Ethio Telecom CEO: Telecom losing foreign currency due to illegal operations
In a rare press conference, Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru announced that there were over 300 illegal telecom operators piggybacking on the Ethio Telecom network in order to provide cheaper service.
According to the CEO, the illegal operators have imported several VSATs (very small aperature terminal) and SIM boxes that are used to relay incoming international calls to local customers. These operators make money by charging international telecom firms lower prices than Ethio Telecom.
Frehiwot stated that “There are few illegal VSATS but most of the illegal operators use SIM boxes that can accommodate more than 1,000 SIM cards”. She went on to describe how the illegal operators used fake IDs to purchase dozens of SIM cards to use on the SIM box. She pointed to Addis Ababa, Jimma and Dire Dawa as hotspot sites for these operators.
She also stated that while the state telecom company shares some of the blame, the responsibility also lies with the security sector and customs enforcement to assure that these devices do not come into the country. She states that because the international telecom firms utilize these illegal operators, Ethio Telecom loses a huge sum of badly needed foreign currency that it could have brought into the country.
When questioned about possible solutions, the CEO accepted that increased competiveness was a necessity. She also pointed to the positive effects of tarrif revisions stating that the telecom company’s daily average of 500,000 minutes had increased to 800,000 minutes after the last round of revisions.
