ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

College of electrical and mechanical engineering

Electrical and computer engineering department

Communication engineering stream

Internship report

Hosting company: Ethio Telecom

Prepared by: Nahom Desalegn

ETS 0862/08

Advisor: Dr. Muluneh Mekonen

October 2019
DECLARATION

I student Nahom Desalegn hereby declare that the presented report of internship is uniquely
prepared by me after the completion of three month work at Ethio Telecom SWAAZ. I also
confirm that the report is only prepared for academic requirement not for any other purpose.

INTERN: Nahom Desalegn

SIGN______________________

ADVISOR: Dr Muluneh Mokonnen

SIGN______________________

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report is prepared on the basis of my three months Industrial Internship Program at
Ethiotelecom. This internship program helped me to learn about the practical scenario of
Ethiotelecom. This report will cover some background information of the company from its
establishment until today and basic tasks I have done during those three months

Ethio telecom gives many different services to its customers. Some of its services are: fixed line
telephone subscription services, fax services, mobile services, broadband internet services and
VSAT services for the educational purpose. This company uses many types of transmission
mediums to transfer of information from one place to another place. The main transmission
mediums are micro wave and optical fiber transmission. There are many equipment which are
used to facilitate this transmission process.

From the services provided by Ethio Telecom listed above I worked on FAN department which
deals with different tasks like router configuration, ADSL line installation, fiber optical cable
splicing, fixed line telephone and fax machine installation and troubleshooting the line
identifying copper and fiber back bone damages from TT(trouble ticket) paper information.

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all I would like to thank the one God for helping me finish this project. And secondly I
would like to thank my Company advisor Mr Sebsbe and all SWAAZ ethio-telecom workers
who helped me in those 3 months by sharing their knowledge willingly. Thirdly, I would also
like to give special thanks to my advisor Dr Mulu for his suggestions

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Contents
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................. 1
BACK GROUND OF ETHIO TELECOM .................................................................................... 1
1.1 Brief history of ethio telecom ............................................................................................... 1
1.2 Main products and services ................................................................................................... 3
1.2.1 Fixed line ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.2.2 Mobile services ............................................................................................................... 7
1.2.3. Internet and data .......................................................................................................... 11
1.3 Customers of ethio telecom ................................................................................................. 14
1.4 The overall organizational structure and work flow ........................................................... 15
1.5 Market share ........................................................................................................................ 16
1.6 Company mission and value ............................................................................................... 17
1.7 Policy in Ethio telecom ....................................................................................................... 17
1.8 Company objective .............................................................................................................. 18
1.9 Divisions in Ethio telecom .................................................................................................. 18
1.10 Departments in Ethio telecom ........................................................................................... 19
1.11 End users of Ethio telecom................................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 21
THE OVERALL INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE ......................................................................... 21
2.1 Objectives of the internship................................................................................................. 21
2.1.1 General Objectives ....................................................................................................... 21
2.1.2 Specific Objectives ....................................................................................................... 21
2.2 Tasks I did in Ethio telecom ................................................................................................ 21
2.2.1 In FAN copper team ..................................................................................................... 22
2.2.2FAN backbone (fiber team) ........................................................................................... 31
2.2.3 IP provisioning team ..................................................................................................... 37
CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 38
CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF THE INTERNSHIP ........................................................ 38
3.1 Benefits................................................................................................................................ 38
3.1.1 Upgrading theoretical knowledge to practical knowledge ........................................... 38
3.1.2 Interpersonal communication skills .............................................................................. 38

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 3.1.3 Team playing skills ....................................................................................................... 39
3.1.4 Leadership skills ........................................................................................................... 39
3.1.5 Work ethics related issues ............................................................................................ 40
3.1.6 Entrepreneurship skills ................................................................................................. 41
3.2 Challenges Faced................................................................................................................. 41
CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................................... 43
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 43
4.1 Recommendation ................................................................................................................. 43
4.1.1 Recommendation for Ethio Telecom ............................................................................ 43
4.1.2 Recommendation for AASTU ...................................................................................... 43
4.2 Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 44
Reference ...................................................................................................................................... 45

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List of Figures

Figure1. 1 Main product and services ............................................................................................. 4

Figure1. 2 Fixed line ....................................................................................................................... 5
Figure1. 3 Fixed line Telephone ..................................................................................................... 5
Figure1. 4 Categories of mobile service in ethio telecom .............................................................. 7
Figure1. 5 Satellite mobile telephone ........................................................................................... 11
Figure1. 6 Categories under internet and data .............................................................................. 11
Figure1. 7 ADSL architecture ....................................................................................................... 12
Figure1. 8 Wireless internet providers [1] .................................................................................... 12
Figure1. 9 Domain name example ................................................................................................ 13
Figure1. 10 Ethio Telecom Customers ......................................................................................... 15
Figure1. 11 Ethio telecom organizational structure ...................................................................... 16

Figure2. 1Step one of ADSL configuration .................................................................................. 23

Figure2. 2Step two of ADSL configuration .................................................................................. 24
Figure2. 3Step three of ADSL configuration ................................................................................ 24
Figure2. 4 Step four of ADSL configuration ................................................................................ 25
Figure2. 5Step five of ADSL configuration ................................................................................. 26
Figure2. 6Step six of ADSL configuration ................................................................................... 26
Figure2. 7 Headphones ................................................................................................................. 28
Figure2. 8 Tone Generator ............................................................................................................ 28
Figure2. 9 MSAG cards ................................................................................................................ 30
Figure2. 10 Fiber splicing by fusion ............................................................................................. 33
Figure2. 11 Fiber optics splitter .................................................................................................... 33
Figure2. 12 Patch panel................................................................................................................. 34
Figure2. 13 Fiber optics closure.................................................................................................... 34
Figure2. 14 Fiber optics cleaver.................................................................................................... 35
Figure2. 15 OTDR ........................................................................................................................ 35
Figure2. 16 OPM .......................................................................................................................... 36

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List of Tables

Table2. 1 Copper wire color arrangement .................................................................................... 31

Table2. 2 Fiber optics cable color code ........................................................................................ 36

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List of Acronyms

ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

ALC – Analog Line Card

BRAS – broadband remote access server

CAAZ – Central Addis Ababa Zone

CEO – Chief Executive Officer

CPE – Customer Premises Equipment

DNS – Domain Name System

DSLAM – Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer

DSL – Digital Subscriber Line

EPON – Ethernet Passive Optical Network

ER – Edge router

FAN – Fixed Access Network

GILCA – Giga Ethernet Integrate Line Card

GPON – Gigabit Passive Optical Network

IP – Internet Protocol

IPLC- International Private Leased Circuit

ISP – Internet Service Provider

Kbps – Kilobits per second

LAN – Local Area Network

MAC-Media Access Control

MB – Mega Byte

MPLS-Multiprotocol Label Switching

MRP – MSAG Packet Processing and Resource Card

MSAG – Multi Service Access Gateway

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NAT-Network Address Translation

NNOC – National Network Operation Center

ONU – Optical Network Unit

OTDR – Optical Time Domain Reflectometer

PPOEPSTN – Public Switched Telephone Network

RALC – Reverse Analog Line Card

UIL – University Industry Linkage

UTP – Unshielded Twisted Pair

VAS – Value Added Service

VPN – Virtual Private Network

VSAT – Very Small Aperture Terminal

WAN – Wide Area Network

ZTE – Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation

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 CHAPTER ONE

BACK GROUND OF ETHIO TELECOM

1.1 Brief history of ethio telecom

The history of Ethio Telecom starts in recent days after a reformation takes place from the
previous company titled Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporations which is now a day does
not exist. In this section before we see the short history of Ethio Telecom we deal with the long
history of telecommunications in Ethiopia since it is the back bone of the current existence of
Ethio Telecom as Telecommunications Company.

