Rwandatel has started a roaming service with Uganda Telecom (UTL). This means that subscribers of both companies can receive or make calls without changing their SIM cards.

Rwandatel’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patrick Kariningufu, revealed that the service with UTL started three weeks ago after successful technical testings.

"The service is also under technical testing in Kenya and Tanzania before proceeding to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” he said, adding that the regional service will be ready and launched for use mid next month.

"The provision of the roaming service is part of the company’s strategy to offer world-class service while also increasing on the customer base,” Kariningufu explained.

Rwandatel targets 600,000 subscribers by June this year and doubled by the December. Within three weeks of operation using the new technology however, the company registered over 120,000 active subscribers.

The unexpected increase in subscribers was attributed to better service provision, promotional sale of cheap handsets (2G and 3G phones) at Rwf11,000 and Rwf19,000 respectively, and the 100 percent top-up bonus.

This followed Rwandatel shifting from CDMA technology to GSM with initial investments worth $72 million, to enable subscribers conduct wireless video calls, and access broadband Internet among other uses.

Meanwhile, Rwandatel is also constructing 86 masts to supplement the existing 76 spread around Kigali and neighbouring districts.

This will bring the number of masts to 162 in a bid to bolster the current network coverage in the country. The masts worth $19.4 million are expected to be complete by end of February.

According to experts, a single mast costs $225,000 on average. This means that Rwandatel needs about $19.4m to roll out 86 masts in two months.

Rwandatel jointly owned by LAP Green networks a subsidiary of Libyan African Portfolio (LAP) and National Social Security Fund, believes that the investments are part of the company’s pledge to bolster government’s efforts for enhancement of ICT penetration in Rwanda.

This will also contribute to government’s target of seeing 6 million Rwandans accessing telecommunication services by 2012. About 11 percent of the estimated total population of 10 million access mobile telecommunication.

MTN Rwandacell which is Rwandatel’s only competitor has slightly more than 1 million subscribers at the moment. It’s expected that Rwanda’s telecoms market will witness increased competition once the licensed third operator, Millicom starts operation.

Ends