The Bole International airport, Ethiopia Revenue and Customs Authority lost an estimated 30 million birr in revenue to fiber 
optics network failure that lasted for two days last week.
The optical fiber network failed for the second time in 50 days due to alleged damages to the lines around the Bole Michael area according to sources.
A similar problem that occurred at the beginning of the month of February had shut down the Customs office for three days resulting in an estimated loss of 40-50 million birr in revenue.
The repeated network interruptions have meant grievances from importers and exporters ferrying their goods by air particular as air cargo usually consists of perishable products and products that need to be delivered urgently meaning loss for businesses as well as to the customs office.The Customs office drew on its experience from the last network failure to facilitate a range of products that required immediate clearance manually.
Manually handling, however, has risks for the customs authority as clearances involve financial transactions that may be difficult to handle through manual documentation according to Kibru Lakew, General Manager of the Bole branch of the customs office.
ERCA is considering other connection options like individual satellite services due to the recurrent occurrence of network interruptions said Kibru.
It is to be remembered that Ethiopian Airlines amongst other corporations with significant dependence on network connectivity have opted to use individual satellites for some time now.
Source: The Reporter