The history of telecommunication sector in Ethiopia can be seen by dividing it roughly in to two
periods which are the early years and the post war period. In the early years we can see the time
starting from the emerging of telecommunications service until the end of Ethio-Italian war and
it is as follows.

Telecommunications service was introduced in Ethiopia in 1894, 17 years after it is introduced to

the world, during the rule of emperor Menilik II. The first major telephone line constructed
spanned a total distance of about 477 Km and connects Harar a major trade center in eastern
region with Addis Ababa. Immediately after the telephone line, a telegraph line was installed
following the construction of the first and only rail way line in Ethiopia. With a construction
period of two years 880km North to South telephone line connecting Asmera with Addis Ababa
was constructed and made operational in 1904. The „verbal repeater‟ system was used to
facilitate long distance calls, making use of the several intermediate stations opened at the small
towns and villages along the route [1].

By 1930 a route distance of 7000 km was completed and over 170 towns were being served by
the telephone network. International communication service, however took long to develop.
Until 1930 Asmara and Djibouti are the only cities connected. By 1932 Ethiopia becomes the
member of ITU (International telecommunication Union).

By 1934 Ethiopia has established direct radio telephone links with Cairo, Djibouti, Aden and
London and soon after radio communications training sectors for Ethiopians in order to replace

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the expatriates handling the nations traffic. Administratively the country’s telecommunication
sector is run by an office in imperial palace.

When Italy evade Ethiopia for five years they destroy all the telephone line but when they start to
work in the country they need to have telephone for their own use so they build telephone route
again in new format.

By 1941 they build a telephone line in Addis Ababa and Asmara with a capacity of 1,500 and
1,200 respectively. After all when they leave Ethiopia after the Ethiopian Army defeat them they
left nothing in the sector, they destroy all things they deploy. As we say above the next period
(the post war period) starts here after the return of Italy to their country.

The main thing done at the beginning of this period was rehabilitation of the destroyed telephone
network. In this period the ministry of Telephone, Telegraph and post was re-established to
facilitate the rehabilitation work.

By 1952 the communications sector comes one step to the front due to the establishment of
IBTE (Imperial Board of Telecommunications In Ethiopia) by proclamation number 132/52 on
October which was independent of telegraph and post. Under the Dergi regime, the IBTE
reorganized as Ethiopian Telecommunications Service on October 1968 which was in turn
reorganized

By 1972 a new organizational structure was made and Ethiopian Telecommunications Authority
(ETA) was established. The authority comprises of the following three departments and
respective divisions.

 Financial and supply department

 Finance division
 Supply division
 Operations department
 Traffic division
 Maintenance coordination division
 The seven regional divisions

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  Energy department
 Radio division
 Telephone division
 Civil engineering division

Both ETA and Ethiopian Telecommunications service were in charge of both the operation and
regulation of telecommunications service in Ethiopia. Specifically ETA was responsible for
service quality check and price setting. On November 1996 the Ethiopian Telecommunication
service becomes Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation by council of ministers regulation
no 10/1996. The subsequent proclamation 49/1996 expands the ETC duties and responsibilities.
By the year of 2005 on January ETC transferred from narrow band system to broad band service

At last when we come to recent days we can see the transformation from ETC to Ethio Telecom.
As a continuation of the last five years plan and after concentrating its efforts on educations
health and agriculture, the Ethiopian government has decide to focus on the improvement of
telecommunication service, considering them as a key lever in the development of Ethiopia.

Ethio Telecom was born on Monday 29th November 2010, from this ambition of supporting the
steady growth of our country as public enterprise on proclamation no 197/2010 of council of
ministers. Ethio Telecom as a company is governed by the supervision authority or board of
directors [1].

This is final report for Electrical engineering in communication stream semester internship .The
internship was undertaken to finalize this semester industry internship for engineering students.
This specific internship was undertaken at Ethio telecom western region, where duties were
assigned providing the experience as a product specialist .Over the course of internship a variety
of activities were experienced, both technical and process related .

The organizational structure, vision and mission, end users and services and products will be
covered in the next sections of this chapter.

1.2 Main products and services

Ethio Telecom provides national and international telecommunications services, using

communication media of satellite, optical fiber, microwave, multiple access radius, very small

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aperture, ultra high frequency and very high frequency. Ethio Telecom mobile service includes
prepaid Services, satellite mobile phone services, International mobile roaming services, short
message services and Voice mail services. Call diverting, call barring and call waiting services
are also obtainable from Ethio mobile. Currently, it provides the following major types of service
packages such as landline and wireless fixed, mobile, Multimedia and value added services,
internet and data services for its government, business, and private and other non-government
organizations which are locally and internationally. In addition, it provides dialup Internet,
CDMA 2000 wireless Internet, ADSL and wireless Internet using AIRONET, VSAT, and
EVDO. It uses VSAT technology for the delivery of services to various government networks
Furthermore, Ethio telecom provides other Value Added Services (VAS) such as Domain Name
registration and management for the .et country code top-level domain (CCTLD), the Domain
Name System (DNS), Web hosting, and Internet Protocol Address service.

Ethio-telecom provides different types of Internet services including dial up, leased line and
shared DSL Internet services to government organizations, private and commercial companies,
international institutions and individuals. The broadband Internet services uses asymmetric
digital subscriber line (ADLS) and fixed wireless access (FWA) technologies. Over all main
products and services can be generalized as follows.

Figure1. 1 Main product and services

1.2.1 Fixed line

Fixed line product has many broad categories. These can be summarized by the following block
diagram and description of each product is continued after block diagram.

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 Figure1. 2 Fixed line

A. Fixed line

Fixed line is traditional wired phone service and fixed line conference call this service allows a
customer to communicate with more than two persons at the same time from his/her fixed line
service. It delivers voice, fax and internet service, it is fixed in locations such as home and office,
no mobility. It is cost importantly reliable and cheap alternative for business.

Figure1. 3 Fixed line Telephone

B. Fixed wireless CDMA

Fixed wireless refers to the operation of wireless devices or systems in fixed locations such as
homes and offices. It is much similar to the ordinary fixed telephone service; it uses Fixed
Wireless Terminal (FWT) which enables it to give a voice, data and other value added services.
It works wherever CDMA network is available. It substitutes the service of the ordinary fixed
telephone by providing only the voice service. The tariff of fixed wireless is the same as the
traditional fixed line.

