{{Bharti Airtel (\u201cAirtel\u201d) today announced the launch of its operation in Rwanda, expanding its footprint on the African continent to 17 countries. }}<\/p>\n
Airtel has already said that it will invest over USD 100 million in its operations over the next three years and generate direct and indirect employment opportunities. <\/p>\n
Commenting on the launch, Mr. Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) & Joint MD, Bharti Airtel said, \u201cWe are delighted to launch our operations and bring Airtel to the people of Rwanda. We believe that Rwanda is an extremely promising
\nmarket and this launch further strengthens our footprint in eastern Africa. <\/p>\n
It will be our endeavour to bring world-class and affordable services to our customers in Rwanda and add value to the economy. We would like to thank the Rwandan government for giving us this opportunity, and we are committed to contributing to their aim of bridging the digital divide in the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe government welcomes Airtel into our country. We are looking to partner with the private sector to provide good quality, accessible and affordable telecommunications services,\u201d says Right Hon. Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, Prime Minister, Rwanda. <\/p>\n
Dr. Habumuremyi added: We are especially excited about the prospect of connecting Rwanda with the rest of the East African region and, indeed, with the rest of Africa. As Rwandans begin engaging in business ventures and looking for regional partners, telecommunications companies \u2013 like Airtel \u2013 that are able to provide access to a pan-African wireless network, become a crucial part of expansion.\u201d <\/p>\n
Airtel has also partnered with IBM in a move that will enable the teleco to offer superior customer experience in Rwanda. The partnership will see IBM deploy and manage the information technology (IT) infrastructure and applications to further support Airtel\u2019s goal of providing innovative mobile services. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of our strategic services agreement, we are happy to assist Airtel with its entry into the Rwandan market and ensure the very highest levels of support,\u201d says Steve Martin, IBM Vice President and Senior Project Executive, Airtel Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cRwanda is an important market for IBM and we are actively strengthening our local presence and increasing our ability to serve our customers and partners in the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ericsson, the world\u2019s leading provider of services and technology to telecom operators, was selected to manage the network from end-to-end, including OSS\/BSS solutions and managed services. <\/p>\n
Lars Lind\u00e9n, head of Region Sub-Saharan Africa for Ericsson, says: \u201cThis solution is using the latest Ericsson portfolio, and will be the first Airtel network designed as an all-IP solution. That means Airtel will be able to provide advanced services to its subscribers, expand quickly to accommodate quick growth, and keep operating expenses down.\u201d <\/p>\n
Additionally, this launch has set a record. Lind\u00e9n adds: \u201cThe inaugural call was placed on the system on March 7. It took just 83 days to build this network from the start \u2013 the fastest Greenfield launch in history in Sub-Saharan Africa.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rwanda is among the fastest growing telecom markets in Africa and, according to the National Statistics Institute of Rwanda, mobile penetration in the country was at 38.4% as of July 2011. <\/p>\n
The rapidly growing private sector \u2013 which includes telecommunications infrastructure and ICT\u2013presents many opportunities for the development of the industry and the country\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n
In fact, according to the World Bank, each 10 per cent of broadband penetration results in a 1.3% increase in per capita GDP growth in developing countries.<\/p>\n
Airtel was awarded the license by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) last year to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services. Currently, the Airtel brand is present in both Francophone and Anglophone markets across the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Bharti Airtel (\u201cAirtel\u201d) today announced the launch of its operation in Rwanda, expanding its footprint on the African continent to 17 countries. }} Airtel has already said that it will invest over USD 100 million in its operations over the next three years and generate direct and indirect employment opportunities. Commenting on the launch, Mr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[75],"byline":[417],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-homenews","byline-dusi-blaise"],"bylines":[{"id":417,"name":"Dusi Blaise","slug":"dusi-blaise","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":417,"name":"Dusi Blaise","slug":"dusi-blaise","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}