The number of mobile phone subscribers increased by two per cent between September and November, last year, mainly driven by the acquisition of new SIM cards by Diaspora members who had come to join friends and family for the festive season, an official from the regulator has said.

Beata Mukangabo, the head of corporate, legal and industry affairs at the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura), said the number of mobile phone subscribers in the country rose from more than 7.5 million in September last year to about 7.7 million at the end of November last year.

"These are subscribers who were active for 90 days before the end November.

"During the period, the trend is normally seen to be increasing because many people come back from abroad for holidays to visit their families,” she noted.

In addition to that, Mukangabo said promotions by the three local telecoms attracted more subscribers to their networks over the reporting period.

There are currently three telecom companies operating in the country; Airtel, MTN and Tigo.

During the period, Airtel customers increased from 1,090,493 to 1,107,327, MTN’s increased from 3,741,923 to 3,770,971 and Tigo from 2,686,200 to 2,723,491 subscribers, representing a 69.7 per cent mobile telephony penetration rate.

ben.gasore@business.co.rw