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The
number of e-mail subscribers is growing by leaps and bounds.
We live in an age of information. The faster the information
is conveyed the more useful it becomes. Access to
information may be an issue of might, a democratic right,
but that will not suffice. It must also be the right to
access “quick information” as much and as often as possible.
Delivering or dispatching information in the most efficient
and economical way of transmission has become the rule of
the day. Money is also at stake. It is either gained
directly or in the form of savings.
Technological development in terms of communication has
shown a great leap forward and has extended its reach to
almost every household impacting our lives. Taddesse is an
elderly scholar who runs a consultancy firm engaged in
research. He often deals with big organizations whose head
offices are located across the Atlantic. Most of his
research studies are done on computer in his office and
e-mailed. There are frequent exchanges of information
dealing with more clarifications, elucidations and updating
of data, Dr. Taddesse has to face the challenges of strong
competition from researchers in other countries. He has to
download as much information as he can get from the sea of
internet data as often as his connectivity will allow him to
do so.
Dr.
Taddesse has to work until late at night because that is
often the time when he gets continous electric power. When
he is through with his computing, editing and checking, he
has to send his work by e-mail. He double clicks at “ETC” to
connect to the Indirect exporter. After a long while, an
icon that reads an error number, followed by a short
explanation that most people would not grasp, except when it
tells them to click again and wait.
While
waiting, Dr, Taddesse leans on his desk, both his hands
closed tight under his chin and wonders how long has it has
been since the internet service had been introduced to the
country and how far has it advanced to provide adequate and
efficient services to its clients and subscribers? Is the
capacity of the equipment adequate to satiate the demands of
the clients and are they below standard? Dr. Taddesse often
makes duty travel abroad and knows very well the efficiency
of the internet and e-mail connectivity he enjoys during
these tours. Over the years, he has learnt that it pays to
have more than one internet connection and that Ethionet.et
can be easily accessed only if the connection with the
distant server is established. He interrupts his thoughts as
“ETC is connected” sign appears at the right bottom of his
screen. Then he clicks the Internet explorer to open his
page and waits until the page is fully displayed.
Unfortunately, the annoying “this page cannot display “sign
covers the screen, while our poor friend eagerly waits. He
has to try again. Try again he does, until he succeeds.
At long
last the “Welcome Taddese” page appears. He finds that he
has quite a number of “unread messages” from various origins
including the organization to which he was about to send a
text. He gives priority to that one in case he needs to know
what more he may be supposed to do or perhaps make some more
adjustments on his research data.
The
message is clicked and as usual takes time to open. There
happens to be an attachment that has to be checked for
viruses before it is downloaded and saved somewhere to be
read later. (Attachments are often bulky).
The
other messages are postponed for later and the ETC has to be
disconnected to save money. (Do not forget that the charges
are high in spite of the 69 Birr one has to pay monthly
even if he does not post any mail or surf a web site.)
This
takes me to the question, “Why should an internet subscriber
pay on amount of:-a) Dialup fixed charge of 60 birr/monthb)
VAT 9 birr (Total 69) in addition to the Dial up usage
charge that depends on the time utilized. Mind you, one pays
just 8 birr per month for a fixed line rent, 1.25 birr in
VAT, in addition to the local fixed line usage.
Please
note that the monthly fixed rental is what you pay for
keeping safe the corporation’s property. Coin boxes and
their apparatus are vulnerable, but users never pay for
their safely!
A few
scholars who tried to do some research work to find out the
available opportunities for emarketing in Ethiopia, tell us
that as far as email services are concerned, ETC even by
sub-Saharan standards is way behind. Only war-torn Liberia
stands next.
There
were times when the Ethiopian Telecommunications Board (as
it was known then) used to be one of the most efficient
organizations run by nationals next to South Africa and
Egypt. The installation, operation and maintenance work was
outstanding. The management system was one of the most
modern in the country capable of being a model organization
to be copied by other government and non-government
organizations. There was a time when the employees,
particularly the highly qualified engineers and technicians
were competent enough to shoulder responsibilities equal to
their foreign counterparts if not more. The Sululta
Sadellite Earth Stations Standards A & B are living
witnesses testifying to the bid analysis ability, joint
installation capability, operating and maintenance
performance of local experts of the early 70’s.
Over
the years, however, the enthusiasm and advancement of the
organization seemed to be thwarted by factors which were
obscure. Needless to say the services have grown massively
particulary in terms of mobile telephone service in which
the business community is given some ground to play a
significant role. This is reflected in the involvement of
foreign companies in the installation work (sub-contracting
local agents) and sales of PBX equipment of varying
capacities, and apparatus, including mobile apparatus, by
local dealers.
Although mobile telephone services have shown a great
increase, the quality of service leaves much to be desired.
The capital city of the Southern Region, Awassa, for
instance can rarely be accessed nor can any phone caller
from Awassa make connections with distant towns. Responses
like. “The subscriber you called cannot be accessed… The
telephone is switched off….The number you dialed has been
reported as lost….”; and other excuses are often heard on
the cell phone. This is not only very annoying but wastes
time. Put one cell phone apparatus on the table next to you
and dial the number with another phone and the taped reply
will be either “the line is switched off or the subscriber
is outside the network…” etc.
For how
long shall we be subjected to such self-fooling? |
