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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Rwanda'

Only 7 companies to bid for 3rd Mobile licence in Rwanda

  • July 30th, 2008
  • 12:50 pm

Only seven companies shows interest in third mobile licence of Rawanda. According to source, relatively low interest may be to do with flaws in the tender process. Seven companies are Vitel Holdings, Larrycom For Investment, Essar Telecom, Comium Group, Celtel, Millicom, and Easymobile Communications.There has been criticism of the government’s policy of extending invitations to bid to preferred companies, and not instead having a widely advertised public tender with bidding documents made available to everyonone.
Closing date is 30 september, RURA will select the top three bidders. Final decision will be taken by the State Ministry of ICT, which will make the final decision before the end of the year.

ITU says USD 55 billion committed to connect Africa

  • November 1st, 2007
  • 2:57 pm

A summit on improving Africa’s information technology infrastructure wrapped up in Rwanda with investment commitments amounting to over USD 55 billion. ITU head Hamadoun Toure said in a statement that African leaders had committed themselves to creating the right regulatory environment, and private sector leaders had pledged to invest in the continent’s ICT sector. The summit decided to bring forward ICT connectivity goals to 2012 to enable the achievement of the broader Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Commitments were made to interconnect all African capitals and major cities with ICT broadband infrastructure and strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012. By 2015, broadband and ICT services will be extended to all African villages. The summit also set out to meet the World Summit on the Information Society goals for capacity building, establishing an enabling environment for investment, and e-government services. Toure said telecom companies were making profits, farmers were getting the information they need, and teachers were receiving educational aid. “Mobile phones even have an impact on democracy. During elections, people have used mobile phones to get election results fast and in a transparent manner.”

   

Ericsson, MTN start first Millennium Village project (Rwanda)

  • October 31st, 2007
  • 3:07 pm

Ericsson and mobile operator MTN have unveiled the first services in their Millennium Village project, in Mayange, Rwanda. Part of a partnership with Colombia University’s Earth Institute, the Millennium Village project aims to improve mobile and internet connectivity in rural areas in Africa, supporting social services and economic development. In Rwanda, MTN is upgrading its GSM network to EDGE to increase broadband connectivity and equip community health workers with communication tools. One initiative to improve health services is a new toll-free phone service that can be used in medical emergencies to connect patients with on-duty medical personnel. Other initiatives include a mobile learning tool to train community health workers and applications to collect and share basic household health information. Sony Ericsson has also provided mobile phones to the Millennium Village health clinics and community health workers. Together with Ericsson, it has developed and will provide a new Solar Village Charger capable of recharging at least 30 mobile-phone batteries per day and eight phones simultaneously for each village cluster. Small-business entrepreneurs will also have the opportunity to sell shared voice and data services to villagers, thanks to a partnership with the GSM Association’s Development Fund.

   

Six bid for Rwandatel (Rwanda)

  • September 21st, 2007
  • 3:08 pm

Six companies have entered bids for Rwanda’s state-owned fixed and mobile operator Rwandatel, a month after the government offered to sell up to 70% of its shares in the firm. The six potential suitors are Vodacom Group of South Africa, Kuwaiti-owned Celtel, Jordan’s V-Tel Holdings, Bit Map Ltd of Singapore, Uganda’s LapGreen Network and domestic firm R-Com. ‘We are looking for a strategic investor with capacity to develop the sector by improving the quality of services and meeting the ever increasing expectations of telecommunications market in Rwanda,’ Rwandatel said in a statement. According to news agency Reuters, Rwanda’s mobile market is dominated by MTN Rwanda, owned by the South African MTN Group, which has seen subscriber numbers double to 500,000 in the previous twelve months.

   

 

 

 

 

 

MTN reports half-year results (South Africa)

  • August 30th, 2007
  • 3:31 pm

South Africa-based MTN Group, which operates cellular networks in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East, has reported its results for the six months ended June 2007. Highlights were an increase in total subscribers of 20% since 31 December 2006, to 48.2 million; group revenue for the half-year of ZAR34.2 billion (USD4.7 billion), up 69% year-on-year; EBITDA for the same period up 75% year-on-year to ZAR15.2 billion, and an increased EBITDA margin of 44.4%, from 42.9% six months earlier. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) was one of the first mobile operators to enter the South African mobile market when it was launched under the banner M-Cell in 1994. It took on the MTN brand name in late 2002 and today operates two divisions: MTN South Africa and MTN International - comprising operations in Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia, plus a number of subsidiaries across the rest of Africa and the Middle East held through Investcom which was acquired in May 2006.

   

 

 

 

IFC invests USD32.5m in African cable project

  • August 3rd, 2007
  • 3:13 pm

The World Bank’s International Finance Corp (IFC) has announced it will invest USD32.5 million in a fibre-optic cable project that will provide internet and international communication services for 21 African countries. The IFC, the private-sector arm of the World Bank that focuses on investing in emerging market economies, said the cable project should improve telecommunications access for 250 million Africans and cut costs for individuals and businesses. The project, called the East African Submarine Cable System, is to run 10,000 kilometres from the continent’s southern tip to the African horn. It will connect South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. A further 13 countries will share the system through land links. They are Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Mohsen Khalil, IFC’s director of global information and communications technologies, said in an interview the project’s total cost will be USD235 million and said it is a cooperative effort between private and public interests designed to ensure that prices do not fall under monopoly control and rise. ‘Consumers along the east coast of Africa typically pay between USD200 and USD300 a month for internet access,’ the IFC said. ‘As a result of this project, prices for international connectivity will drop by two-thirds at the outset and the number of subscribers will triple.’ Construction is to start within weeks and the cable is scheduled to be in operation by early 2009.