The Ethiopian Communication Authority (ECA) underlines that it has prepared a price cap for infrastructure sharing, if both telecom operators do not agree on pricing.
Starting from September, the two operators have been working to agree on three matters which are infrastructure sharing which has a number of components including sharing towers, transmission capacity and dark fiber connections to enable customers of the two telecom operators to connect to each other in addition to agreements on national roaming. Few weeks are left before Safaricom Ethiopia launches what will be the country’s first private telecom services, but an infrastructure sharing agreement with the state-owned Ethio telecom remains unsolved.
“The authority is giving time for the operators to negotiate and come to an agreement,” said Balcha Reba, Director General of ECA, explaining the negotiation will take a long time, “through the authority is following every step of the proceedings we will not intervene on the matter.”
Severe disagreement had arisen between the two operators regarding the price and currency of payment for infrastructure sharing scheme.
Also as the director informs Capital, the Authority has prepared an interim price determination using different techniques. The authority has also received opinions from Ethio telecom as input on the matter, as Balcha further explained.
However, the authority will only resort to the use the price cap only if the two operators don’t meet eye to eye.
“We appreciate if the operators come to an understanding by their own terms, but if it so happens that they do not, they can request us for dispute resolution,” elaborated Balcha.
Recently, Safaricom officials said that if the commercial agreement is not achieved, then Safaricom will take the issue to the governing body, which is ECA. But as Balcha reveals, both of the parties have not asked the authority to intervene as of yet.
Tele officials have also stated that if Safaricom decides to go the authority route, they will all also present their points which led them to choose their decision of the agreement.
The director stressed the two operators to meet on common grounds amidst the competition on the sector, in order to continue with effective development of the sector.
The Authority is responsible for mediating negotiations if any dispute arises between operators. It may intervene at its discretion or, if requested by a party to an access agreement to determine whether the infrastructure sharing, collocation charges and compensation are cost-based, reads a telecommunications infrastructure sharing and collocation directive issued last year.
The directive states that all telecommunications operators have the right to request infrastructure sharing services from any telecommunications operator. The operators that received an application should also negotiate the terms of an agreement in good faith and not obstruct the negotiations, according to the draft directive.
However, the directive gave room for the requested telecom operator to decline any application. It can reject an application if it has insufficient capacity or space; issues with safety, reliability, incompatibility of facilities; for integrity and security of the public telecommunications network and service; and if sharing is not economically or technically feasible.
ECA offers help if operators disagree
ESLSE makes moves to support perishable cargo
The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) is gearing up to procure its own reefer containers for the first time with the aim of aligning with the growing interest in shorter shelf-life commodity consignment via vessels.
Ethiopian Horticulture Producer and Exporters Association (EHPEA) welcomes the move that would make its members more competitive in the global market.
The public logistics giant that is currently using leased reefer containers for commodities mostly that are at the trial stage, has floated an international bid for suppliers to purchase 31 40 feet MGSS reefer containers.
Roba Megersa, CEO of ESLSE, told Capital that the enterprise is opting to buy the reefer to support the export rather than for revenue-oriented purposes, “this initiative is not for profit-oriented but we want to support the export of perishables.”
He told Capital that ESLSE has already facilitated two hectares of a dedicated terminal at Mojo Dry Port for reefer cargo handling and power plug-in service.
“As per our plan in the short term we will have up to 50 reefer containers to accelerate the export of agro-industry products,” Roba added.
The consignment of reefer cargo is limited in Ethiopia to which experts said that Freighters International, one of the well-known private logistics companies in Ethiopia and has long-term agent partnership with the leading containerized cargo operator of Danish-based Maersk, is stated as operating in the sector.
Wondimu Denbu, Deputy CEO for Corporate Service at ESLSE, told Capital that ESLSE has been floated the bid two times to which sufficient and qualified suppliers did not participate.