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C. ISDN (Integrated services digital network)

Integrated services digital network is an international communications standard for sending

voice, video and data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires. ISDN supports data
transfer rate of 64Kbps. It can be considered as the step of internet evolution that lies between
dial up and DSL/cables. ISDN internet service is basically a telephone based network system that
operates by a circuit switch, or dedicated line. It can transmit data and phone conversations
digitally over normal telephone lines. No longer would once have to miss a call in order to access
the internet, or shut down the internet to make a telephone call. There are several kinds of access
interfaces to ISDN defined as Basic Rate Interface (BRI), and Primary Rate Interface (PRI).

D .Fixed line value added services

There are different packages of fixed line value added services which are very important for
enterprise and residential customers.

 CLIP/caller line identification presentation: enables to identify the person calling

the number displays on your screen while the phone is ringing.

 Call waiting: alerts you when a caller wants to speak to you

 Call Baring: Baring national and international calls to control who makes these
calls using your fixed line.

 Abbreviated dialing: calling abortively.

 Don‟t disturb: do not disturb routes all your call to your voice mail.

 Call divert: incoming calls are sent to another number or mobile number.

 Fixed Hot line: dial a number automatically when the hand set is lifted.

 Call-Conference: lets you speak to two or more people at the same time.

 Short number call: The short code numbers are designed to be 3 or 4 Digit instead
of 10 digit numbers which makes them easy to read and remember.It is similar to the
normal fixed line call except that this calls are made through short numbers.

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1.2.2 Mobile services

Mobile service product has many broad categories. These can be summarized by the following
block diagram and description of each product is continued after block diagram.

Figure1. 4 Categories of mobile service in ethio telecom

A. GSM Mobile (prepaid/ postpaid)

The service is given using SIM (Subscriber Identity Module). It has voice, data, SMS, and other
value added capabilities, in order to use the service in pre-paid scenario; it is required to charge
using stretchable cards and for postpaid services, users are charged at the end of every month
(usage charge + rent).

GSM mobile also provide many Services in addition to voice these are:-

SMS (short messaging service)

Before using this service the message service center should be set by putting
+251911299708.these number is common for all as broad cast number.

Call diverts/Call Forward

 Call forwarding (or call diversion) can be made by a user under the following
condition:

If busy, if out of reach, if not answered.

 This is a service that allows you to forward your incoming calls to another phone.

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Call waiting: Call Waiting is a feature that informs you, while you are on a call that another
party is trying to reach you. The party trying to reach you hears ringing, and you hear the call
waiting tone (beep tone).

Call Barring : Enables the user to restrict or bar certain or all types of calls to and from your
mobile phone, i.e. outgoing calls, outgoing international calls, incoming calls.

 To use this service it needs to visit nearby sales office and subscription is required

Voice mail service: Is a message that the calling party leaves to the called party as prompted
when the call is forwarded to the VMS system under defined call divert/forward conditions. And
Communication will continue unhindered, even if the called cannot answer the call.

CRBT service: Service which enable a person calling to hear a selected song instead of the
traditional beep tone.

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

 It is a mobile data service available to users of GSM mobile phones.

 It provides moderate speed data by using unused microwave resources in the

GSM network.

 To use GPRS setting access point to APN etc.com is required.

Credit transfer service for pre-paid mobile customers

As per its corporate values, Ethio Telecom shall strive to commit to understand, meet and exceed
the telecommunications needs and expectations of the country at large and of customers in
particular. To this end, Ethio Telecom has recently launched a credit transfer service for the
prepaid and package service for mobile customers in order to meet the needs of communities
living in voucher card inaccessible areas.

This innovative service enables such prepaid and package for mobile customers to transfer air
time from their pre-paid mobile account to another pre-paid mobile account. The service is fast
and easy since it is in user‟s hands and does not require visiting Ethio Telecom sales office.

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Unstructured Supplementary service Data (USSD)

Ethio Telecom has also introduced the USSD command service which has the following
advantages in recharging and balance inquiring:

 It is customer user friendly (that is, no time out, no error to network, no to follow
voice command).

 It reduces voice network congestion.

 USSD command is a global system for mobile (GSM) communications

technology that is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application
program in the network.

Ethio Telecom has also recently enhanced other products and service offers such as Machine to
Machine, bulk SMS and short code premium, in signing partnership with content providers.

B.WCDMA

It offers a wide range of advanced services: high speed internet accesses, video and high quality
image transmission, video conversation, online chat; it requires mobile phones that support 3G,
services users are charged at the end of every month (usage charge + rent), accessing calls while
browsing the web page is possible, you can transmit and receive data at greater speed and
capacity, and it also supports all services offered by 2G GSM services in addition to voice.

C. Mobile roaming service

Roaming service will provide the ability for wireless customers to automatically make and
receive voice calls, send and receive data or access other services when traveling outside the
geographical coverage area of ethio telecom, by means of using visited country‟s operator‟s
network. Simply, roaming will enable ethio telecom mobile subscribers to use of mobile or radio
(wireless) related services beyond the network coverage of ethio telecom. There are two types of
roaming service. There are two types of roaming these are out bound roaming means who wants
to use their mobile phone abroad (out of ET network coverage). And in bound roaming means
Customers of foreign operator who has a roaming agreement with ET (like tourists, foreigner
investors). This service is provided only for GSM postpaid and pre-paid subscribers.

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D.GOTA (Global Open Trucking Architecture)

GOTA is a service given using the CDMA2000 wireless network for the purpose of group
communication, the service allows two or more individuals to communicate and also use it for
private and group calls and the service also allows the subscriber to make external calls by also
subscribing to the mobile wireless service.

In addition to group communication it also allowing the following functionalities:

 Users can subscribe for to make or receive calls with external network with full or
limited mobility.

 One-to-one private calls and one- to- many group calls.

 The ability to set the user‟s priority.

 The ability to perform forced insertion/release based on the user‟s priority.

 The ability to provide special services such as system paging, group paging & etc.

 The ability to give organizations a user name and pass word to manage their users
remotely from their organization as per their requirement.

 Subscription and monthly rental for Gota (PTT) without voice fully mobility.

E. Satellite Mobile Telephone

This service enables customers in every part of the globe to be beneficiaries of telecom services
through satellite stationed on the universe instead of the terrestrial network. This telephone
service has been also provided to those customers found outside the mobile telephone coverage.
It is important service for enterprise mainly working in an area not covered by the GSM network.

This kind of service needs special telephone apparatus.

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 Figure1. 5 Satellite mobile telephone

1.2.3. Internet and data

An internet and data service has many broad categories. And also the categories have other
subcategories these can be summarized by the following block diagram and descriptions of each
product are continued after block diagram.

Figure1. 6 Categories under internet and data

A. Broad band internet

Broad band internet is a relatively fast internet service provided thoroughly wired and wireless
connections.

