Ethiopia : Anti-Corruption Commission to Bring Suspected Illegal Phone Operators to Court

The Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (FEACC), which has been leading the investigation of 18 suspects detained for running illegal internet telephone services, is to bring them before the Federal High Court on Monday, November 22, 2010, after two consecutive extensions of time to collect evidence.

"The Anti-corruption Commission is involved because employees of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) are suspected of involvement in these businesses," Gelanan told Fortune.

The city charge less than ETC for international calls

Many small businesses in the city charge less than ETC for international calls. While ETC charges 12.65 Br per minute, the prices of these businesses, using various Voice-over IP (VoIP) software, depend on the country and mode of communication used: land line or wireless. On average, the cheapest price charged is to the United States (US) at three Birr; the most expensive is to Eritrea, to which ETC does not allow calls.

Account numbers, similar to the recharge card used for mobile phones, for Ras Addis, one of the most popular software programmes circulating the capital, valued from 25 dollars up to 100 dollars, are sold at different places in town.