Hard worker
Leaders of the Ethiopian Media Council exchange experiences with Media Council of Uganda
A five-member of Ethiopian Media Council delegation was invited by the Media Council of Uganda from February 20-24, 2022 went to Uganda and exchanged experiences.
The Ethiopian Media Council, which has set up an arbitral tribunal for the media and journalists, is headed to Kampala, Uganda to gain experience in its initial campaign.
The delegation was welcomed by the leadership of the Media Council of Uganda and thanked the Ethiopian Media Council for choosing Uganda for the exchange of experiences.
On the Occasion Chairman of the Media Council of Uganda Mr. Paulo Ekochu, brief about the organizational structure of the council, its purpose and function, conflict and resolution system, challenges and opportunities. He asserted that however the Media Council of Uganda is statutory body, they work independently and impartially with the permission and control of all media outlets in the country.
Mr Tamerat Hailu, member of executive Committee of the Ethiopian delegation was also briefed on the organizational nature of the council and its start-up activities. It has been three years since the council received its legal mandate, but it is in the final stages of setting up an arbitral tribunal funded by France Embassy in Ethiopia. The council will receive complaints from the public, the government and the media, he adds.
The Uganda Media Council, which was established by a government proclamation in 1995, is funded by the government, while the Ethiopian Media Council is sponsored by professionals and the source of funding comes from its members’ contributions and various sources of revenue, but not received government fund.
Ethiopian Media Council delegation during its stay visited the government owned media, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation/UBC/, Prime media and New Vision Daily Newspaper Editing Unit. The delegation also visited Makarare University Department of Journalism and Communication Studies as well as the Uganda National Museum.
In the presence of the FDRE Ambassador to Uganda, her Excellency Ms.Alemtshay Mesert, the delegation discussed with the Uganda Minister of Information, Communication Technology and National Guidance.
State Misnster of ICT Hon. Dr Chris Baryomunsi, expressed her gratitude to the Ethiopian Media Council for coming to Uganda for the exchange of experiences. “It is a good start for the two countries to work together on media freedom,” She said.
Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda Ms Alemtshay on her part said, the exchange of experiences between the media of the two sister countries is great value to Ethiopia in addition to the importance of building a free and responsible media.
“Ethiopia and Uganda are the main sources of the Blue Nile and the White Nile,” Alemthay stated. The two countries’ media professionals and their councils have a great responsibility to enhance this relationship, she adds.
Finally, the farewell ceremony was followed by a spectacular traditional music performance at the famous Ndere Troupe Cultural Centre, and the Ethiopian Media Council and the media Council of Uganda have a plan to sign a memorandum of understanding to work more closely in the near future.
During its stay the Ethiopian Media Council delegation celebrates 126th anniversary of Adwa victory in Kampala.
Abinet sues Al Amoudi for 640.5 mln birr
Abinet Gebremeskel sues his longtime ally Sheik Mohammed Hussien Al Amoudi for an estimated 640,545,367 birr in connection with the construction and ownership of Bole Towers located around Wello Sefer.
The two prominent businessmen have been partners for a long time and according to court documents in 1994 they established Bole Towers PLC with ten million birr capital, though the capital increased to 545 million birr in 2018.
The charge Abinet submitted to the Federal Higher Court Lideta branch demanded that his share in the PLC increase based on the cost he paid for the construction of the buildings from his own pocket which is 215,545,367 birr and 425 million birr loan Bole Towers received from Dashen Bank to be considered as contribution to the capital of the building.
Abinet has 40 percent share on the towers while Al Amoudi has 60 percent share. Bole Tower PLC is engaged in constructing buildings used for office, trading and housing, and apartments. The firm owns two buildings named as Bole Towers A and Bole Towers B which together lies on 5,189 square meter width located in Kirkos sub city on Africa Avenue, adjacent to the roundabout of the area commonly known as Wello Sefer.
Abinet had served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MIDROC Ethiopia for one year before he left on July 8, 2021.
Recently Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al Amudi has counter sued Abinet for unpaid fee from his profit of National Oil Ethiopia Plc (NOC) since 2011 which amounts to over 800 million birr.
Plaintiff Al Amudi claimed to have a share of two billion birr in profits from 2011 to 2021. He complained that various payments had been deducted and that about eight hundred and fifty million birr had not been paid.
Abinet owns a 15 percent share in the National Oil Ethiopia Plc (NOC) and Al-Amoudi 70 percent while Tadesse Tilahun has a 15 percent shares in NOC.
Ethiotelecom, Safaricom in loggerheads over infrastructure sharing
Severe disagreement arises between Ethio telecom and Safaricom Ethiopia Telecommunication PLC regarding the price and currency of payment for infrastructure sharing scheme.
“In September Safaricom has submitted 3 accesses requests based on the Ethiopian Communication Authority’s directive” Matthew Harrison-Harvey, Chief External Affairs and Regulatory Officer at Safaricom Ethiopia told Capital. He said “the first one is on the infrastructure sharing which has a number of components including sharing towers, transmission capacity and dark fiber. The other is in-to connection to enable customers of the of the two telecom operators to connect each other and the third is for National roaming.“
“Since September we have been in discussion with Ethio Telecom and we are still on it,” said Matthew, adding “we are expecting to reach an agreement within a month.”
In both side the key issue which leads to the disagreement is the pricing of the service and in some cases the currency of the service.
Officials from Ethio telecom told Capital that the public enterprise has requested Safaricom to make parts of the payment with foreign currency as Ethio telecom pays to build the infrastructures in foreign currency. However Safaricom officials are arguing that their company is registered locally thus they should pay in birr.
Ethio telecom has 7,100 towers and over 22,000Km of fiber optics all over the country.
“We are trying to resolve the issue and reach an agreement until the end of this month” said Matthew, adding that if the commercial agreement is not achieved then Safaricom will take the issue to the governing body, the Ethiopian Communication Authority (ECA).
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.
On its Telecommunications Competition Directive No. 798/2021 the authority defined infrastructure Sharing as various kinds of arrangements to share an infrastructure sharing and collocation provider’s active and passive infrastructure, including, but not limited to, the sharing of network elements, antennas, switches, radio access nodes, systems, equipment, facilities, premises or rights of way, with an infrastructure sharing and collocation seeker, subject to an agreement between the parties
Interconnection involves the physical, technical and logical linking of the telecommunications networks of different operators to allow users of one operator to communicate with users from another or to access services provided by another operator.
Safaricom, which paid 850 million dollars for a 15-year license, is moving ahead with its infrastructure development project, having contracted Huawei and Nokia for its network development.
The operator wants to develop tower infrastructures on building-tops and import materials for its operations.
Two months 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.
In a related development, on Thursday March 10, 2022 Safaricom Ethiopia has signed a deal with Ethiopian Electric Power to use the latter’s dark fiber optics cable.
Under the deal, Safaricom will use a network of optical ground wire (OPGW) cables already installed along the high voltage transmission lines owned by EEP. The agreement will stay for five years.