Wired broad band internet

The wired broad band is provided through copper or fiber with different access methods (ADSL,
ADSL2, ADSL2+ and VDSL2). It can be provided with different speed depending on
customers‟ requirement and the access they use. Customers can buy CPEs or rent from ethio
telecom. Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is one form of the digital subscriber line, a
data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone
lines. Through ADSL customers will get a better, affordable, reliable and faster internet
connection starting from500 birr per month. This service is used by banks, institutes and etc.
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 Figure1. 7 ADSL architecture

Wireless broad band internet

The wireless can be given through EVDO, VSAT and AIRONET. EVDO is standard for high
speed wireless broad band. It is a CDMA technology that supports the high speed internet data
connection with peak speed of 3.1 Mb/s and with an average speed of 800Kb/s-1.7Mb/s. it works
where ever CDMA network is available. EVDO is given in both postpaid and pre-paid format. It
is now available throughout Addis Ababa and 216 major towns and cities in Ethiopia. It is in
bundled in three packages 1, 2 and 4GBs.

Figure1. 8 Wireless internet providers [1]

B. Broad band data (MPLS-VPN)

Virtual private network VPN is a network that uses a public telecommunication infrastructure,
such as internet to provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to their
organization’s network and data. Ethio telecom gives VPN service mainly through MPLS
(multiprotocol labeled switch) network. MPLS-VPN is a virtual private network a multi-protocol

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labeled switch to deliver data, voice and video service using a shared telecom infrastructure. Its
goal is to provide the organizations with the same, secure capabilities but at a much lower cost.

C. Internet VAS

These are internet value added services.

Domain name: if you want to have unique address on the internet ethio telecom can provide you
a domain name. A domain name is the part of your internet address that comes after www

Ethio telecom manages the DNS for all domain names.

Example IP address 216.239.39.99

Domain name www. google.com

Figure1. 9 Domain name example

Internet Protocol (IP) address: if you want an IP address which is numerically label that will
be assigned to your devices participating in a computer network. We can get this service through
virtual IP address or One IP address service.

Graphic Scanning: this is used to graphic scanning service.

Counter service: this service helps you to know the number of visitors to your web pages.

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Web Hosting: if you want your web site to be accessed on internet, ethio telecom can provide
you a web hosting service. Ethio telecom provides virtual Hosting, Dedicated server and hosted
server web hosting service.

Beside the above listed services ethio telecom also sells mobile apparatuses by making
agreements with the vendors of the apparatus. These services are given to customers according to
the type of customers explained in the next section.

1.3 Customers of ethio telecom

In this section we will see who the customers of Ethio Telecom are. Generally the customers or
end users of Ethio Telecom are the entire people in the whole country where the company’s
network coverage is there. This is because everyone can use the network of Ethio Telecom where
ever the network is there as much as he/she has fulfilled the requirements to use the services. As
we have explained in the previous section there are two types of customers in the new Ethio
Telecom organization. In this new division of customers of Ethio telecom has divided the
customers in to two to make its work clear and efficient.

The two types of Ethio telecom customers are Enterprise customers and Residential customers.
The Enterprise customers are those customers like governmental organizations, private
companies and nongovernmental organizations. Generally those customers who take a bundle of
services or organization of residential customers are Enterprise customers. On the other hand the
residential customers are those customers who are single users.

Ethio Telecom has its own rule and regulations on how it gives services for those two different
classes of customers differently. Even the places where those customers got services are not the
same. Both of them got service in different place, may be it will be in two office near each other
or one office but two different places.

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 Figure1. 10 Ethio Telecom Customers

1.4 The overall organizational structure and work flow

The higher official of Ethio telecom is board of directors. Next to this chief executive officers are
leading the company. Since there are divisions, departments and sections are present to lead
these: officers, managers and super visors are responsible. To facilitate the work sharing of
responsibilities are must due this Ethio telecom has a good structure for efficient performance.

To introducing a new technology and upgrading the existing technology foreign people are
included in the management.

Especially in the higher level of the management more officers are foreign people to introduce
the new and world class technology with short period of time. To copy the technology to our
country it is the best solution to incorporate the people from other country telecom professionals

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 Figure1. 11 Ethio telecom organizational structure

1.5 Market share

Ethio telecom has a monopoly over all telecom services. This is because of that to expand
telecom services all over the country equally it is the only solution. If the government provides
the market to the private sectors the only concentrate only the capital cities and the areas where
they will get higher profit. Now telecom is the key factor for the development of the country to
bring this development the government must expand telecom by selecting places as it is more
important in terms of economically important. That is why now not only towns and cities but
also rural areas are getting telecom services. When the government wants one area as industry
zone or like great dam there must be access to get updated information in each day so the

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company should start the service as the dame starts by working with specific period of time as
the government requests. If it was in the hands of private sectors they will take time up to
analyze the request in terms of market advantage. If it is not advantage related to market the
request will drop so the place will stay without service.

1.6 Company mission and value

Ethio telecom mission is supporting steady growth of our country. Wish to implement state of art
process, to develop reliable network infrastructures and to provide the best quality of services to
their customers. While meeting international standards, they remain faithful to their values:

 Meeting and exceed the telecommunications needs and expectations of our

country at large and of customers in particular.

 Respect their customers and recognize that their revenues allow Ethio telecom to
operate.

 Recognize that the company employers are the most valuable asset and want to
create an efficient corporate management environment that allows them to develop and
grow.

 Commit to high level job performance, customer service quality, organizational

excellence and continuous improvement in all areas.

 Stay motivated and encouraged to meet all the challenges that they will face.

 Make every effort to achieve a superior financial return.

 Uphold ethical standards, being honest in all assignments.

 Hold themselves accountable to all their stakeholders.

1.7 Policy in Ethio telecom

 Ethio telecom achieves its goal of both providing a reliable network and of
improvement customer services through a range of different levels that are that are part
of its development strategy.

 Ethio telecom develops and enhances the information system. This will help to
decrease the delay for provision, sales and activation as well as to provide more reliable
information to customers.

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  Ethio telecom develops a world class human resource management. This will help
to improve employees „ability to meet the needs and expectations of the customers.

 Ethio telecom implement control standard processes. This will help to increase
creativity and to faster customer access to services.

 Ethio telecom develops better sourcing and facilities processes. This will help
faster delivery and repair and will offer more transparency for customers.

1.8 Company objective

Ethio telecoms have many goals from this:

 Offering the best quality of services.

 Being a customer centric company.

 Meeting world-class standards.

 Building a financially sound company.

To reach above goals: all department and divisions must focus on:

 Developing and enhancing network band information system.

 Encourage easy access and coverage to the whole population.

 Creating a strong brand.

 Developing human resource management.

 Implementing control standard process.

