Communications Service: Way forward from Microwave to Broadband
By Kesete Ghebrehiwet
https://shabait.com/2021/05/05/communic ... broadband/
NATION BUILDING
May 5, 2021
When Eritrea was liberated in 1991, it faced serious deficit in the provision of both local and international telecommunications services as the sector was in poor state under the Ethiopian rule. The Government of Eritrea acted fast to ensure the installation of microwave, and over the years has done extensive work in the development of telecommunications services.
Mr. Tesfaslase Berhane
The life span of telecommunication facilities does not exceed four years in developed countries while developing countries make use of such facilities for more than ten years, for financial reasons. The telecommunications facility in Assab, for instance, served for over 25 years. Similarly the old infrastructure that was prevalent in Barentu, Aqordet, Tesenei, Mendefera and Adi-Keyih often caused poor connectivity and abrupt interruptions particularly in land lines.
The introduction in April 2004 of mobile service was a turning point, in the country’s telecommunications services. Experts worked for more than 16 hours a day to launch mobile services, within three months.
This development heralded the introduction of mobile service in Asmara, Mendefera, Dekemhare and Massawa.
The year 2013, was also a year of transformation in Eritrea’s telecommunications service. From 2013 to 2016, the Government spent over 650 million Nakfa to substitute old land line facilities in all telecommunication centers with up-to-date equipment in a bid to improve efficiency of services across the country. Internet and mobile technologies were introduced in all parts of the country to enhance the services that had already existed and to expand coverage in areas that needed to catch up with the progress.
All satellite facilities were also renovated and substituted with newer ones in 2014, for the introduction of better services in the country. Mr. Tesfaslase Berhane, Minister of Transport and Communications, said the commitment of telecommunications experts was exceptional in facilitating and expanding mobile centers, the installation of microwaves and expansion of satellite services.
Minister Tesfaslase stressed that any progress achieved in telecommunications corresponds with the policy and economic capacity of the country and is in line with the far sighted vision of ensuring even and speedy communications service across the county, and making communications services more accessible and more up-to-date that meets the needs of the people and the Government of Eritrea in the provision of local and international communications service.
Over 110 telecommunications centers across the country built and equipped with necessary facilities in the last 15 years played an instrumental role in the provision of an easy access to around 87% of Eritrea’s population, with a 90% geographic coverage.
Mr. Tesfaslase explained.This was again achieved while the country was under unjustifiable sanctions. The sanctions were a bottleneck for EriTel in importing communications equipment,
What is more, expanding telecommunications service for mobile phones across the country was quite demanding that required the installation of towers in remote and mountainous areas. Working in the outreach areas and hostile climate, the technicians were compelled to endure adverse conditions.
the Minister underlined.The journey EriTel traveled and the achievement registered in the communications sector was made possible through the unremitting efforts of the young workers,
According to Minister Tesfaslase, efforts have been made to increase the coverage and speed of internet service. Volume-based fast internet access was introduced, for special needs. Clients who are in need of such an access for two weeks or one month to the maximum, have been beneficiaries of such services. Wi- Fi service has also been introduced, in areas that never had access.The contribution of local construction companies was quite essential in building access routes to mountainous areas and drilling rocky areas for the foundation and installation of communication towers mostly in areas with arid and hostile climate such as Borasole, Idi and Gelalo in the Southern Red Sea region, Mount Ghedem in the Northern Red Sea region and in other remote parts of the country.
EriTel’s clientele base has been expanding and the number of customers currently making use of mobile phone services is 665,000. The Internet service has also been making steady progress, land line service has been improved, high capacity microwave is being introduced, Wi-Fi services in some remote areas is being introduced, and volume-based high speed Internet service for researchers and students have started and will be expanded.
In terms of capacity building, EriTel has been making progress. The youth are now the vanguards of every change in telecommunications, and the technical capacity that has been built over the years is starting to payoff. At the Human Resource Development Center at Bietghergish, Asmara, which has been very well equipped, training in the installation of fiber cables, installation and repair of generators and solar equipment, accounting, finance, customer care and other fields have been given to over 400 EriTel employees from all regions of the country.
Indicating that the future plan is centered on the introduction of broadband service that makes mobile banking and mass education easy to access, Minister Tesfaslase said new arrangements have been made to replace the equipment installed in 2003 and in 2006 with newer and more advanced technology to provide more efficient service that goes parallel with global advancement in the sector.
In his final remarks, Minister Tesfaslase invited EriTel customers to visit www.EriTel.com.er for detailed information on the services the corporation gives and to learn more on the recent developments.
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“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”
By Mikal Tesfay
https://shabait.com/2021/05/05/when-the ... get-going/
Q & A
May 5, 2021
Covid-19 has been dreadful for everyone, throughout the world. Many people have become victims of the pandemic, especially when it first broke out, because of lack of information and prevention. To complement what media outlets have been doing to inform people about the pandemic, two Eritrean programmers, Tesfalem Belay and Engineer Ebtsam Hussien, came up with a mobile application. They are a team of like-minded people, with specialization in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Tesfalem, who studied Physics at the University of Asmara and has a diploma in Accounting, is a certified Networker, and Web Developer. Ebtsam Hussien, who studied Computer Engineering (BA) at Eritrea Institute of Technology, has been working on IT related fields such as developing software and mobile application as well as creating websites and web-based applications. By creating a team called ‘TES IT’ Solutions, they have been providing products and service. They developed Covid-19 application, with the help of UNDP and the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Tesfalem and Ebtsam, thank you for agreeing to this interview. First, introduce us with yourselves.
