Assessment of Telecom Project Implementation Practices in Ethiopia: The case of Telecom Expansion Project
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Date
2018-12-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
To satisfy the growing customer demand for new services and rapidly changing technologies, the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (now Ethio Telecom) has undertaken many network upgrading projects since its establishment. However, the implementation management of these projects in Ethiopia face many challenges that bring obstacles in achieving their goals. It is important to identify and assess the implementation practices of telecommunication projects. This project work aims to assess the practices applied in implementation of the Telecom Expansion Project in Ethio Telecom. A descriptive type of study is used to evaluate the practices related to the project management knowledge areas, management support and project execution readiness processes. Stratified random sampling design is used to collect quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaire instrument from target population. SPSS version 20 statistical software was used to analyze the quantitative data to check reliability of the questionnaire; to produce the response percentages and number of responses. According to the survey, the project implementation plans, defining and sequencing activities were good; however, estimation of activity schedules were not properly practiced. In addition, the budget estimation was initially more than the actual project budget requirement and was not on the acceptable range. The scope management, resource management such as materials, equipment and team and stakeholder management are well practiced. The planned quality was not successfully implemented; there was no clear monitoring to check whether stakeholders’ information requirement is satisfied; individual project risks were not properly identified; activities in the implementation, contracts including procurement contracts were not properly closed and finalized. There was good management support but incentive and training management was not properly applied. There were good readiness practices but training of Operation and Maintenance staffs and preparation of spare parts were not appropriate. In addition, there were not clear safety procedures and awareness of operating areas. Based on the findings, it is recommended to address the gaps in the project implementation practices for next telecom projects. Further researches can be done on the effect of these practices related to knowledge areas, management support and readiness processes for the success of project implementations
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Keywords
Project implementation, Project management, Readiness process,