“Mid this week the third bid was expected to be opened, however, it was pushed by about two weeks as per the request of suppliers, who are interested to participate in the bid,” he explained.
The consignment of perishable cargos through vessels is highly recommended since it has a competitive advantage in the global market. The issue has been frequently raised by Ethiopian fresh producers and exporters like fruit and vegetable sector actors.
While the government has been carrying out different initiatives and several pilot operations to export perishable commodities through vessels are packed with reefer containers. For instance, recently Ethiopian avocado has been exported through the new initiative to the European market.
Tewodros Zewdie, Executive Director of EHPEA, said that the lack of reefer containers is the weakest link for the sector business and its supply chains.
“After lack of ample cold warehousing and other issues, the availability of reefer container is one of the challenges for sector competitiveness,” Tewodros told Capital.
“Next to flower, which is the second biggest export earning commodity for Ethiopia after coffee, the export of fruits and vegetables is our competitive advantage on the global market; ESLSE’s current move is a good opportunity for the sector,” he explained.
He said that cost of reefer containers and the availability of the box is pivotal to expanding the fruit and vegetable export.
“The decision of ESLSE is to some extent improve the availability of the reefer container,” he added.
Experts said that using vessels means a less costly mode of transport besides enabling to manage the shipment of bigger size of cargo other than airfreight.
They added that cool logistics investments, by drastically reducing transport costs and lead times, can unlock Ethiopia’s perishable industry.
Ethiopia is working to strengthen the cool logistics corridor that links farms with dry ports and railway network system up to sea port at Djibouti. The cool supply chain at Mojo is part of the new initiative.
ESLSE has also expanded its container ownership from about 3,000 to close to 14,000 different sizes of containers in a very short period.
Bringing women to the spotlight
Travel Ethiopia hosted an event on Saturday March 26, 2022 that took place at Gola Park St George Gallery under the theme ‘creating awareness on domestic tourism’.
Hirut Kassaw, Head of Addis Ababa Culture, Arts and Tourism Bureau, Aster Solomon President of Addis Ababa Hotels Associations and other invited guests attended the event.
Brief discussion was held between participants on the development of the hospitality and tourism sector. As tourism plays a very important role in the political, economic, cultural and environmental development of countries. Additionally participants has said the positive side of the role the tourism sector plays saying that it is a foreign currency earner. The sector is also one of the most employment generator.
The participants said that local tourism is expensive and everyone cannot afford it, so the concerned stakeholders should do something to promote local tourism economically.
Hirut Kassaw said that her office and the Mayor will together with the tour operators and support them in any way they can.
Aster Solomon said that there are 176 hotels in Addis Ababa and many hotels suffered from the effects of Covid. She added that people do a lot of religious visits but underscored the need to also start travelling to visit local tourist attractions.
Ashenafi Kassa, Tour Guides Association President also said that there are 200 guides where 15 are women tour guides. He said that the industry is highly affected and businesses is really shut for the past years due to Covid and then above all that the security of the country deteriorated significantly making it impossible for the association members to get a job.
Besides creating awareness about tourism the day also celebrated two young bold women on the occasion of women’s international month inspiring excellence of women who went against all the odds.
One of them is Meron Fikadu who lost her leg when she was 16. Then she caught lung cancer. It was said that all she wanted was to have a child and against all odds she delivered a baby boy.
The other Meron Kebede is also a cancer survivor. She came back from the US to support women suffering from breast cancer in Ethiopia.
Travel Ethiopia is a private, eco-minded tour and safari operator established in 1994. Its vast experience allows Travel Ethiopia to introduce the traveler to the myriad facets of Ethiopia’s past and present. Its two directors have extensive experience in tourism. Samrawit Moges has directed tours throughout the country since 1981.
