{The Government of Rwanda signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Ericsson to boost the Rwanda’s vision of becoming an information-rich and knowledge-based economy and society and an ICT hub in the region.}
The MoU has been signed at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday, where the Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana on behalf of the government of Rwanda signed the MoU with communications giant Ericsson for broadband and internet services. The partnership is part of a Smart Rwanda being run from the Ministry of Youth and ICT.
Minister Nsengimana stressed that “Rwanda has over the last couple of years been investing in this new technology because our President and Rwandan people believe in the transformative power of technology for development… Over the period of time we’ve done a lot in terms of putting in place an environment, policies and institutions that are going to drive that transformation, we’ve been putting a lot efforts in building ICT infrastructures…”
He noted that “In Rwanda, we are steadily moving towards our vision of becoming an information-rich and knowledge-based economy and society, and an ICT hub in the region. However, our focus is not just technology, but how it can be used to deliver better services, create jobs and transform the Rwandan society and economy in a constantly changing environment. This is the focus of the SMART Rwanda Plan.”
The deal with Ericsson will see the Swedish firm be tasked with upgrading infrastructure and services in areas such as e-government, healthcare, business and education, as well as providing network security for government systems. President of Ericsson Sub Saharan Africa, Fredrik Jejdling said that the project is set to drive ICT development in Rwanda.
Smart Rwanda aims to help Rwanda achieve its ICT for Development Vision, one village at a time. This is essential to key sectors including: Education, Healthcare, Governance, Business, Agriculture, Environment, Job Creation, Infrastructure, and Smart Cities.
Rwanda continues to be one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT and there are several avenues for growth for the ICT sector – from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications development and automation to becoming a regional center for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research. A robust ICT industry can create wealth, jobs
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