 Improving financial, sourcing and facilities product

1.9 Divisions in Ethio telecom

Since Ethio telecom is large company with broad service. There are many divisions in the
company these are:

 Network division

 Quality and sourcing division

 Security division

 Internal audit division

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  Sourcing and facilities division

 Human resource division

 Legal division

 Finance division

 Information system division

 Customer service division

 Enterprises division

 Residential marketing sales division

1.10 Departments in Ethio telecom

There are many departments that are more related to communication engineering stream in Ethio
telecom (not only western region),Network PMO, network engineering, network O& Network
FAN, network services and management, PMO department, services department, BSS
department, office automation department, operation department, internal security department,
accounting department, cash management department, financial control & analysis department,
assets department, contract department, legal department, compensation department, career
management department, human development department, personal management department,
staffing management department, sourcing department, logistics and supply department, facilities
and fleet department, risk management coordination department, internal audit coordination
department, internal audit department, quality department, risk & business continuity
department.

Further department in Ethio telecoms are process department, key account department,
SOHO/SME department, sales department, enterprises marketing department,
interconnection/roaming department, direct channels department, indirect channels department.

Support department, marketing department, ethics and anti-corruption department, women‟s

affair department are departments which are present in Ethio telecom.

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Departments are categorized under divisions. To share works the distance of departments are
very crucial. Without the existence of departments perform different tasks within a given time is
impossible.

1.11 End users of Ethio telecom

End-users, as the term tells us, provide the inputs to the network and are recipients of Network
outputs. Ethio-telecom provides its different services including fixed line telephony, mobile
telephone and Internet to government organizations, private and commercial companies,
international institutions and individuals.

End users of overall ethio telecom can be generalized as:-

 Individual customers.

 Enterprises.

 Banks (both Governmental and nongovernmental).

 Governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

 Different institutions (like university, scientific research center etc).

 Internet café (both national and international).

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 CHAPTER TWO

THE OVERALL INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

2.1 Objectives of the internship

2.1.1 General Objectives

The general objective of this internship was to enhance my practical skills which were developed
while I was learning theoretically until now.

2.1.2 Specific Objectives

To develop work ethics, team work and other organizational skills and getting familiar with the
working environment unlike the education we were passing through.

2.2 Tasks I did in Ethio telecom

The team I joined from the different departments of Ethio telecom was FAN or fixed access
network department.

Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL)
technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper
telephone lines than a conventional voice band modem can provide. ADSL differs from the less
common symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL). In ADSL, Bandwidth and bit rate are said to
be asymmetric, meaning greater toward the customer premises (downstream) than the reverse
(upstream). Providers usually market ADSL as a service for consumers for Internet access for
primarily downloading content from the Internet, but not serving content accessed by others.

ADSL works by using the frequency spectrum above the band used by voice telephone calls.
With a DSL filter, often called splitter, the frequency bands are isolated, permitting a single
telephone line to be used for both ADSL service and telephone calls at the same time. ADSL is
generally only installed for short distances from the telephone exchange (the last mile), typically
less than 4 kilometers (2 mi)[2] but has been known to exceed 8 kilometers (5 mi) if the
originally laid wire gauge allows for further distribution.

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At the telephone exchange, the line generally terminates at a digital subscriber line access
multiplexer (DSLAM) where another frequency splitter separates the voice band signal for the
conventional phone network. Data carried by the ADSL are typically routed over the telephone
company's data network and eventually reach a conventional Internet Protocol network.

There are both technical and marketing reasons why ADSL is in many places the most common
type offered to home users. On the technical side, there is likely to be more crosstalk from other
circuits at the DSLAM end (where the wires from many local loops are close to each other) than
at the customer premises. Thus the upload signal is weakest at the noisiest part of the local loop,
while the download signal is strongest at the noisiest part of the local loop. It therefore makes
technical sense to have the DSLAM transmit at a higher bit rate than does the modem on the
customer end. Since the typical home user in fact does prefer a higher download speed, the
telephone companies chose to make a virtue out of necessity, hence ADSL.

2.2.1 In FAN copper team

FAN copper team was the first team I joined during this internship program. In FAN copper team
there are many devices used and five main tasks. First am going to explain about the tasks and
then I will list and describe the devices.

2.2.1.1 Fan copper team tasks

There are many tasks done by the FAN copper team including installation works for ADSL lines,
surveying, CPE configuration and TT maintenance

A. Survey

When customers request ADSL service from Ethio telecom the survey team will go to the
address specified and do a survey.

Survey is done as follows. First the team supervisor receives the request and sends one of the
technician team to find the closest terminal and MSAG number of that terminal which is near to
the customers place and the distance from the terminal as well as the MSAG. Then report back
with the closest MSAG and terminal. Then the new connection order will be sent to the IP
provisioning team if the customer is an internet customer and data customer. Once the new

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connection order is received by the IP provisioning team the configuration will be done on the
appropriate device it may be on the routers on The MSAN or MSAG.

B. Installations

After survey is done the installation task follows. first it is checked check whether the signal
reaches or not on the MSAG primary and then on the secondary parts if both are ok the team
goes to the terminal which is at the close proximity to the customer and check if the signal
reaches there. If it reaches there a new line from that terminal to the CPE (customer premises
equipment) which may be fax machine fixed line telephone or ADSL modem is installed. If the
connection is to the ADSL modem which means if the customer is ADSL subscriber the CPE
configuration order will come next.

C. CPE configurations

The CPE configuration in Copper team is only done on ADSL modem configuration. The steps
in CPE configuration are described bellow

Step 1 Accessing the modem: the default gateway to the modem is 192.168.1.1 which private
address in class C IP address ranges after we write the address and press enter it will as for the
authentication user name-admin and password admin is the default user name and password after
we enter the correct user name and password we will be prompted to the GUI running or the
browser done by the manufacturer of the modem in the case of Ethio telecom ZTE.

Figure2. 1Step one of ADSL configuration

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Step Two: when we click on the quick setup the following interface will be displayed what we
need to do is pressing next without changing any parameters from those listed.

Figure2. 2Step two of ADSL configuration

Step Three: check PPOE for Residential and MAC encapsulation for interprise customers and
press next

Figure2. 3Step three of ADSL configuration

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Step four: The most important information will be filled in this step The Private one IP sub net
mask and default gate way primary and secondary DNS server addresses. Wan IP address and
other related numbers are provided by ethio Telecom during sales. The WAN IP is the IP
assigned for the interface of the modem and the incoming RJ-11 connector. And the default
gateway is the point where our computer is connected to the modem or maybe we might connect
a switch to our modem if we want to have larger network. Whatever the device we connected to
the modem that interface is called the default gate way and the default gate way IP address is
assigned automatically but we will also fill in the next step as a primary IP address. And we
have to enable NAT which means network address translation because the class C private
address has to be translated to the class A private address and that class A private address will be
translated to the public IP address as well because private addresses are not routable on the
internet. If we are doing for data customer we don’t need to enable NAT because the address
does not need to be translated because we do not need it to route over the

Internet Ruther the user in the LAN will communicate each other securely without going over
the internet

Figure2. 4 Step four of ADSL configuration

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Step five: In this step we will fill the primary IP address which is the default gate way and the
subnet mask will be filled automatically .and othe thing is we need to enable dhcp so that the
modem will assign an ip address automatically to the computer or devices connected to the
network and we can use the whole possible ip addresses from 192.168.1.2192.168.1.254

Figure2. 5Step five of ADSL configuration

Step six: when we press next in the above step we will be prompted to the summary of our
configuration what we need is check if the whole information is correct if it is correct click apply
and if not return back and reconfigure it.

