Ethio Telecom to Pull the Plug on Dial-up Internet Service
By Yohannes Anberbir
Feb. 03, 2013
Ethio Telecom is slated to terminate the outdated dial-up Internet access service that was first introduced in 1993 by the then Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC). The management of Ethio Telecom is dwelling on the fate of its 35,000 customers currently using the technology, sources close to the matter told The Reporter.
To connect Ethiopia to the world, the dial-up Internet service was first introduced by ETC 20 years ago. Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a dialed connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) via telephone land lines. The user’s computer or router uses an attached modem to encode and decode Internet protocol packets and control information into and from analogue audio frequency signals, respectively.
However, the introduction of broadband Internet service has led Debretsion Gebremichael (Ph.D.), minister of Communications and Information Technology and board chairperson of Ethio Telecom, to discontinue the services, sources told The Reporter.
While there is a potential of delivering improved service to customers, wasting time and money on an outdated technology is of no use, the minister reasoned in his decision. Sources also told The Reporter that the company had already shifted the bulk of its human resource who had been deployed on the dial-up service provision.
The Ethiopian government has decided to transform the telecommunication infrastructure and services to world-class standard, considering them as a key lever to the development of Ethiopia. Ethio Telecom was conceived from this ambition in order to bring about a paradigm shift in the development of the telecom sector to support the steady growth of the country.
Source: The Reporter
Well, dial up internet are no more available. It is the era of fastest internet services and people would like to prefer wireless internet connectivity it may be internet from ISP or 3G and 4G internet.
Well, in the previous years dial up was the only internet technology by which people get connected into internet.
I think to adopt the latest technology is the better decision for their users as well as for their market competition. The latest technology is the most which is adopted by the people so I think they take a very constructive decision to move forward.