Appropriate Telecommunications Infrastructure for Developing Countries: Ethiopia as an Example

by Dawit Birhanu

Recent advances in microelectronics, radio techniques and photonics have opened a wide range of possibilities for the provisioning of telecommunications services. Moreover, the cost of these technologies has reduced by orders of magnitude over the years, since their introduction. Despite this fact, however, developing countries are still faced with the difficulties of building their telecommunications infrastructure. This, among other factors, is attributed to the lack of appropriate application of the technology to the existing situations of developing countries.

This paper aims at assessing the current environment of developing countries, using Ethiopia as an example, and the appropriateness of some existing systems -- VSAT, LEO, terrestrial cellular -- to this environment. The paper attempts to establish the need for appropriate telecommunications systems for developing countries. The possibilities offered by wireless and photonics technologies are also discussed vis-à-vis the existing environment in developing countries. Further more, implementation of cost effective fiber optics network using existing and planned power lines -- appropriate for the situation in Ethiopia -- is suggested.

Introduction

It has long been accepted that telecommunication is a basic infrastructure necessary for economic and social development of a country. This is even becoming more assertive than ever as information related economic activities are growing. According to the World Bank, telecommunications networks may be described as the central nervous system of complex societies, transmitting information and commands among the various parts of such societies. Without these facilities, many activities in inter-related sectors of society, specially government and economic activities, could not function efficiently^[13]. Some of the economic and social benefits of telecommunications for developing nations are^[5,12]:

• efficient marketing (increased export prices and reduced import prices),
• fast response to national disasters and emergencies,
• efficient governance,
• increased research output,
• increased technology transfer,
• easier access to information in general,
• increased employment opportunities,
• reduced rural to urban migration,
• effective and enhanced news gathering and distribution,
• better effectiveness for extension workers,
• reduced sense of isolation,
• enhanced quality of life, and
• enhanced national cohesion.

The economic analyses by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) confirm the link between investment in telecommunications and economic growth ^[5]. Many developing countries are increasingly cognizant of the strong mutual dependence between economic development and telecommunications infrastructure. However, these countries are faced with the lack of sufficient financial resources to develop their telecommunication infrastructure.

Ethiopia, with a telephone density of 0.2% (2 per thousand inhabitants, in 1989), is among the countries with very poor telecommunications infrastructure compared to about 13% for the world average, 0.57% for India, 1.51% for Kenya and 49% for US^[2]. Moreover, this meager infrastructure is mainly concentrated in the major cities. According to the 1995 World Fact Book^[13], in 1989, over two-thirds of the telephones were in Addis Ababa, and the remainders were scattered throughout a few of the larger towns or regional capitals. The local telecommunications network is mainly based on microwave radio links with few open air transmission lines. International traffic is routed through Intelsat satellites over Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and via radio links to Djibouti and Kenya^[13]. According to the UN statistics, over the period 1991-93, the growth rate of telephone lines fall behind the population growth, effectively decreasing the telephone density over that period^[11].

Most African countries, Ethiopia included, have expressed their realization that there cannot be meaningful development without effective telecommunication infrastructure. In recognition of the need for the expansion of information infrastructure,^** African regional and national telecoms, and international donor agencies (including World Bank, UNESCO, IDRC, UNECA, ITU, Carnegie Corporation) have been working towards the deployment and promotion of information networking in Africa.

It is apparent that Ethiopia's telecommunication infrastructure should improve significantly from the current situation to bring about a meaningful economic growth. Therefore, a frame work for the development of a national telecommunications infrastructure that would meet the needs and requirements of the social and economic development of the country should be formulated to encourage and facilitate the development of telecommunications in the country. This includes policy formulation and investment planning.

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The Need for Appropriate Technology

Most telecommunication systems are developed to meet the needs and requirements of developed countries. This is not only due to the existence of vast consumer market in these countries but also due to the lack of adequate understanding, by the developers, of the needs and requirements of the developing countries. These systems are designed with the knowledge of the existing infrastructure, national, regional and global standards and policies, available financial and manpower resources, prevailing material and labor costs, the purchasing power of the targeted consumer, the capability of potential users, the 'information culture' of the society, and topography and weather of these countries. Though, some systems are specifically developed for developing countries, most of them have some features that are not essential enough to justify their cost and/or lack the required specifications to meet the existing conditions in developing countries.

