Hughes Network System (HNS) will install the satellite link to increase access to education for the country's 28.7 million children, HNS said in a statement.

During the first phase the contractor will set up a directway satellite network and a national distance learning system in the Horn of Africa country, the statement said.

The network's installation is expected to be completed by the end of 2004.

Ethiopia has limited landline telephone communications, with more than 60 percent of the functioning lines located in the capital Addis Ababa, according to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates.

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