Editor

Re: UAE firm to invest $50m in Kigali ‘smart city’ initiative – (The New Times May 15)

This is a good initiative. A while back public Wi-Fi spots were all the buzz but for some reason this initiative seems to have dimmed.

However my personal opinion is that if City of Kigali changes its mindset and foots the internet budget, much like it foots the street lights, road maintenance budgets and sets up public Wi-Fi hotspots, this would be an indeed welcome service towards SMART Kigali.

One only needs to visit vicinities near some hotels and ironically near the City Hall, to see crowds of people sitting on the ground with laptops, after somehow managing to get the Wi-Fi passwords for one to realise that internet access is now shifting to a much needed public good and utility.

I hope Kigali (and secondary cities too!) can start seeing actual working public internet hotspots.

MG