The information and communication technology minister, Ignace Gatare said that Rwanda has concluded building of a 2,300 kilometre fibre optic telecommunications network over the country to connect it to the undersea cables running on the East African coast.
In October 2009, the project was started at a cost of $95 million and was established to enhance access to different broadband services, improve electronic commerce and to draw attention of the foreign direct investment through business process outsourcing.
He said, The fibre optic project will initially be operated by an independently-managed government entity on an open access model to accommodate infrastructure sharing with the private ICT service providers. The ultimate goal is to progressively transfer the business to a private business.
The minister stated that even though only around 125 of the population in the land-locked country has rights to the Internet, the information and communication industry produced proceeds of around 87 billion Rwandan francs ($145 million) in 2009 and rising by 12% in 2010.
The national fibre-optic network is already linked to the undersea cable system with two major regional links, as well as one from Mombasa in Kenya and via Uganda. It is also linked to another undersea cable from Dar es Salam.
The minister said, Initiatives to activate the links have been launched and discussions between Rwanda telecommunication operators that include MTN Rwanda, Tigo Rwanda and Rwandatel and regional cable operators are ongoing.
2011 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)
Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company
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