Internet speeds in Rwanda are set to improve dramatically, with the laying of a 1,500 km cable by Green Future, a last-mile connectivity company.

The Kenyan-based firm will spend about Sh900m (Rwf6.8b) in the cross-border project that will connect Rwanda’s capital Kigali to Uganda’s capital Kampala, with a high capacity fibre optic link.

Currently, Rwanda is linked to Kampala through a net of microwave stations that have a limited capacity in the era of fast internet connectivity.

The terrestrial fibre optic link will up the stakes in the East African telecoms scene, as the region gears up for landing of several international undersea cables.

"Our ambition for the region is to be able to connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the rest of the undersea cable network via a terrestrial cable from Mombasa through to Nairobi, Kampala, Bujumbura, Kigali and back to Dar-es-Salaam”, said Green Future’s managing director, Fred Sewe.

Completion

The project launched in Kampala, he added, was due for completion in January 2010, saying: "We are happy that we are having an impact on the Uganda and Rwanda economies, through formal and informal employment.

Currently, over 5,000 Uganda’s are working on the project in various capacities and we are proud to have contributed to this.”

The roll-out of the fibre optic cable to the Great Lakes region brings to scope two contrasting, yet similar business opportunities: This year, Rwanda was declared the most investor-friendly country in Africa, Kampala on the other hand was declared the city with the highest internet penetration in East Africa, beating Nairobi and Dar by approximately six percentage points.

Last July, Green Future announced the completion of the 1,500 kilometre-long fibre optic backbone connecting Mombasa and Kampala.

Agencies