Telecommunications in Ethiopia is currently a monopoly in the control of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC); all telephone service and internet access requires ETC to be involved. As of 2006, 866,700 cellular phones and 725,000 main line phones were in use.[1]
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The telephone system consists of open wire and microwave radio relay system adequate for government use. Domestic systems are open wire; microwave radio relay; radio communication in the HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies; two domestic satellites provide the national trunk service. International systems are open wire to Sudan and Djibouti; microwave radio relay to Kenya and Djibouti; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Pacific Ocean).[1]
The Ethiopian dial plan changed on September 17, 2005. City codes (i.e., internal prefixes) changed from two digits to three (or, from outside Ethiopia, one digit to two). Phone numbers changed from six digits to seven.
As of 2007, there were 89 internet hosts.[1] As of 2005, there were 164,000 internet users. Ethiopia's country code (TLD) is .et.
The first telegraph line in Ethiopia was constructed in the years 1897 - 1899 between the cities of Harar and the capital Addis Ababa. This was extended in 1904 by a line that ran from Addis Ababa through Tigray into Eritrea and to Massawa; and the next year by a line again from Addis Ababa to Gore in the province of Illubabor and Jimma in Kaffa.
The first telephones were brought by Ras Makonnen from Italy in 1890, and connected between the Palace and the Imperial treasury; the sound of disembodied voices frightened the local priests, who thought it was the work of demons. The Emperor Menelik II responded to their protests with disdain, and later used the telephone to give orders to his provincial governors.[2] Emperor Haile Selassie had begun the process of introducing radio transmitters to the country for civilian and military use in the years before the Italian invasion.[3]
According to the ETC, the average rural inhabitant of Ethiopia has to walk 30 kilometers to the nearest phone. The ETC announced 7 September 2006 a program to improve national coverage, and reduce the average distance to 5 kilometers.[4]
Since 2008 CDMA2000 and WCDMA is available in certain areas.
For travelers, local prepaid SIMs are available at many major hotels. Satellite phones may require letter of permission from the ETC prior to bringing such phones through customs.
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