Rwanda looks to fast broadband connection to accelerate growth

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With a population of over 11 million people, Rwanda has the potential to be among African nations leading broadband powerhouse. broadband
The small Central African nation targets to have 95 percent of its citizens connected to affordable, reliable and fast internet services by 2017.
Rwanda today hosts the Africa edition of broadband forum with more than 50 delegates from over 15 countries from Africa and beyond to deliberate ways to increase broadband penetration on the continent.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Philbert Nsengimana, the minister for youth and ICT said that one of the Rwanda ambitious targets is to accelerate broadband as enabler for economic growth.
“We are moving away from subsistence agriculture based economy to a knowledge based society which will drive our country to a middle income status in the next few years and this will be partly driven by fast, affordable and reliable internet services,” he noted.
Nsengimana noted that the country last year rolled out high- speed Fourth Generation (4G) broadband network that delivers download speed of up to 100 Megabytes per second.
The high speed wireless broadband technology builds on more than 3,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable that is rolled out across the country.
The 4G rollout in Rwanda is part of the country’s trend of leapfrogging traditional fixed broadband by adopting current- generation mobile technology that will be accessed by every citizen.According to the World Bank, in low and middle-income countries every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration accelerates economic growth by 1.38 percentage points.
Nsengimana stated that during the Africa Broadband meeting, Rwanda will share her experiences, lessons and strategies towards improved broadband access.
The event has brought together government officials, heads of industries and civil society to focus on developing a vision and strategy as well as defining relevant programs that will be important in rolling out broadband in Africa.
The forum will be hosted by the Rwanda Ministry of Youth and ICT and Intel, an American corporation known for the production of computing devices such as microprocessors.
“The meeting is an initiative of Intel Corporation and provides a platform for sharing the latest issues and best practices in deploying Universal Service Funds and other programs for broadband adoption,” said Ralph Corey, Director within the World Ahead Program at Intel.
The event is 14th broadband forum to be held globally, making Rwanda the fourth country to host the event in Africa after Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa.
Rwanda plans to establish an ICT park that will be a base of technological investments, including training, industries, research and development. Enditem

Source: Xinhua

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