Ebtsam Hussien
My name is Ebtsam Hussien, and my partner’s name is Tesfalem Belay. We used to work individually, but we have now been working together for the past five years by creating a team called TES IT Solutions. We work as freelancers. We have been providing services/products like fingerprint attendance system, Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) for factories, digital library for schools and libraries, Restaurant Management System (RMS), Point of Sale for business(POS), inventory management system, hotel management system, tour and travel management system, pharmacy stock management system, Eritrea yellow page mobile application, car driving tutor mobile application, Mobile shopping using SMS mobile application, Ecommerce Web sites, and other kinds of websites. Recently, we came up with an application which can be useful to people as the world is suffering from the covid-19 pandemic. And we named the application: “Eritrea tackling COVID-19”.
Would you tell us exactly what the application is about?
Tesfalem Belay
The idea was mainly initiated by the UNDP and the application was primarily developed to raise people’s awareness and enlighten them on how to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic, by being aware of its symptoms. We started developing the application, when the pandemic first broke out in our country. We started the project in April last year, and we worked on it for the past one year. For months now, media outlets such as television and radio have been giving information on symptoms associated with Covid- 19 and its prevention methods. We developed the mobile application, to complement the efforts made by the media outlets.
For example, someone with a fever who wants to find out instantly whether it is a symptom of Covid-19 cannot depend on television or radio. We took that into consideration and started developing an application, where anyone can use their mobile phones to find relevant information regarding Covid-19. The content is available in three languages: English, Tigrigna and Arabic in audio and video; as well as sign language.
What are the contents of the application?
We included the parts we thought were crucial during the outbreak of the pandemic, on the home page. They include awareness about symptoms, prevention methods and- generally- what Covid-19 is. We also added tips, on what people should do in and outside their homes. What is peculiar about the tips, is that you can turn it on whenever you need it and turn it off when you feel it is not necessary. It doesn’t annoy you by peeping, if you turn off the tips. For people suffering from boredom, we came up with a solution on what they can do taking their age into consideration; under the category of self-care. We also included Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) regarding Covid-19 and its connection with breastfeeding, pregnancy and childbirth, HIV, influenza, physical distancing and so on.
What was the role of UNDP and the Ministry Of Health, in developing the application?
When we submitted our proposal, it got accepted. Our idea was to bring essential information about the pandemic to the hands of everyone, using a smartphone. We brought information we thought was important, from the World Health Organization. As we are developers not health experts, we handed the information to UNDP and MoH for them to validate. This helped us to avoid misinforming people, and spreading wrong information. In addition, the contents were filtered and finalized by MoH. Simply put, they were our biggest helpers throughout our journey to finalize the project.
You mentioned the word ‘like-minded’, working together in your application under “About Developers” section. Any specific meaning behind it?
Ebtsam and I, had our own lives. However, we were so alike that the universe brought us together to be partners at work. We met at an occasion and instantly agreed to become partners, when we noticed things we had in common — our devotion to our work and our ambitions. At first, we were active in developing mobile applications. Then we presented our first work at Festival Eritrea in Expo, in 2018. But then again, a new idea started to cross our minds. We started to emphasize on creating professional, educational, business and informative solutions for Eritrean citizens, business owners, government institutions and tourists. As the saying goes ‘Two minds are better than one’. Joining our ideas and opinions allowed us to be flexible and productive, when developing products and giving services. Now we are like, hands in gloves. That is the meaning of, “like-minded working together”.
Did you face any challenges, while developing the application?
We did face challenges, but they were not that big of a deal. We wanted to increase the languages in the application, but we were able to do it only in three languages. And we started developing the application, at a time when the government imposed Covid-19 restrictions. There was no transportation and the lockdown itself became an obstacle, for our flexibility. We were forced to work from our homes. But in the end, our work paid off. So the challenges we had are nothing, compared to our achievement.
Any other points you want to make?
Generally, in our country, people don’t make a move to get the best out of technology thinking that we lack advanced technology and Internet service. It is true that there is no fast Internet connection in our country, but the young generation should be creative and convert the available Internet access to their own advantage. You need to create your own opportunities. Particularly youngsters need to understand how to use the technology available in our country, for improvement and development. We really do hope for the pandemic to vanish, from the surface of the earth. But if things don’t seem to end, we might come up with the second version of the application in order to help people be knowledgeable and safe.
Thank you Ebtsam and Tesfalem, for the information.
Eritrea tackling COVID-19 -mobile application
May 4, 2021
https://www.er.undp.org/content/eritrea ... ation.html
The development of Eritrea tackling COVID-19 Mobile application is grounded on UNDP’s programmatic offer to promote innovation and use of digital technology with the ultimate aim to benefit the community outreach to increase their knowledge on the pandemic, strengthen their preventive measures among the population, and maintain the population physical and mental health. UNDP places huge importance on the role of innovation, to provide a platform for the youth to express their innovative ideas and translate that into a practical means; by empowering the youth in this way, UNDP is meeting a key deliverable of its Global efforts to respond to this crisis within the context of development. In this COVID-19 pandemic era, timely, accessible, and portable accurate information that cut across the population in Eritrea including Eritreans abroad are vital to make a significate difference in social behavioural change and improved coping skills against the virus. Furthermore, Eritrea tackling COVID 19 Mobile application includes innovative, unique, and essential features, as it is multilingual targeting everyone including those with disabilities like the blind and the deaf, to complement the existing communication efforts by the Ministry of Health and ensuring that any information gaps are not only addressed but also made portable and accessible to the wider population. The development of this Mobile Application is part of the activity of UNDP Response to COVID 19 in Eritrea, funded by UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Eritrea tackling COVID 19, has been designed and developed by an Eritrean Team composed by Young Application Developers.