Active involvement of African telecommunications professionals is, therefore, necessary not only in operating the infrastructure but also in planning, designing of infrastructure, and development of systems. A coordinated effort by African nations is important to bring about a viable appropriate telecommunications infrastructure. It is even more advantageous to have a joint technical group that will:

• assess the existing situation, pertaining to telecommunications, in Africa,;
• assess existing and forthcoming alternative technologies;
• architect telecommunications infrastructure;
• formulate and/or adopt standards; and
• conduct a cost benefit analysis to promote and show the viability of the architecture.

If such an architecture is accepted and adopted by African nations, it would stimulate the telecommunications industry to come up with systems that can fit in to the architecture. It is important to note that today's telecommunication technology has a lot of potential advantages to developing countries, if properly put together.

The telecommunication needs of the general public (universal service), government, import/export business, local business, industrial sector, health sector, education and research are different. Appropriate telecommunications infrastructure is particularly necessary for the provisioning of universal service, as the needs and purchasing power of the general public of developing countries are unduly different from that of developed countries. Providing universal service, on the other hand, has a far reaching long term benefit in germinating the economy and improving the standard of living of the society.

Wireless Technology

In a broader sense, wireless communication encompasses all forms of communication that do not involve a physical wire (also fiber) connecting the communicating parties, including light-based and radio-based communication. In this paper, however, wireless refers to only radio communications.

Wireless is a rapidly growing technology that enables wider coverage irrespective of the type of terrain. The two impressive advantages of wireless over wired systems are the abilities of the former to establish communication without the need of physical connection, and to support mobile communications. The former advantage is particularly useful to establish telecommunications network over a rather difficult terrain.

However, wireless communication has also some drawbacks, particularly:

• security: transmitted radio signals can easily be intercepted and jammed resulting in loss of privacy, malicious passive or active access, service degradation, or total loss of service.;
• interference: can degrade quality of received signal or reduce throughput of channel;
• vulnerability to weather effects: reception of radio signal can be adversely affected by some weather conditions like rain storm;
• bandwidth limitation: since available radio frequency spectrum has to be allocated for different services, service providers, and future applications, and also owing to some technical difficulties the bandwidth per channel is limited. Therefore, most wireless systems do not support Broadband applications -- they are limited to narrow band services;

The effect of interference can be reduced using digital techniques, and security problems can be alleviated using cryptography and proper network management.

Wireless includes terrestrial cellular, terrestrial microwave, satellite based systems, VSATs, and the evolving LEOs and MEOs. Some of these are discussed below:

VSAT (very small aperture terminal) can be defined as a system with small aperture (typically in the range 0.45 to 2 meters) earth stations and a large aperture (typically in the range 5.6 to 11 meters^[5]) capable of providing two-way telecommunications service a via a transponder on a geostationary satellite. VSATs are primarily developed to provide network solutions for companies that need to build a private network that spans a wider geographic area and/or support applications that can not be economically satisfied by other technologies.

VSATs have also been used in some developing countries to provide telecommunications service to remote rural locations where installing a terrestrial network is costly. Intelsat provides two services^[5] -- Intelnet and VISTA -- to enable developing countries develop smaller earth stations.

VSAT at the moment is, however, expensive with initial cost of about $10 thousand for each small aperture station and about $1 million for the hub, and with $10-100 thousands per month for the lease of a transponder capacity from a geostationary satellite. Moreover, the end-to-end propagation delay (typically 0.5 seconds) is not acceptable for Broadband and real-time applications -- distance education and Telemedicine are among these applications.

LEO (low earth orbiting) satellite system is an emerging technology with satellites orbiting the earth at altitudes ranging between 500 and 2000 kilometers above the earth. Advances in microchip and radio technology, and the low altitude of the orbit allows the use of compact handset. LEOs are primarily designed to provide a world wide roaming (coverage) for narrow band telecommunication services. Some of the competitors in this emerging business are Constellation's Aries, Motorola's Iridium, Qualcom's Globalstar.

