Rwandatel, the country’s oldest telecoms company has announced that it managed to bag 120,000 subscribers in three weeks of its operation since migrating to the use of GSM technology.

The company embraced 2G, 3G, and GSM technology early this month, after its acquisition by LAP Green  networks a subsidiary of Libyan African Portfolio.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patrick Kariningufu, revealed that this figure reflected the level of the ‘active subscribers’ Rwandatel had as of 21th December 2008.

Kariningufu announced the developments tuesday, during a breakfast meeting with the press at Hotel Novotel, adding that ‘the progress is good so far’, while attributing the unexpected number of subscribers within three weeks of operations to better network and service delivery.

This confirms reports which had indicated that Rwandatel had managed to attract over 55,000 subscribers within the company’s first week of operation under the new technology switch a situation which led to Rwandatel outlets suffering a  shortage of phones and Sim cards.

With initial investments worth US$72m, the new technology can enable subscribers to conduct wireless video calls, and access broadband Internet among other uses.

Kariningufu explained that since rolling out the new technology, Rwandatel has been working hard to bolster its network as it expands to other parts of the country.

‘Our network is getting better every single day and the call tariffs are low compared to our competitors, not forgetting the 100 percent top-up bonus’,adding that ,’our 3G mobile phones sold as low as Rwf19,000 with a lot of features such as radio and  web browsing, and this has  also brought about an increase in the number of subscribers’.

There are also the 2G phones available on the promotional market retailing at Rwf12,000, which the company says is the cheapest phone on the Rwandan market courtesy of the Rwandatel ongoing  promotion.

Kariningufu also disclosed that the company is also testing the roaming service with regional telecom operators with a view to offering its clientele this service soon.

Rwandatel has as part of its strategic plans  set a target of attracting 600,000 mobile subscribers by mid 2009.

MTN Rwandacell which is Rwandatel’s only competitor has slightly more than 1 million subscribers at the moment.

Analysts point out that it expected that Rwanda’s telcoms market will witness increased competition next year after the regulator named the third national operator after an international competitive bidding of which Millicom emerged the winner.

Prior to switching over to 3G technology, Rwandatel was operating under its CDMA technology.

Ends