Competitiveness in the telecommunication industry could be further strengthened thanks to the new deal signed between Tigo Rwanda and EduMe Ltd, a global education company specialising in mobile technology to provide English learning services.

The deal signed on Tuesday in Kigali will see all Tigo subscribers access English learning skills on line including listening and reading materials.

Subscribers will have to part with Rwf50 per day and Rwf200 per week to access the services, Tongai Maramba, the Tigo General Manager said.

 According to Maramba, the service will aid the telecom company to diversify its income sources in terms of   voice and data revenues thus boosting the company’s competitive advantage.

"The service combines listening, reading and training through text lessons, quizzes and audio ses sessions. Users will access the service by dialing *455#.

Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister in charge of youth and ICT, said the service will help increase mobile phone penetration in Rwanda.

"The initiative will not only boost mobile phone penetration in Rwanda but also access to information, an ingredient that will spur economic growth and transform people’s lives.”

The service comes a month after MTN Rwanda introduced free Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia services for its clients.

 Statistics indicate that mobile phone penetration in the country has reached a record high of 64% with 3,565,078 subscribers on MTN network, 2,418,857 on Tigo and more than 1,046,957subscribers on Airtel network.

Mathias Harebamungu, State minister in charge of education, is optimistic that the use of such technology will help in combating illiteracy in the country.

The task for Tigo now is to make the service more user-friendly for our people to be more proficient in English, right from teachers to students at all levels,” Harebamungu said.