Ethio Telecom is back in the news – this time via plans to launch a smart city project in Bahir Dar, capital city of the Amhara region in northern Ethiopia, following the deployment of commercial 5G services.
This week the state-owned company announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the city’s mayor to move forward with this initiative.
The project, called Smart Bahir Dar, aims to provide digital solutions for municipal offices and integrate payments through Ethio Telecom’s digital payment service telebirr.
Its implementation will be gradual and cover several areas, including cloud development, call centres, data centres, high-capacity internet, fibre optic lines and other essential digital infrastructure in key sectors like education, healthcare, agriculture, transportation and tourism.
Ethio Telecom suggests that the project will boost the city’s competitiveness, making it more attractive for tourism and investment while enhancing social and economic benefits by simplifying business operations. It is likely too that 5G technology will play a vital role in realising this smart city initiative.
The Ecofin news agency says that this initiative aligns with Ethio Telecom’s three-year development strategy for 2022-2025. Through this strategy, the company is committed to offering new solutions beyond connectivity and driving digital transformation in Ethiopia.
The company has already signed smart city agreements with authorities in the capital, Addis Ababa, and in the Oromia region, the largest region in Ethiopia, which stretches across the country from east to west. It has also made agreements to digitises services for several ministries and public administrations.
