Ethio Telecom comes in at very high prices which makes it difficult for private users to purchase it. In , Ethiopia announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next three years to connect all of the country's schools, hospitals, and government offices, and most of its rural population, to broadband Internet via satellite or fiber-optic cable.
Ethiopia has made several attempts to increase available broadband by laying 4, kilometers of fiber-optic cable along the country's major highways, by making overtures to the East African Submarine Cable System EASSy and by connecting Addis Ababa to existing fiber optic networks in Port Sudan and Djibouti.
These ventures have had mixed success. The domestic network is not yet operational, though the government had promised to lay 10, more kilometers of cable by Currently satellite Internet is available to some large corporations, but individuals are not permitted to have private satellite connections.
In , the number of Internet users in Ethiopia had increased to 1,,, or approximately 1. The ETA is not an independent regulatory body, and its staff and telecommunications policies are controlled by the national government. It grants Ethio Telecom a monopoly license as Ethiopia's sole ISP and seller of domain names under the country code top-level domain, ". Individual purchasers must also apply for Internet connections through Ethio Telecom.
In , Ethiopia passed a law that prohibits anyone to "bypasses the telecom infrastructure established by the telecom service provider", which prevents any alternative internet service provider to be created. In , Ethiopia remained a highly restrictive environment in which to express political dissent online.
