, Abdurahim Ahmed told Capital that the corporation would commence issuing mobile phones for subscribers in two weeks time.