ASSESSMENT OF OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS OF COMMERCIAL DRONES IN CASE OF ADDIS ABABA

Abstract

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia commercial drone technology is utilized by entrepreneurs, video makers, film makers, video producers, TV stations as well as by police. By applying descriptive research design; this qualitative research assessed of the opportunity and threats of commercial drones in Addis Ababa. The opportunities explored are; for business practices, entertainment industry and law enforcement activities. The investigated posed threats are to; privacy, government activities and cyber security. The research used census methods and which mainly interviewed primary data from government stakeholder bodies like Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, police and Information Network Security Agency; as well as from business side seventeen television stations, thirty one video producers, fifty one film makers, thirty six marketers, and fifty six entrepreneurs, primary data is collected using five scale Likert written questionnaire. As a secondary data government documents, reports, firm documents, research papers, reputable website analysis & reports are used. The analysis technique used for five scale Likert data is averaging responses for each separate question using SPSS software version 24.0; then grand mean of the respective sector is evaluated, on which; mean value 1 represents lowest satisfaction whereas 5 represent highest satisfaction. Drone operations are making easy the drone based business sector like marketers, video producers, entrepreneurs’ film makers and television stations. Commercial drones are more utilized by entertainment industry than any other. Police lag behind the private sector on understanding and utilizing commercial drones for law enforcement activities. Drones are also posing a threat to privacy, government activities, and cyber security.