Figure2. 6Step six of ADSL configuration

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D. Terminations

When a customer wants to end the services he or she will apply to stop the service. In the same
way as the new order is done the IP provisioning team will remove the configuration from the
access devices the router. so that it will be ready for another customer to be configured. Once the
IP professional do this the FAN copper team will go to the customers residence and uninstall the
line installed from home to terminal and from terminal to the MSAG as well.

E. TT (trouble ticket) troubleshooting

When a customer encounters any defect on the service there is a way ETHIO telecom provided
that enables the customer to call 994 and register the problem. The operators in 994 call center
then send the service number to the respective Ethiotelecom FAN zone as TT or trouble ticket.
Then the fan team troubleshoots the defect.

The trouble shooting process starts by checking the connection if there is any open or short on
the line using different mechanisms using Tempo meter or tone generator to check the continuity
of the line and fixing that fault. And sometimes the ADSL modem losses its configuration due to
some reasons so we will reconfigure as we did for new configuration.

2.2.1.2 FAN copper team devices

Tempo meter: This is a device used to check where the line has open or short circuit. It will tell
the technician after how many meters did the fault is happening. If there is also aground the
graph will be irregular there will not be any pick showing graph.

Terminals: Those devices are network elements before the customer’s device. The MSAGs are
connected to those devices through copper wire and the customer will be connected to those
devices directly. But they have nothing to do other than connecting the MSAG and the customer.
They are used to make the installation of wires form the MSAG to the customer simple. For
example in order to give service for 10 customers, one overhead or underground cable with 10
pairs will be connected to the MSAG and then to the terminal instead of installing 10 different
wires for those customers then connect them directly from the terminal..

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Copper insertion: this is the equipment used to insert the copper wires to the ports on the
MSAG frames.

Head phone: Used to listen the tones from the line or the tone sent from the tone generator in
order to troubleshoot the problem.

Figure2. 7 Headphones

Tone generator: This device has two components tone generator and finder which are used to
identify the target wire from a group of wires. The tone generator generates the tone on a pair of
wires in one end and the finder is used find the tone at the other end to find the target line.

Figure2. 8 Tone Generator

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MSAG: acronym for multiservice access gateway (because its is an access device for data, internet and
voice) is a device typically installed in a telephone exchange and a roadside serving area interface cabinet
which connects customers’ telephone lines to the core network, to provide telephone, ISDN, and
broadband such as DSL all from single platform. They are the main components which I was working on
my internship. It’s operated by Ethio Telecom Operation and Maintenance division found in NNOC. This
MSAG box has soft switches(cards), primary and secondary cable, jumper wire i.e. from primary wire to
secondary wire connector, and a primary Transmission box (or T), mainly the MSAG’s found under
Ethio Telecom are products of Chinese Telecom company called ZTE. The MSAG contains: cards
(chromes) for an internet, data and also for voice. The first 12 cards (there are 16 cards but four cards
are given to power and they are not counted) are given to the internet and are called Zero (Internet) shelf.

And the next 12 will be given to data and they are called First (data) shelf, the rest cards are given to
voice because in our country context there are large number of PSTN users compared to ADSL internet
or data users, hence there is no surprise to give the most cards for voice. The shelf numbering will
continue mostly up to the fifth shelf, so the numbering for shelves be like (0,1,2,3,4, 5….).For cards, the
numbering starts from 3 because card number 1, 2, 9 and 10 are internally connected to the power
source. The Counting will be 3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14,15,16 here as we can see numbers 9 &10 are not
included in the numbering, so even if it’s numbered up to 16, the cards used for service are only 12, so a
single shelf contains 12 cards.

A single card contains 32 terminals. From those 32 terminals, for internet & data the middle 16 terminals
put idle, i.e. only the first 8 ports from the left & the last 8 ports from the right are given to a customer,
the idled terminals are intentionally left because for future if the internet or data customer needed a
telephone line he will be given in those idled terminals and not in the voice shelf and as DSL technology
can let us use both data and voice in a single line. The numbering of terminals for data and internet go
like 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 then jump the middle 16 cards and 9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16. So as we can see for
internet and data a single card can hold a maximum of 16 customers. But for voice, the whole
32 terminals found in a single card are used and given to customers, the terminal numbering for voice
cards will be 0,1,2,3….,31.The fiber cable from Ethio Telecom (in NNOC) will be installed and when
it reaches the MSAG, the lines will be divided in to data, internet and voice and will be inserted to their
respective cards, here there are also lines which comes for optical fiber customers and they will get in to
the fiber processing card [1], The Cards in the MSAG are:

 Analog Line Card (ALC) – used for PSTN or voice service only
 Reverse Analog Line Card (RALC) –used for PSTN and Fax service

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  EPON Long Distance Card (EPOL) – used for fiber optics service
 MSAG Packet Processing & Resource Card (MRP) – used for data/VPN users
 Giga Ethernet Integrated Line Card (GILCA) – used for Ethernet/internet service

Figure2. 9 MSAG cards

Color codes of a copper wire: Color code is a system of marking things with different colors as
a means of identification. It’s a system for displaying information of the wire by using different
colors. In all those primary and secondary T frames, the copper lines are identified from each
other by a color code. One copper line that goes to a single port have a specific color code.

30
Table2. 1 Copper wire color arrangement

Number Color arrangement

1 White with blue

2 White with orange

3 White with green

4 White with brown

5 White with gray

6 Red with blue

7 Red with orange

8 Red with green

9 Red with brown

10 Red with gray

2.2.2FAN backbone (fiber team)

Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by

sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave
that is modulated to carry information.[1] Fiber is preferred over electrical cabling when high
bandwidth, long distance [3].

This team also uses different tools and has many tasks described below.

2.2.2.1 FAN fiber team tasks

Just like the fan copper team the fan fiber team tasks include survey installation and tt
troubleshooting of lines provided to customer requesting internet speed above 5mbs. It differs
from the copper in that the medium used for communication is fiber cable. Here the different
task from the copper team is troubleshooting the backbone problems meaning solve troubles
happening in related to the back bone which is the fiber optical cable connecting The MSAGs

31
each other the MSAGs to the switches, edger routers to core routers, core routers to border
routers, border routers to the Gate way routers and each large scale networking devices to each
other.

When there is damage among the back bones the fiber will be re spliced based the color codes of
the fiber unlike simply connecting like copper it needs relatively complicated process to connect
the broken fiber.

Fiber Optics Splicing: Fiber optic splicing is an important method of joining two fiber optic
cables together. It is a preferred solution when an available fiber optic cable is not sufficiently
long for the required run. Besides, splicing is designed to restore fiber optic cables when they are
accidentally broken. Nowadays, fiber optic splicing is widely deployed in telecommunications,
LAN (Local Area Network) and networking projects. Typically, fiber optic splices can be
undertaken in two ways: fusion splices and mechanical splices.

