Ethiopia to link Sudan via optic fiber telephone line

Dec 9, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC), the country’s only state- owned information and communication technologies provider, said Friday it has begun activities to link Ethiopia and Sudan with optic fiber telephone line.

ETC senior manager Getnet Mengist told journalists that the optic fiber telephone line would be installed along the Gondar- Gelabat border road.

Getnet said installation of the optic fiber telephone line was needed as the existing microwave system could not cop up with the ever increasing demand of the service.

Installation of the optic fiber telephone line will facilitate economic relations between the two countries through efficient and quality telephone service, he added.

The optic fiber telephone line has the capacity of handling 80, 000 calls per second with the necessary speed and quality, Getnet said.

Some six towns and rural kebeles along the optic fiber installation line would also get telephone service, he added.

Farmers living along the cable installation route have been taking part in the digging of cable burying canal, said Getnet.

Some 25 km of the cable burying canal has so far been dug, while the remaining work is expected to be fully finalized during the current budget year, according to the senior manager.

Ethiopia and Sudan, two of the world’s poorest and least-wired nations, want to expand information and communication technologies coverage to the respective country in the future.

(Xinhua/ST)