As the general overview of Ethiopia’s ICT infrastructure problems points out that there is a critical need to speed up the opportunities offered by ICT in addressing the complex socio-economic and governance problems facing the country today.

The challenges include the dominant factor for the agricultural backwardness with low output and productivity by global declines in commodity prices, erratic GDP growth arising from extreme variations in weather conditions, low per capita income and near-endemic poverty, low health service coverage and life expectancy aggravated by the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, rapid rate of population growth with a large and youthful population, low human resource base arising from limited access to educational opportunities, poorly developed physical, communications and telecommunications infrastructure, fledgling democratic and governance system.