Fusion Splicing Method: Fusion splicing is a permanent connection of two or more optical
fibers by welding them together using an electronic arc. It is the most widely used method of
splicing as it provides for the lowest loss, less reflectance, strongest and most reliable joint
between two fibers. When adopting this method, fusion splicing machines are often used.
Generally, there are four basic steps in fusion splicing process as illustrating in following one by
one.

 Step 1 strip the fiber: The splicing process begins with the preparation for both fibers
ends to be fused. So we need to strip all protective coating, jackets, tubes, strength
members and so on, just leaving the bare fiber showing. It is noted that the cables should
be clean.
 Steps 2 cleave the fiber: A good fiber cleaver is crucial to a successful fusion splice. The
cleaver merely nicks the fiber and then pulls or flexes it to cause a clean break rather than
cut the fiber. The cleave end-face should be perfectly flat and perpendicular to the axis of
the fiber for a proper splice.
 Step 3 fuse the fiber: When fusing the fiber, there are two important steps: aligning and
melting. First of all, aligning the ends of the fiber within the fiber optic splicer. Once
proper alignment is achieved, utilizing an electrical arc to melt the fibers to permanently
welding the two fibers ends together.
 Step 4 Protect the fiber: A typical fusion splice has a tensile strength between 0.5 and
1.5 lbs and it is not easy to break during normal handling. However, it still requires

32
 protection from excessive bending and pulling forces. By using heat shrink tubing,
silicone gel and/or mechanical crimp protectors will keep the splice protected from
outside elements and breakage.

Figure2. 10 Fiber splicing by fusion

Mechanical Splicing Method: If we want the splices to be made quickly and easily, the
mechanical splice is a better choice. A mechanical splice is a junction of two or more optical
fibers that are aligned and held in place by a self-contained assembly. A typical example of this
method is the use of connectors to link fibers. This method is most popular for fast, temporary
restoration or for splicing multimode fibers in a premises installation. Like fusion splice, there
are also four basic steps in mechanical splice.

2.2.2.2 FAN fiber team devices

Fiber optic splitter: It is an optical fiber tandem device with many input and output terminals,
especially applicable to a passive optical network (EPON, GPON, BPON, FTTX, FTTH etc.) to
connect the ip network and the terminal equipment and to branch the optical signal. Fiber optic
splitters enable a signal on an optical fiber to be distributed among two or more fibers.

Figure2. 11 Fiber optics splitter

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EPON (Ethernet passive Optical Network) modem : It is an actual Ethernet network over
optical cable following the IEEE 802.3av standard for 1 Gbps (supporting up to 10 Gbps). There
are two functional components of an EPON network, an optical line terminator (OLT) and an
optical network unit (ONU). OLT is a equipment integrating L2/L3 switch function in GEPON
system. ONU converts optical signals transmitted via fiber to electrical signals. These electrical
signals are then send to individual subscribers.

Patch panel: Fiber optic patch panel is used to cover the spliced part of fiber cable in MSAG
box and building of customer during the installation of fiber to home network (FTTH).

Figure2. 12 Patch panel

Fiber Optical Cable closure :is an environmentally sealed enclosure for fiber splice, splitting,
distribution and cross connect in outside plant network for FTTX. The closures are made of
tough anti-corrosive Polycarbonate that makes the closures ideal for aerial, cable duct, direct
burial and well applications.

Figure2. 13 Fiber optics closure

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Cleaver: This is the device used to create a perfectly flat end face, perpendicular to the
longitudinal axis of the fiber

Figure2. 14 Fiber optics cleaver

Optical time-domain reflector-meter (OTDR): is an optical equipment used to

characterize an optical fiber. OTDR measures reflections caused by changes in the impedance of
the cable under test. The strength of the return pulses is measured and integrated as a function of
time, and plotted as a function of fiber length. It can be used to measure optical link loss if its
markers are set at the terminus points for which the fiber loss is desired.

Figure2. 15 OTDR

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Optical power meter (OPM): is a device used to measure the power in an optical signal. It is
usually referring to a device for testing average power in fiber optic cable. It tells us how much
loss the cable is facing per meter. Most of the time if the loss is above -15dbm the problems will
be terraced and identified by going through from the MSAG to the customer’s residence. The red
light on the EPON modem shows there is a problem on the line which means the signal is not
reaching the modem properly, so tracing problem will be started.

Figure2. 16 OPM

Table2. 2 Fiber optics cable color code

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2.2.3 IP provisioning team

In IP provisioning team IP assignments and configurations on different access devices (BRAS,

ER, and MSAG) will be done remotely and, also enterprise routers configuration will be done by
going to the customer’s location for large fiber customers. The configuration of data customers is
done on edge routers.

Edge routers: An edge router is a specialized router residing at the edge or boundary of a
network. This router ensures the connectivity of its network with external networks, a wide area
network or the Internet. An edge router uses an External Border Gateway Protocol, which is used
extensively over the Internet to provide connectivity with remote networks. Instead of providing
communication with an internal network, which the core router already manages, an edge router
may provide communication with different networks and autonomous systems. This term is also
sometimes known as an access router.

Edge routers use External BGP Protocol for data transmission because they are intermediary
devices between two different networks and operate at the external or border layer of the
network. There are several types of edge routers, including edge routers placed at the outer
boundary of the network as an essential device for connecting the host network with the Internet.
Whenever a node sends data on a network unmonitored by the host administrator, the data packet
is sent to the last router on the authorized network, which is the edge router.

There are two types of edge routers, the subscriber edge router and label edge router. The
subscriber edge router is used in scenarios where it serves at the border device. The label edge
router is used in multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and assigns labels to outbound data
transmissions.

37
 CHAPTER THREE

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF THE INTERNSHIP

3.1 Benefits
Internship is very important for developing theoretical knowledge to practical application.
During this internship program I have seen many of the theoretical ideas in practice including the
materials. The overall internship benefits are listed and described below.

 Upgrading theoretical knowledge to practical knowledge

 To have better interpersonal communication skills

 Able to have team playing skill

 Able to understand about work ethics related issues

 To know leadership skills with in working environment.

 To developed entrepreneurship skills.

3.1.1 Upgrading theoretical knowledge to practical knowledge

The only means of getting practical knowledge in the campus time maybe laboratories. But this
internship program has abled me to see the real application of the 4 year courses. This is the
main benefit I got from this internship program.

3.1.2 Interpersonal communication skills

Interpersonal communication is humanity’s most important characteristic and its greatest

accomplishment. It is human’s ability to turn meaningless grunts into spoken and written words,
through which they are able to make known their needs, wants, ideas and feelings.

Skill-building training improves communications abilities. Reading a handout may improve our
understanding and knowledge of the main concepts. But only reading will not improve our
communication skills. So in order to develop our interpersonal communication skills have to
“learn by doing” in a skill building Training Program. That is why we doing so; and our

38
interpersonal communication skill were developed. It is our experience that a high level of
communication effectiveness can be reached only through intensive and well-designed training
programs.

