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Ethiopia

Ethiopia faces several key challenges in its digital expansion, including regulatory barriers, the need for stronger infrastructure, and wider access to affordable internet services. Despite these challenges, the landscape is ripe with opportunities. As of January 2024, there were about 24.83 million internet users in Ethiopia, reflecting an internet penetration rate of 19.4 percent of the population at the start of the year.

As more Ethiopians gain internet access, there is significant potential for growth in digital services, fintech, and e-commerce. Such developments are expected to drive broader economic growth and spur innovation across the country.

Internet governance

Internet governance in Ethiopia has been evolving, especially in light of the country’s broader initiatives to digitalize its economy. The primary regulatory body overseeing telecommunications is the Ethiopian Communications Authority (ECA). This body is responsible for licensing and regulating communications services, including internet services. The ECA’s role has been crucial in the recent liberalization of the telecom sector, which previously saw Ethio Telecom as the sole service provider.

Historically, the Ethiopian government has maintained strict control over the internet, including reported incidents of internet shutdowns during periods of political unrest. These shutdowns have been widely criticized by international bodies and human rights organizations as they restrict freedom of expression and access to information. According to the Freedom on the Net 2023 report, Ethiopia’s internet freedom score is 26 out of 100, indicating it is ‘not free’. The government has frequently restricted access to social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Telegram, and YouTube, especially in response to planned protests.

One of the major challenges in internet governance in Ethiopia is ensuring consistent and equitable access across the country. While urban centers like Addis Ababa have relatively better connectivity, rural areas often struggle with access and reliability.

The Internet governance debate in Ethiopia has seen significant developments, particularly with the country hosting the 17th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2022. This event, supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA) and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), was held under the theme ‘Resilient Internet for a Shared Sustainable and Common Future,’ focusing on inclusive internet access and digital cooperation.

Digital strategies

The Ethiopian government has been actively promoting digital transformation as part of its economic strategy. Key initiatives include the Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategy, which aims to digitize key sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and services while improving the overall digital infrastructure. The strategy sets forth a vision to issue 90 million digital IDs (delayed to 2028), triple digital payments, and foster increased interactions among government, private sector, and citizens by 2025. The strategy recommends prioritising investments in advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data analytics to drive these initiatives. This strategy focuses on integrating various independent digital initiatives conducted by government and non-government actors. It aims to create synergies that will generate economic benefits and help integrate digital technologies into the main sectors of the economy, thereby supporting Ethiopia’s ambition to become a middle-income, knowledge-based economy​.

Ethiopia has rolled out a robust e-Government strategy and enterprise architecture framework aimed at enhancing public service delivery and propelling digital transformation. This strategy includes the development of a national e-Government portal, which is set to offer online access to 219 government services within five years. Additionally, the plan involves the implementation of 12 key e-Government projects across various agencies and the delivery of services through four alternative channels beyond the primary portal.

Key features of the strategy also encompass the development of a national enterprise architecture, known as ENEAF, to facilitate better integration and consolidation of ministry applications, services, and infrastructure within a national data center. This framework will also introduce a customer feedback mechanism across all government channels and ensure capacity development for government officials in IT skills and customer service.

Cybersecurity


In Ethiopia, addressing cybercrime and enhancing cybersecurity are integral parts of the national strategy to bolster digital security and trust. The legislative framework in Ethiopia, particularly the Computer Crime Proclamation No. 958/2016, focuses on combating cybercrime by defining offenses related to unauthorized access, data interference, system interference, and misuse of devices. This legislation is crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of Ethiopia’s digital infrastructure and for ensuring that digital activities do not undermine national security or the rights and safety of individuals.

The Computer Crime Proclamation aims to prevent, control, investigate, and prosecute computer-related crimes. It includes provisions that are geared toward safeguarding users’ trust in digital services and the protection of networks, data, and information systems. However, it has also been critiqued for potentially overreaching in ways that could impact free speech and legitimate online activities. Efforts are ongoing to revise and update this legislation to better balance security concerns with human rights and freedom of expression.

