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Ethiopia Telecommunications
Ethiopia's telecommunications system was rudimentary.
Broadcast facilities were concentrated in a few cities, and
telephones were limited primarily to government offices and
businesses in Addis Ababa and regional capitals. Longdistance and international communications to two neighboring
countries went via two radio-relay links: a modern 960-
channel system that went south from Addis Ababa to Nairobi,
and an older, twenty-four-channel system that paralleled the
railroad line from Addis Ababa to Djibouti. Other parts of
the country were linked by old and unreliable open-wire
lines. International service, other than to Kenya and
Djibouti, passed through the Atlantic Ocean satellite of the
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
(Intelsat) via a ground station just north of the capital.
This ground station was capable of providing over 100
simultaneous high-quality telephone, data, and television
links with the rest of the world.
In 1989 Ethiopia counted only 109,0000 telephones, or two
sets per 1,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest per capita
figures in the world. Only 84 percent of service was
automatic; the rest still used outdated manual systems. Over
two-thirds of the telephones were in Addis Ababa or Asmera;
the remainder were scattered throughout a few of the larger
towns or regional capitals. Most users were either
government offices or businesses. International direct dial
was available to some users in Addis Ababa. Local or longdistance calling was difficult, however, with frequent busy
signals for uncompleted calls.
Broadcast service was also limited. In mid-1991 the country
counted four medium-wave AM radio stations, two in Addis
Ababa and one each in Asmera and Harer. A shortwave
transmitter south of the capital broadcast "Voice of
Ethiopia" programming in English, French, Amharic, Arabic,
and Somali to surrounding countries. Ten cities had lowpower television stations. In mid-1991 the nation had an
estimated 9 million radio receivers and 100,000 television
sets.
Data as of 1991
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