Ethio telecom charging Internet fees despite service shutdowns

ESAT News (October 21, 2016)

Foreign companies and NGOs say they have been charged Internet fees by the Ethiopian Telecom even when the service has been shut down following the states of emergency declared a week ago.

Ethiopian authorities shut down Internet and telephone services in most part of the country in an attempt to quell the growing protest in the country. But the state owned Ethiopian Telecom was still charging monthly Internet fees for services it has not provided, representatives of foreign companies and NGOs told ESAT.

Ethiopian regime officials have said in the past weeks that the service will remain shut down but will resume once protests subside. The anti-regime protests have, however, shown no sign of dying down.

A recent Brookings Institution report showed that a total 30-day disruption of the internet between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, cost Ethiopia’s economy over $8.5 million.