Global Mobile phone access: Ethiopia at the bottom

Ethiopian telephone telephone tariff is the cheapest in East Africa, Ethio-Telecom CEO Jean-Michel Latute noted in the press conference last January held at Sheraton Addis. That was when he announced the notable, albeit insufficient, tariff reductions, the first commercial move of Ethio-Telecom since France-Telecom took the management for two years.

Mr. Latute had the decency not to claim the tariff is the lowest in Africa, as his predecessors used to say, presumably, comparing the rates after simply converting them to US Dollars.

That is as fallacious as saying – Ethiopians pay less than Americans for a cup of coffee – as they can buy for Birr 5, while most Americans pay more than 2 USD(Birr 33 at current exchange rates).

Any such comparison is meaningless without taking income level, especially market value of the money, of the respective country into consideration. That is the concept behind PPP(Purchasing Price Parity). 

One writer recently noted, in an article unrelated to Ethiopia, that ‘in Kenya today, a SIM card costs less than a beer’. I am not sure about the type of beer and selling place the writer considered. But that doesn’t matter.

As the cost of mobile subscription in Ethiopia stands at Birr 60(reduced from Birr 135 last month). That is the amount the Ethiopian middle class pay for three Beers at a decent night club.

It is no wonder then, Ethiopia is at the bottom of the list in the mobile phone penetration rate.

A comprehensive study by the International Telecommunication Union(ITU), scheduled for next September, is expected to further attest the exorbitantness Ethiopia’s telephone tariff.

For now, here is the Mobile phone subscriptions of 114 countries, which ITU published in 2010 – based on 2009 data.

With only 5 out of 100 subscribed, Ethiopia stands only second to Eritrea – a virtually failed state with a military expenditure as big as 25% her GDP – which is not worth comparing anyway.

Of course, the list is not complete, it leaves out about 100 more countries globally and about 20 African countries. Yet, at least half of the African countries omitted in the list – inc. Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda – have a subscription rate far better than Ethiopia.

Mobile (cellular) phone subscriptions(per 100 population)

Country Per 100 pop.
1st. Estonia 202.99
2nd. Qatar 175.4
3rd. Saudi Arabia 174.43
4th. Panama 164.37
5th. Lithuania 150.96
6th. Maldives 147.94
7th. Finland 144.59
8th. Portugal 141.76
9th. Austria 140.76
10th. Bulgaria 140.73
11th. Singapore 140.43
12th. Oman 139.54
13th. Czech 137.51
14th. Croatia 136.66
15th. Denmark 135.39
16th. Albania 131.89
17th. United Kingdom 130.55
18th. Argentina 128.84
19th. Germany 127.79
20th. Israel 125.84
21st. El Salvador 122.77
22nd. Thailand 122.57
23rd. Switzerland 122.3
24th. Montenegro 120.47
25th. Greece 119.12
26th. Hungary 118.01
27th. Poland 117.02
28th. Belgium 116.65
29th. Spain 113.56
30th. Cyprus 112.23
31st. Norway 110.89
32nd. Malaysia 110.6
33rd. New Zealand 110.16
34th. Seychelles 109.56
35th. Iceland 108.15
36th. Brunei 106.66
37th. Slovenia 103.98
38th. Malta 103.27
39th. Slovakia 101.7
40th. Vietnam 100.56
41st. Belarus 100.55
42nd. Latvia 99.72
43rd. Korea 99.2
44th. Botswana 96.12
45th. France 95.51
46th. Jordan 95.22
47th. USA 94.83
48th. Colombia 92.33
49th. Brazil 89.79
50th. Paraguay 88.5
51st. Azerbaijan 87.83
52nd. Dominican 85.53
53rd. Armenia 84.98
54th. Peru 84.69
55th. Mauritius 84.36
56th. Mongolia 84.2
57th. Gambia 84.04
58th. Turkey 83.91
59th. Kyrgyzstan 81.85
60th. Philippines 80.98
61st. Morocco 79.11
62nd. Libyan 77.94
63rd. Cape Verde 77.53
64th. Moldova 77.28
65th. Mexico 76.2
66th. Fiji 75.36
67th. Iran 70.83
68th. Sri Lanka 69.65
69th. Indonesia 69.25
70th. Canada 68.75
71st. Egypt 66.69
72nd. Mauritania 66.32
73rd. Ghana 63.38
74th. Uzbekistan 59.73
75th. Congo 58.94
76th. Pakistan 56.96
77th. Benin 56.33
78th. China 55.51
79th. Swaziland 55.36
80th. Senegal 55.06
81st. Belize 52.74
82nd. Lao 51.18
83rd. Tonga 50.98
84th. Nigeria 47.24
85th. Bhutan 46.9
86th. Syrian 44.27
87th. India 43.83
88th. Afghanistan 42.63
89th. Sao Tome and Principe 39.32
90th. Cameroon 37.89
91st. Cambodia 37.78
92nd. Sudan 36.29
93rd. Lebanon 36.13
94th. Guinea-Bissau 34.79
95th. Zambia 34.07
96th. Togo 33.05
97th. Lesotho 31.98
98th. Bangladesh 31.07
99th. Madagascar 30.56
100th. Turkmenistan 29.35
101st. Mali 28.76
102nd. Mozambique 26.08
103rd. Nepal 25.97
104th. Chad 23.97
105th. Zimbabwe 23.88
106th. Liberia 21.29
107th. Burkina 20.94
108th. Sierra Lion 20.36
109th. Niger 17
110th. Yemen 16.29
111th. Comoros 14.79
112th. Burundi 10.1
113th. Ethiopia 4.89
114th. Eritrea 2.78
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