During the internship we have got the following experiences with respect to interpersonal
communication;

 Steps for communicating with persons situated at management level.

 How to communicate with persons in the optimization team.

 How to communicate with persons working in different parts of the company.

 Upgraded communication skills with students working in the company.

3.1.3 Team playing skills

Teams need strong team players to perform well. Teams need people who speak up and express
their thoughts and ideas clearly, directly, honestly, and with respect for others and for the work
of the team. That's what it means to communicate constructively. Such a team member does not
shy away from making a point but makes it in the best way possible in a positive, confident, and
respectful manner. Teamwork has a dramatic effect on organizational performance. An effective
team can help an organization achieve incredible results. A team that is not working can cause
unnecessary disruption, failed delivery and strategic failure. Nowadays it is almost impossible to
avoid being a member of team. If you're not on an official team at work, chances are you
function within one in one way or another. So it's important for our personal and career
development to know our team working strengths and weaknesses. This implies that team work
skill is the backbone of team playing skill.

3.1.4 Leadership skills

Explaining and understanding the nature of good leadership is probably easier than practicing it.
No matter what position you hold, leadership skills are valuable for moving you through your
career and into a leadership role. So it is crucial that we learn how to improve leadership skills.
When we are a leader of a group of people we must continually assess our own performance on a
regular basis, so that we can progress forward instead of stagnating and remaining at one

39
particular level. So we develop and more understand practically the leadership skills. This is
because we are always contacted with customers, we listen their problem, and to satisfy our
customers we must have to lead appropriately in doing so we develop our leadership skills.

Leadership is an art of inspiring others to give of their best and courage to use this art. During the
internship with respect to leadership skills I have learned and convicted to have the following
attributes to be successful leader:

 General intelligence, to make sense of the complexity and difficulty of the task

 Technical or professional knowledge and competence in their particular fields – is

often the bedrock of respect for leaders, but is never enough

 Personality - leaders should be energetic and committed, maintain contact with

their people, and understand their strengths and weaknesses

 The ability to inspire, although this quality may be rarer than some of the others
and is perhaps the most difficult to develop

 Listening, sharing and delegating skills keen(and not interfering unnecessarily),

because in groups of more than around five people it becomes impossible to know all
the necessary detail

 Self-knowledge, understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses, which in

turn will enable them to turn to others in their group to compensate for their own biases
or deficiencies

3.1.5 Work ethics related issues

Developing organizational skills in the workplace eliminates unnecessary ineffectiveness and

enables individuals to efficiently perform essential job tasks. Establishing organizational skills
help individuals perform their work according to their job duties and responsibilities. Therefore,
maintaining organization in the workplace not only helps individuals work efficiently, but also
helps to promote the overall objectives of an individual's job or profession. Maintaining
organization enables individuals to be productive while performing their job duties. On the other
hand, it is important for companies to establish organizational objectives in the workplace to help
achieve the company's overall mission.

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3.1.6 Entrepreneurship skills

In this section which is the last section of this chapter we try to see those benefits we gained
from our internship experience in western region Ethio Telecom in terms of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship, the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control, is now a
subject with segmented interest across a wide variety of fields and topics, including new venture
creation, venture capital, social ventures, business model innovation, open software, internet,
corporate entrepreneurship, global business, and biotechnology. We have developed our ideas of
creation, working with teams, generally how can change yourself.

A wide range of skills are seen as entrepreneurial and useful to entrepreneurs, these include both
personal traits and skills:

 Management skills - the ability to manage time and people (both yourself and
others) successfully.

 Communication skills and the ability to sell ideas and persuade others.

 The ability to work both as part of a team and independently.

 Able to plan, coordinate and organize effectively.

 Financial literacy.

 Able to research effectively, for example available markets, suppliers, customers

and other more specific or business related skills, will be of use to entrepreneurs, these
may include:

 Being able to draw up a business plan for a new venture.

 Being able to market and sell a new product or idea.

3.2 Challenges Faced

It is most common that any one faces some challenges during the course of doing some work. I
have also faced some problems during the internship session. Some of which are listed below.

 Time shortage: The technicians are always in hurry to accomplish the task they are given
so most of them are busy to explain what they are doing for me they will simply do their
job as fast as they can.

41
 Lack of theoretical knowledge: Most tasks in the company are done by nonprofessional through
experience. So some times when I ask them why It is done like that they will tell me it have to be
like that. Nothing else.
 Repetition of Tasks: another thing what I noticed is, unlike education there is no new
thing in work environment every day. Almost the same thing will be done every day.
 The carelessness of the Advisor In the company.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Recommendation

4.1.1 Recommendation for Ethio Telecom

The devices in Ethio telecom network does not have the security they have to. Especially the
MSAGs do not have proper locking system. Most of the time the batteries are stolen. So I
recommend the company to propery lock the MSAG and other network devices.

I recommend Ethio telecom to increase the level of security for message, because it is pretty easy
to tap the line and hear what is being transmitted. Specially fixed line telephony is much
unsecured. Not only the fixed line telephone even the routers and the MSAGs are accessed in
very unsecure telnet protocol in which the password and username packets can be easily captured
and understood by using different packet sniffer apps like wire shark. I recommend Ethio
telecom to use the most common way of secure access mechanism which is SSH (secure shell) in
which the password and user names will be encrypted other than plan text. In general my
recommendations for Ethio Telecom FAN department are listed below.

 Proper locking system of MSAGs and MSANs

 Increase encryption for fixed line telephone.
 Increase the theoretical knowledge of their crew.

4.1.2 Recommendation for AASTU

According to the overall internship experience, the objective of the internship and
concerned about what Addis Ababa science and technology supposed to do for students during
this internship.

 The University should pay attention to internship students at list once a month.
 If it is possible, there should be some type of advantage from the government or from the
university for private companies for their willingness and future participation in offering
internship program in their filed.

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  The university must attend the host company how to give the program to the students.
 In addition to this cost money must be given immediately, when the internship students
are goes to their host company.

4.2 Conclusion
In my internship in Ethio telecom i had had a lot of experiences like professionalism,
punctuality, work ethics team work and may more. Especially in fiber optical team i was able to
see what i was learned theoretically in practice. Fiber being as thin as human hair amazingly
carried hundreds of Mbps data rate using the light pulse in it. Also in IP provisioning team i was
able to see how IP address are allocated what is done in order to overcome the scarcity of ip
addresses that is using private IP addresses and using Network address translation, port security
mac address filtration and fundamental skills how to secure our network.so that plenty Private IP
addresses will be available. I also had some additional theoretical skills especially on ideas
related to networking.

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Reference

1. Data and Computer Communications, William Stallings, ISBN 0-13-243310-9, ISBN

978-0-13-243310-5
2. Alemayehu Demssise’s internship report
3. http://www.ethiotelecom.net.et
4. www.itweb.co.za
5. http://www.ide.go.jp
6. www.it-ebooks.info

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