Ethio Telecom to change logo again

The state telecom monopoly is going to change its latest logo introduced in February 2012, following the decision of the board of directors in favour of a new one that 'better expresses the real work' of the monopoly.
Debretsion Gebremichael (Phd), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information and Communication told Capital that the telecom firm is on the process to introduce another logo replacing the current one.
"We have two reasons to replace the new logo," Debre Tsion explained. "The current logo does not express the company fully and the country’s situation, and secondly it is similar with the logo of another company that is based outside of Ethiopia."
Euroclean, a Turkish based commercial cleaning company actually does have a logo which is similar in design but different in colour and size. 

As part of modernizing the telecom operation, France Telecom introduced the new ‘e’ logo replacing the previous logo that depicts a lion in a traditional drum.
"We are now more than a telecom company. Our company has a clear goal of allowing Ethiopian citizens to flourish and realize their full potential based on the principles of sharing," Jean Michel Latute, former CEO of ET had said while introducing the new logo back in February.
According to sources, the main aim for changing the new logo is due to the fact that the telecom company identified another similar logo in another country. "The other logo looks identical with the current ethio telecom logo. The only difference is the colour and the size of the logo," these sources added.
Abdurahim Ahmed, Corporate Communication head of ET, told Capital that the telecom company is under process to replace the new logo.
He said that the current logo introduced ten months ago had been developed by France Telecom experts.
"We are going to replace it once we have the new logo ready, but we have not decided how to do it," he explained.
Some Ethio telecom employees Capital spoke to criticized the move as unnecessary after only a few months since the launching of the new logo, not even a year. "The company has already spent a lot of money to introduce and post the new logo," they argued. "Most of ethio telecom offices are branded with the new logo and a lot of scratch cards are printed using this logo," these sources added concerned about the cost they expect to be very high to replace the existing logo.
However the minister rebuffed the telecom staffs and other observers’ opinion saying, "We have stopped printing posters and other related works associated with the logo some time back and the cost spent on it is not that much."
When the telecom company introduced the logo back in February 2012 at the Sheraton Addis, it also launched the opening of several new customer offices fully decorated with the new logo, which has a colour combination of green, yellow and light blue.
At the launching of the new logo, officials of the telecom explained that the ‘e’ shape with blue, green and yellow colour combination holds the ideas of: sharing and fertility inspired by the green ecosystem of Ethiopia; sharing smiles; sharing a new story (a symbolic way to illustrate a new chapter for ET). "It is one important step of our evolution," the telecom enterprise statement noted at the launching ceremony.
This new logo was also selected as it shares the ‘e’ with Ethiopia, ethio telecom, earth, enthusiasm and energy.
After the European giant France Telecom took over the management of ET it managed to make several changes including the name and logo of the state monopoly.
The contract with France Telecom ended on December 13, 2012, though the company had shown interest to get a renewal. For its services, the Ethiopian government has paid 30 million Euros.
The 60 year old former ET logo portraying a lion with a drum and sticks resembled symbols many of the state owned enterprises use, including Ethiopian Shipping Lines, Ethiopian Roads Authority, Anbessa City Bus Enterprise and the flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines, which changed it recently. The logos used by these state enterprises carry the symbol of a lion pointing their formation to the era of Emperor Haile Selassie I. --Capital