Roundup - Ethiopian growth, Gabon/DRC use Leadcom

Details: Alec Barton; Category: Trends & Forecasts; 31 March 2006; 11552 views

Landlines in Ethiopia are set for expansion as the result of investment by The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation which has announced the commencement of year-long contracts in the country.

Customers for the new services, which reflect ETC's desire to boost Internet usage and to increase the area of national coverage, will be billed monthly.

Mobile coverage is also being extended: 170,000 more subscriptions to ETC's network are planned for, in conjunction with Nokia. Last year 700,000 subscribers were added to ETC's portfolio, by working with Nokia and Ericsson together. Several steps had to be taken in addition to the more technological ones, notably in certain changes to customers' numbers (requiring an information campaign). There were some teething troubles but a national apology by ETC appears to have soothed public grievance.

Elsewhere in Africa telecom services provider Leadcom Integrated Solutions has obtained contracts in both Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in both cases firsts for the company in these two states. Valued at US$4 million, the contracts will comprise expansion of existing work with a local telecoms operator and a vendor operating extensively in Africa . Leadcom is confident of further business of this nature.