Beyond specific cybercrime laws, Ethiopia’s approach to cybersecurity encompasses a broader set of policies and initiatives. These include the development of a national cybersecurity strategy that aligns with the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa 2020-2030. This strategy underscores the importance of protecting critical digital infrastructures and enhancing the country’s defenses against cyber threats.

The Information Network Security Agency (INSA) plays a key role in this regard. Established to defend Ethiopia’s information infrastructure from attacks, INSA’s responsibilities have evolved to include preventive measures against cybercrime, digital forensic investigations, and the drafting and enforcement of national policies on cybersecurity. INSA also contributes to capacity building in the cybersecurity domain, helping to elevate Ethiopia’s readiness and response to cyber threats.

AI strategies and policies

Ethiopia is in the final stages of establishing a national policy on Artificial Intelligence (AI). This policy aims to promote the responsible and sustainable implementation of AI across various sectors within the country. The draft AI policy addresses several critical areas, including data management, human resource development, research and development, infrastructure, and legal and ethical guidelines. It also emphasizes cooperation and coordination among various stakeholders, including regional states, city administrations, and international institutions. The policy framework aims to make Ethiopia a centre of excellence for AI in Africa, fostering innovation and technology-driven economic growth.

Key components of the policy include developing national data-sharing guidelines, establishing quality standards for research, and creating regulatory frameworks that guide the use of human resources in AI development. The collaborative nature of this policy formulation process involves multiple stakeholders, including the Ethiopian Institute of Artificial Intelligence, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, academic institutions, and the private sector, ensuring that the policy is comprehensive and inclusive.

Ethiopia has been actively advancing its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities through various initiatives. In September 2021, the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Centre of Excellence was established at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University. This Centre is designed to foster collaboration between academia, industry, and government, supporting the AI ecosystem and focusing efforts on leveraging AI for socio-economic development. The country has also set up the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute, which has among its tasks the development of legislation and regulatory frameworks for AI.

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General profile

Official name: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Source: Wikipedia

National internet domain: ET

Source: Wikipedia

Area: 1,104,300 km2

Source: Wikipedia

Capital: Addis Ababa

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 123.4 million

Source: Wikipedia

Population growth: 2.50

Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
Source: World Bank Open Data

Life expectancy at birth: 64.98

Total years (2020year) Source: databank.worldbank.org

Rule of law estimate: -0.61

Rule of Law captures perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Regulatory quality estimate: -0.96

Regulatory Quality captures perceptions of the ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Political stability: -2.07

Political Stability and Absence of Violence / Terrorism: measures perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately -2.5 to 2.5 (Estimate 2021)
Source: databank.worldbank.org

Economic info

Currency: birr

Source: Wikipedia

Unemployment: 3.69

Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP (current US$): 126 billion

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP growth (annual %): 5.3

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GDP per capita (current US$): 1,027.6

Source: databank.worldbank.org

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %): 33.9

Source: databank.worldbank.org

GNI (current US$): 126 billion

The Gross National Income, GNI, formerly referred to as gross national product (GNP), measures the total domestic and foreign value added claimed by residents, at a given period in time, usually a year, expressed in current US dollars using the World Bank Atlas method. GNI comprises GDP plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from non-resident sources. Source: databank.worldbank.org

Ease of doing business score: 47.98

The ease of doing business score benchmarked economies concerning their proximity to the best performance in each area measured by Doing Business for the year 2019. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from0 = lowest performance to 100 = best performance Source: databank.worldbank.org
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Digital profile

Internet and social media penetration:

Individuals using the internet: 19.4 (2022)

Individuals using the internet, total (%) Source: www.itu.int

Social media statistics: 7.05 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Male internet users: 19.7 (2021)

Male internet users as a % of total male population
Source: www.itu.int

Facebook users: 7.05 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Female internet users: 13.7 (2021)

Female Internet users as a % of total female population
Source: www.itu.int

Instagram users: 1.01 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Households with internet access at home (%): 16.7 (2021)

Source: www.itu.int

Linkedin users: 1.10 million

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Fixed broadband subscriptions: 0.2 (2020)

Total fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) refers to fixed subscriptions to high-speed access to the public internet (a TCP/IP connection), at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s.
Source: www.itu.int

Twitter users: 312.3 thousand

Estimate for 2024
Source: datareportal.com

Mobile infrastructure and access:

Mobile ownership: 33.7

Mobile phone ownership as a % of total population (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Mobile Infrastructure: 45.6

Mobile Infrastructure index: High-performance mobile internet coverage availability. It includes parameters such as network coverage, performance, quality of supporting infrastructure and amount of spectrum assigned to mobile network operators (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Male mobile ownership: No data

Male mobile phone ownership as a % of total male population
Source: www.itu.int

Mobile Affordability: 41.4

Mobile Affordability index : The availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population. It includes parameters such as mobile tariffs, headset prices, taxation and inequality (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Female mobile ownership: No data

Female mobile phone ownership as a % of total female population
Source: www.itu.int

Cybersecurity Index: 27.74

Cybersecurity Index (Estimate for 2021): ITU cybersecurity value
Source: www.itu.int

Network performance: 39.7

Network performance index: Quality of mobile services measured by download speed, upload speed and latencies (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Mobile download speeds: 11.2

Mobile download speeds: Average download speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Mobile uploads speeds: 29.8

Mobile uploads speeds: average uploads speed for mobile users (originally in Mbit/s) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Mobile Latencies: 78.2

Mobile Latencies: Average latency for mobile users (originally in milliseconds) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence

Speedtest-Broadband: 31.0

Speedtest-Broadband: The value is expressed in Mbps (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.speedtest.net/global-index

Network coverage: 55.7

Network coverage (% of total population) (Estimate for 2022)
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

2G Coverage: 99.0

Coverage % of population
Source: www.itu.int

3G Coverage: 94.0

Coverage % of population
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

4G Coverage: 20.0

Coverage % of population
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

5G Coverage: 2.0

Coverage % of population )
Source: https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/

Operating system and browser market share estimate:

Operating system market share (%):

Desktop, Tablet & Console Operating System Market Share: Estimate for 2024
Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Browser market share (%):

Browser Market Share Worldwide: Estimate for 2024
Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/

Android: 65.5

Chrome: 65.3

Windows: 23.7

Safari: 18.1

iOS: 3.2

Edge: 5.2

OS X: 0.3

Firefox: 2.8

Linux: 1.6

Samsung Internet: 2.6


The UN E-Government Survey 2022:

The UN E-Government Survey is the assessment of the digital government landscape across all UN member states. The E-Government Survey is informed by over two decades of longitudinal research, with a ranking of countries based on the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies.
Source:https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2022

E-Government Rank: 179

Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), a combination of primary data (collected and owned by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and secondary data from other UN agencies. Estimate gives the country's rank.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

E-Government Index: 0.29

The EGDI is a composite measure of three important dimensions of e-government, namely: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity and human capacity. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

E-Participation Index: 0.19

The E-Participation Index (EPI) is derived as a supplementary index to the United Nations E-Government Survey. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

Online Service Index: 0.37

The online services index was developed by the UN to evaluate the scope and quality of government online services. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-cente

Human Capital Index: 0.34

The Human Capital Index (HCI) quantiï¬_x0081_es the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

Telecommunication Infrastructure Index: 0.15

Telecommunication Infrastructure Index- Telecommunication Infrastructure Index (TII) Composite Indicator that measures the countries' Telecommunication infrastructure readiness to adopt the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology as to enhance their competitiveness. Estimate gives the country's score ranging from approximately 0 to 1.
Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/data-center

ICT information:

ICT skills

Information economy indicators

Individuals with basic ICT skills (%): No data

Source: www.itu.int

Share of ICT goods, % of total exports (value) 1.26 (2020)

Source: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/

Individuals with standard ICT skills (%): No data

Source: www.itu.int

Share of ICT goods, % of total import (value): 3.65 (2020)

Source: https://unctadstat.unctad.org/

Individuals with advanced ICT skills (%): No data

Source: www.itu.int

Most visited website: kooora.com

The survey conducted in 2022 excluded global dominant sites (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, and Google) and search engines (e.g., Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Naver, and Yandex) to level the playing field and discount middle-man visits. Likewise, it did not include adult, betting, illegal streaming/downloading services, and malicious websites.
Source: https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/the-most-visited-website-in-every-country

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