Research and Markets: Rwanda

The aftermath of the 1994 genocide and a monopolistic market structure until 2006 have weighed on the Rwandan telecommunications sector, but the country is now rapidly catching up with other markets in Africa.

The fixed-line incumbent

The fixed-line incumbent and second mobile operator, Rwandatel has launched third-generation (3G) mobile services, with MTN expected to follow shortly. Both Rwandatel and MTN are rolling out national fibre backbone networks which also allow them to connect to international submarine fibre optic cables on the African east coast. Seacom, the first such cable landed in July 2009, giving the entire region fibre-based international bandwidth for the first time and bringing to an end its dependency on satellites. These developments will revolutionise Rwandas Internet and broadband sector which has suffered from limited fixed-line infrastructure and high prices. The price for international Internet bandwidth is expected to plummet to a fraction of the current level. Several Internet service providers (ISPs) are rolling out WiMAX wireless broadband networks. They have adopted VoIP Internet telephony although the technology has not yet been officially deregulated, which potentially turns them into converged fixed-wireless voice and data/broadband service providers. Both MTN and Rwandatel have also adopted WiMAX to complement their mobile data services.

Rwanda is also a key partner in the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project and has a major e-government program. This report contains an overview and analysis of Rwandas telecommunications market, profiles of the major players in all market sectors, relevant statistics, and scenario forecasts to 2010 and 2015 for the countrys mobile market.