Kigali Households Own More Phones

A new survey shows that Kigali households own more mobile phones compared to other provinces in the country.

The third EICV (Integrated Survey on Life Conditions), the percentage of households with at least one mobile phone which was 6.2% in 2005/2006 has increase by 39% to reach 45.2% among the general population in 2010/2011.

The City of Kigali made a big progress in terms of mobile phone ownership because the percentage of households with at least one mobile phone in Kigali City was 79.6% in 2010/2011 from 33.2% in 2005/2006, which is a growth rate of 46.4% in only five years.

Compared to other parts of the country, Kigali recorded a great difference with a rate of 79.6% of households owning a mobile phone followed by the Eastern province with 48.4%.

Three provinces which have a low percentage of mobile users are namely Northern, Western and southern provinces with a proportion of 41.9%, 40.4% and 35% respectively.

The percentage of households which own at least a mobile phone also increased in urban areas (from 26.5% in 2005/2006 to 71.5% in 2010/2011) as well as in rural areas (from 2.2% in 2005/2006 to 40.6% in 2010/2011).

In terms of gender,percentage mobile phone ownership shows at least one mobile phone in 2010/2011 with 35.1% in female headed homes against 49% of households headed by male.

In terms of mobile phone subscribers, the number of subscribers was 2,429,000 in 2009 and 4,842,000 in 2011,a growth rate of 99.34%.

The mobile phone in Rwanda is used for different purposes: calls and short messages sending/receiving, money transfer, recording and playing music and movies, picture shooting, listening to the radio, watching TV, internet connectivity, advert and publicity etc.

The increase of ownership of mobile phones goes together with the increase of economic growth of a country.

Within the current situation of mobile phone penetration, both public and private institutions are affording means to plan they can use this opportunity for other functions to foster the potential of national development.