“Perfect Harmony; For National Unity” Part II And Final

“Perfect Harmony; For National Unity” Part II And Final

Rahel Asgedom

Click here to read Part I

The telecommunications system was launched in Eritrea in 1893 during the Italian colonization. In 1939, eight operator manual switchboards (SWBD) were installed to network the major cities with the rural sector, and thus, 37 cities were communicated with villages. Then, in 1941, the number of cities in the communications network rose to 42. In the meantime, international call was only possible with four countries: Ethiopia, Italy, Somalia and the Sudan.

Three automatic switches for five manual switchboards were installed in the wake of federation and throughout the Ethiopian colonial period (1952-1991). The city of Asmara, Massawa and Assab had been using automatic switches for communications. Similarly, in the cities of Mendefera, Keren, Adi-Quala, Dekemhare and Adi-Keih, there were all in all 500 communication lines. After independence, however, communications through microwave satellite connecting major cities was expanded.

Telephone, telefax, telegram, payphones, as well as limited international calls were some of the services the then Eritrea’s telecommunications authority was rendering in the wake of independence.Thecommunications service through analog devices was confined to three cities of the country after independence. Until 2003, the communications service gradually grew extending the fixed telephone service to around 40,000 landlines in the face of the shortcomings in human resources in the specific sector. Two satellites were installed with a view to accommodating incoming and outgoing international calls. By the end of 2003, all the facilities were substituted by digital networks.

The Eri-Tel Corporation remarkably doubled up its services, thereby attesting to a dynamic change in every corner of the country. In 2004, mobile cell phones were introduced in the country. The international telephone service at the same time reached to 780 simultaneous calls that, any one can call to any country right away.

The Internet service was also introduced in 2000. With the ever- increasing demand of internet, the Eri-Tel is putting strenuous endeavors to mitigate the limited bandwidth of the Internet in the nation. At present, the service is set up in the cities of Asmara, Keren, Massawa, Mendefera and Dekemhare. Efforts are being exerted to install the requisite infrastructure facilities in a bid to expand the service to Assab and Adi-Keih, emphasized Manager of the Eri-Tel Corporation, Mr. Tesfaselassie Brhane. He further said what makes it expensive and limited is that the Internet service is directly interlinked with the satellite.

Although Eritrea instituted the cell phone line with second generation–2G–technology, the Eri-Tel has in 2010 upgraded the bandwidth from 2G to 3G in the central region. In the coming year, third generation–3G–service will be expanded to the entire nation. The mobile telephones are providing services to 65 percent customers of the country. The service is now being extended to remote corners of the nation.

Almost throughout the 19th century, the civil aviation service was not in effect in Eritrea. The Berlin conference for the Scramble for Africa (1884-1885) gave way for the total usurpation of Eritrea by Italy. As a result, in 1890, Italy and Britain inaugurated civil aviation service with limited capacity mainly for military and civil purposes. The Italian colonizers got underway some infrastructure facilities for the development of the civil aviation. A flight from Rome to Asmara had started, and thus, it was then that Eritrea introduced with the western civilization. In 1930 infrastructures of the civil aviation were put in place in some places such as Assab and Asmara. Later, the colonizers understood the importance of the country for economic and military strategies. As such, they determined to extend the infrastructure in force. As a result, in 1935-1936, civil aviation centers were installed in Guraé, Massawa, Keren, Nakfa, Agordat, Tessenei and Kudo-Felasi, explained the Director General of the Civil Aviation, Mr. Paulos Kahsay. Until the defeat of Italy by Britain in 1942, Eritrea was among the leading and yet few African countries which demonstrated remarkable transportation system in every sector.

Even though the civil aviation of Eritrea was expected during the Italian period to flourish much, the arrival of the British Administration had laid every infrastructure facilities in ruins in a bid to unite Eritrea with Ethiopia. The Haile Selassie regime, understanding the progress of tourism and commerce in the 1950s in Ethiopia, decided to construct a modern airport in the main sites of tourism including Asmara. In fact, this project contributed for the development of the aviation in Eritrea. Hence, many tourists flew to Eritrea to enjoy the Red Sea and non-durable foodstuffs were also exported from here. All this progress helped the aviation industry advance.

In the post-independence period, Eritrea became a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization in October, 1993. In November of that same year, Eritrea joined the World Meteorological Organization. Initially, the civil aviation was understaffed with qualified manpower yet every work was accomplished by nationals who were in Asmara, Eritrean combatants and those nationals from the heart of Ethiopia. After a while, some upgrading courses were given to the employees. The government of Eritrea also sent abroad some of the employees for further education. Likewise, the government renovated the infrastructure facilities of the Asmara airport and upgraded its suprastructure so as to give a competitive service to its customers.

In his concluding remarks of the three-day symposium, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Woldemichael Abraha expressed appreciation to all those who made the symposium possible and added that ideas and papers presented have made it fruitful. He pointed out that the achievements registered in every sphere of the Ministry considering the limited time and resources have been satisfactory, and that there are plans to implement well-studied projects in the future. The Minister also said that upgrading human power, introducing advanced equipments to ensure human and property safety and conducting campaigns are some of its main tasks for the future.

In the course of the opening and closing ceremonies, cultural troupe of the NUEYS Southern Region branch staged music performances. The exhibition pavilion of the entire ministry was open for three days in which tens of thousands of the inhabitants of Mendefera, as well as junior and senior secondary school students observed. Spectators expressed appreciation in that the exhibition was representative of the overall accomplishments scored over the past two decades.

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