Aimed at increasing Rwanda’s internet capacity, the Rwanda Development Board has awarded a 6.7 million US dollar contract to Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) to provide 1.244 GB/sec of internet bandwidth.
The bulk international bandwidth has been procured off the World Bank grant through the Regional Communication Infrastructure Programme-Rwanda (RCIPRW).
The project aims at lowering prices of internet capacity as well as extending the geographic reach of broadband networks in the country.
“Rwanda strongly believes in regional integration and is strategically positioned as a link between East Africa and Central Africa. What we are witnessing today is an important step in Rwanda’s efforts to grow as a service hub in the region,” said Patrick Nyirishema, the Head of Information and Communication Technology department at the Rwanda Development Board.
Nyirishema explained, “For Rwanda to achieve higher and sustained growth performance through transforming itself into a service-based economy, it has embarked on developing the ICT infrastructure and services.”
While noting that Rwanda faces significant challenges in getting access to low-cost international connectivity as a landlocked country, Nyirishema explained that; “This purchase of bulk international capacity on regional and international networks will significantly boost our vision to make bandwidth a commodity on the Rwandan market.”
He added that if broadband becomes a commodity on the Rwandan market, it would stimulate deployment of a wider and improved range of services to consumers at affordable prices.
“We are using demand aggregation for bandwidth to drive down prices of internet capacity, to stimulate investment into regional network infrastructure and to ensure that affordable access is made available to all market participants on an open-access basis,” added Nyirishema.
The CEO of TTCL, Said Amir Said noted that this contract is more than just business because it links two sister countries.
“This is just the beginning. Not only TTCL but also the government of Tanzania is honoured to work with Rwanda to promoted the East African countries,” noted Said.
Within two weeks of signing of this contract, TTCL will provide part of the capacity and will progressively scale up to the full contracted capacity in less than six months.
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