Since these systems enable voice, fax, and limited data communications virtually any where on earth, they are appropriate and effective for use in Africa -- a continent with very poor telecommunication infrastructure. On the other hand, since the price of the handset is in the range of $1000 to $3000 and price per minute of connection is in the range of $0.50 to $3.00, it is not affordable for use by most African people. Compare these price tags with the per capita income of developing countries; for example, the annual per capita income of Ethiopia is $52^[10].

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Fiber Optics

Fiber optics is an important new proven technology, especially where higher bandwidth and longer distance are sought. Some of the primary advantages of fiber are its wide band width, light weight cable system, immunity to cross-talk and interference, high quality transmission, and low installation and operating costs. Owing to these characteristics it can be an economical solution for building an integrated -- including voice and data communication, and audio and video broadcasting.

Since optical fiber is immune to electromagnetic interference, it can be installed together with overhead power lines, without the need of a separate right of way and construction work. Three types of commercial optical fiber cables are available for use over high voltage power lines. The first, all dielectric self-supportive cables, is used over existing power line installations. The second, light optical fiber cable, is wrapped on to existing phase or ground wires. The third, ground optical cable, is used in place of the ground wire when installing new power lines.

This is particularly useful for Ethiopia since the country has some installed power lines and tremendous unused hydropower capacity. Ethiopia is also a potential exporter of hydroelectric power to its neighbors. Consequently, the country's situation suggests a fiber based telecommunications network with in Ethiopia and to neighboring countries. Ethiopia could also get access to Africa ONE^[10] by installing optical fiber cable to the nearest landing point -- Djibouti -- along the planned power line to that country. Africa ONE is a 39,000 km submarine fiber optic cable around Africa that is expected to greatly expand African telecommunications. Its construction will be started this year by the developers of the project - AT&T Submarine Systems, Inc. and Alcatel Submarine Networks.

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Training

Trained staff is essential in all phases of the telecommunications development: planning, design, installation, maintenance and operation. While telecommunications personnel are trained by the their company and the telecommunications equipment manufacturer about the operation, maintenance, and/or installation of a particular equipment, they have little training on the general principles of telecommunications. A staff with good knowledge of the general principles of telecommunications is essential particularly in planning, development and procurement.

It is impossible to develop, install and operate a cost effective telecommunications network without an appropriately trained technical staff. Moreover, since telecommunication is a rapidly growing technology, the technical staff should be frequently updated on the developments the technology.

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References

1. Bates, R. J., Wireless Networked Communications: Concepts, Technology, and Implementation, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, NY, 1994.
2. Bernt, P and Weiss, M. B., International Telecommunications, Sams Publishing, Carmel, IN, 1993.
3. Chasia, H., "Satellites and Developing Countries," IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 33, no. 10, pp. 110-112, Sep. 1995.
4. Del Re, E., "A Coordinated European Effort for the Definition of a Satellite Integrated Environment for Future Mobile Communications," IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 98- 104, Feb. 1996.
5. Everett, J., Very Small Aperture Terminals, Peter Peregrinus Ltd., London, 1992.
6. Feher, K., Wireless Digital Communications, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1995.
7. Hoss, R. J., and Lacy, E. A., Fiber Optics, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993.
8. Padgett, J. E., Gunther, C. G., and Hattori, T., Overview of Wireless Personal Communications," IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 28-41, Jan. 1995.
9. Riverson, L. Lwabena, Telecommunication Development: the case of Africa, Lanham: University Press of America, Inc., 1993.
10. Schesser, J. and Marra, W. C., "Africa ONE: Undersea fiber cable," IEEE Communication Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 50-57, Feb. 1996.
11. United Nations, Statistical Yearbook, United Nations Publication, New York, NY, 1995.
12. Westendoerpf, D., "Development of Rural Telecommunications and the CTD," IEE Second International Conference on Rural Telecommunications, London, pp. 17-23, 1990.
13. The World Factbook 1995, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC, 1995.

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About the Author: Dawit Birhanu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Telecommunications Program at the University of Pittsburgh (dawit@lis.pitt.edu). Now he can be reached at School of Information Studies for Africa (SISA), Addis Ababa University, P. O. Box 1176

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