Addis Standard published Getachew T. Alemu’s April 2019 commentary on Ethiopia’s digital economy: a boom narrative mixed with bangs of unfinished reform in telecom, payments, and data infrastructure.
The essay treated digital growth as a new feature of the reform-era economy, while warning that monopoly habits, skills gaps, and regulatory lag could blunt the upside. Mobile money and connectivity dreams needed more than slogans from Addis.
Abiy Ahmed’s government talked liberalization and tech hubs even as Ethio telecom’s grip and forex scarcity shaped what startups could actually ship. Boom without open rails is mostly brochure language.
Kept for researchers, the digital-economy file shows how early the unfinished-reform critique was. Later telecom tenders and fintech fights still echo that 2019 tension between promise and control.
Sources: Addis Standard