DISTORTED CONCEPTION IN BUSINESS
Business is an activity whose main objective is to make profit. Continuous accumulation is a built-in feature of all business organizations. However, it is not always easy to make profit, at least not today. In advanced industrial countries, almost all small startups fail. In the US, 95% of new small businesses fail within five years of origination. There are many factors that cause businesses to fail. Some of the exogenous factors affecting a business are difficult to foresee, while others can be anticipated and somewhat mitigated, assuming there is capable management with some foresight in command!
From the outset we would like to declare that we do not fully subscribe to the publicly preached conception of business (business schools, media, etc.) Business as an activity that is largely predictable (business plan), straightforward (sales forecast) and ultimately profitable (pro forma profit) is not well founded. We believe business in general is anything but predictable! Since many businesses are stuck with such outdated doctrines, they tend to spend precious time fiddling with their books to satisfy longstanding expectations (mostly by outsiders) about general performance, including revenues, profit, growth, etc. What is usually expected of businesses by their shareholders, banks, analysts or other stakeholders, seem to override the reality happening on the ground. There is hardly a business that doesn’t exaggerate and paint a bright future and to substantiate the exaggerated spin all sorts of trickeries are used, particularly in the realm of the big corporates. One would assume that such unappetizing activities are more in tune with stale government bureaucracies rather than dynamical entities engaged in continuous value creation! Unfortunately the global reality is, corporations have become pretenders and not performers. We believe corporations have set themselves up for continuous failure and it is because of such misguided policies the global sheeple is forced to bail them out ad infinitum! TBTF (Too Big To Fail) is now the motto for all corrupt and inefficient business organizations as well as their cronies in power/governments.
The major problem with business is; it tends to attract, rather disproportionately, psychopaths, those who crave for obnoxious attention, exaggerated entitlement, obsessive control and perennial manipulation. Unfortunately ordinary business serves like a magnet for the born greedy. Enlightened self-interest is not something that comes readily to the accomplished crooks in business. Look at what is happening in the world of finance/banking today. Literally all the big/major banks in the world are insolvent and need the continuous injection of money (capital, etc.) from their sheeple via all sorts of state apparatus (central banks, etc.) Why? Because they were so selfish they forgot the very meaning of honesty and truthfulness, the very foundation of banking, at least as expounded by the banksters themselves! The world is now paying a dear price for their hubris by way of falling living standard in the OECD (reduced pension, increased taxes, etc. for example 37% of the Greeks now live below the European poverty line) and unsustainable economic arrangements in the peripheries!
It is helpful to divide business organizations into two broad categories. The first are businesses run by formally and rigidly established bureaucratic entities. The second; enterprises run by entrepreneurs. In the case of the former the model is in close proximity with the hierarchical and stifling organizations of the state. Business schools teach this model as if it were the ultimate in business formation, without pointing the myriad shortcomings associated with unsustainable dinosaurs! Since changing old ways might rock the boat, the status quo dares not take risk, thereby forfeiting the only fighting chance it has to survive in changing/future market. ‘Stick to your knitting’ might not be all that appropriate in a world of business always in dynamic flux! In many formally setup business organizations, as opposed to those created by entrepreneurship, corporate executives are, by and large, ‘empty suits’, fancy attire without much in the way of substance! Many just love the trapping; to portray an ‘aura’ of a ‘hot shot’ executive, without being one! Remember our old characterization of Africa’s parasitic elites as ‘belly thinkers’? Well, today we have a more sardonic version.
On the other hand enterprises run by entrepreneurs tend to be agile, hence necessarily small, resourceful and often creative. These entities can see change from afar as they are not massively invested in old stuff and staff. They are usually in tune with the times and are willing to take advantage of gaps that might exist in the ever-changing markets. Entrepreneurs are not always driven by the profit motive. Many have an innate drive to do what they want, while coming up with something novel and new, benefitting the larger society. Many an entrepreneur considers escape or liberation from the ordained world of the status quo as the major challenge of life. They tend to have a burning desire to be free, free from the old. We admit, freedom in its absolute sense is absurd, but individual freedom can be approximated if one can secure means as well as attain obscurity.
