September 3, 2006
Sim cards and cell phones
Something is going right, slowly, at Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation.
Two years ago, I needed a letter from the Ministry of Information to help me jump to the front of the rumoured two-year waiting list for a sim card. (Journalists got priority.)
The first time I lost my phone, I had to spend hours searching for the original toilet-paper-thin registration documents before presenting them to the right window at the right office at the right time of day before getting a replacement sim card. For some reason, I also felt I had to apologise to every official I met along the way for my forgetfulness.
The second time I lost my phone - last week, I just showed up at the tele office near the train station, told them my number, showed my ID, paid 25 birr and got a new card on the spot.
When I went to buy my third minimalist Ethiopian handset, the assistant told me she could have also sold me a sim card as well.
All that and broadband around the corner as well. Exciting days.
Posted by aheavens at September 3, 2006 7:06 AM
Comments
Dear Andrew,
I dont think I did understand about the tariff for ADSL of 2 MB or even others.2 MB ADSL 103,406 41,479 . is it birr or any other currency?
http://www.ethionet.et/EthioInternet/tariff.html
. I live in Japan and for 50 MB ADSL I pay 40 dollars meand ( about 360 birr) per month. In some major cities it is half this price. It is just crazy to pay that kind of money. BTW the japannese will soon abandon ADSL and move to fiber optics which is 100 mb and not affected by distance. ADSL is affected by distance from centeral distributor (Tele tower) but optical fiber means 100 mb in everybodies home. Anyway I wonder who are the enginners of ETC.
Posted by: Selamu at September 3, 2006 4:34 PM
Do you know where i could possibly find any square or circular cell phones cause i was looking for some to show my momfor my birthday!
Callie Vernon
p.s type back soon
Posted by: callie vernon at December 2, 2006 11:28 PM