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Ethiopia: Mammoth Screens Distributed Across Country for Millennium
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Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
10 September 2007
Posted to the web 10 September 2007
Issayas Mekuria
Fifteen huge digital screens Addis Park Development and Management Plc, a subsidiary company of MIDROC Ethiopia, purchased from China at a cost of close to 100 million Br for the Millennium celebrations entered the country.
The screens are intended to broadcast live musical performances from the Millennium concert hall on Africa Avenue (Bole Road) near the Airport, to regional towns. The Millennium concert hall is now on the final preparation stages to host 20,000 concert goers including government officials, heads of states of African countries and about 200 local and foreign journalists.
On the eve of the Millennium, Black Eyed Peas are set to perform at the concert hall while locally acclaimed singers; Aster Awoke, Tewodros Tadesse, Tsehaye Yohannes, Abnet Agonafir, Zeritu Kebede, Hamelmal Abate, Gosaye Tesfaye and Ephraim Tamiru, will entertain their fans.
Procured from Dicolor Optoelectronics Co Ltd and BOE Technology Group Co Ltd, 11 of the screens (25sqm each) have been sent to regional towns while the remaining four (35sqm each) are in Addis Abeba.
The Chinese screen supplier, BOE was established in 1993 and since 1997 the company has shifted from the traditional consumer electronics market to the communications, computer and digital product fields. The other supplier of the technology, Shenzhen Dicolor Optoelectronics Co Ltd, develops, manufactures and markets indoor and outdoor full colour screens.
Two of the screens in Addis Abeba under installation in the Millennium concert hall while the other two in Addis Abeba Stadium and Jan Meda.
According to sources close to the situation the two screens that were sent to Gambela (796Km from Addis) and Assosa (673Km from Addis) have taken over two days to reach the towns and will not be ready for the Millennium extravaganza of September 11.
"I do not think that some regions will be able to watch the concert live due to the lack of skilled electrical engineers and IT professionals that can immediately undertake the installations and due to the time wasted in transportation to these regions," said Berhan Haile, minister of Information. "However, as the Millennium celebration stays for a year, they will have the opportunity to watch the rest."
This concert will also be broadcast live by ETV through fibre optic broadband internet services of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) locally and by the Arab satellite channels through Saudi based ETV representative Orma Sadat in other countries.
However, amidst such preparations, the problems ETC's technicians encountered in connecting the screens with the Corporation's fibre optics had panicked the organisers of the show, sources disclosed to Fortune.
The latest technologies that are being installed in regions with the screens could enable ETV to make use of them through the network of the main server but the state TV could not execute the plan. To date, ETV is still using recording tapes to broadcast events taking place in regional towns.
To support the live transmissions of the eve celebrations, Pronet International Services Plc is assisting ETV and ETC.
"My company has not made any contractual agreements whatsoever with anyone," Estifanos Seume, manager of Pronet, told Fortune. "It is because I have the expertise and have been requested by the organisers that I support ETC and ETV."
Sources close to the situation told Fortune that the project coordinator of the Millennium hall, Abnet Gebremeskel, a close confidant of Sheik Mohammed Al-Amoudi, invited Estifanos, covering all his expenses, to grant a hand. Pronet also works with ETC on the installation of fibre optic cables.
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Sonic Screen Plc, a local company, expressed its disappointment to the Millennium Secretariat that while its written proposal for an identical project has not been either terminated or approved, Addis Parks has been shown the go ahead. Sonic Screen is the first to install a huge screen in Meskel Square which broadcasts advertisements and sports events. Representatives of the company were not available for comment.
"I have no clue that there was another company that wanted to engage in this activity," said Berhan. "Even if MIDROC imports and distributes the screens, the service will be provided by ETV."
"They will not be disassembled and taken away from the regional towns after the holiday," added Berhan. "Whether the screens should be administered by the regions' information bureau or Ministry of Information (MoI) has yet to be decide
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