Country Focus: Rwanda moving towards a digital, connected future

Mention the name “Rwanda” and few people would immediately associate the country with technology breakthroughs and concrete telecommunications innovation and advancement. But the reality is that Rwanda is slowly but surely gaining ground among Africa’s emerging technology heavyweights.

The Central-Eastern country has a turbulent past. Tribal conflict has made world headlines and global leaders, together with Rwanda’s government, continue to work to move away from the legacy left behind by colonial rule, religious and cultural difference, and civil war, in order to instil a lasting peace.

Despite the volatile socio-economic climate, the country is determined to acquire and integrate technology to boost local development.

In May, the Prime Minister, Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, called for more partnerships to be forged between the government and private sectors, specifically with a view to promote the growth of Information Communication Technology.

During the same month news from Rwanda’s Ministry of Disaster and Refugee Management spoke of the issuing of Internet-based cell phones to sectors in order to improve the communication process during natural disasters.

In April Cyrille Turatsinze, spokesperson at the ministry of local government, stated the government’s intention to enhance and improve the delivery of ICT services and technologies, supporting the further rollout of the country’s five-year IT policy.

Launched in 2000, the National ICT Plan (NICI) is a phased growth strategy to introduce and sustain ICT infrastructure across the country. (1)

It is a message that local mobile network service providers, including MTN, Tigo and Bharti Airtel, are happy to hear. The industry is regulated by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA).(2)

Competition for business and the attention of the country’s government and industry regulators indicate strong moves to advertise the potential that exists within Rwanda. .

In 2011 authorities launched NICI-3, focused on the development and application of new services such as fibre-optic networks.
Online sources including www.goafrica.com and www.internetworldstats.com offer up a number of interesting facts about the country:

• The country is located East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with Uganda to its North and Burundi to the South.
• Kigali is the capital city, the country covers 26,338 sq km and has a population of nearly 10milllion
• The country’s population was recorded at 11 370,425 with 818,048 Internet users in December 2011. This represents 7,2% population penetration and 0,6% percentage of users across Africa.
• On 31 March 2012 the country had a recorded 127 680 Facebook users
• According to www.allfacebookstats.com Rwanda is ranked 134th with 134,240 Facebook users
• The country’s 25-34 year-old age group represents the most active user group, with the 18-24 year old group in close second position

Sources:

(1) http://www.rtnrwanda.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92%3Athe-rwanda-national-ict-strategy-and-plan-for-2010-2015-under-development
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_the_Middle_East_and_Africa#Rwanda

Chris Tredger