As competition for subscriber market share in the telecom industry continues to stiffen, Rwandatel is set to introduce a new high-speed WiMax USB modem.

WiMax is a wireless digital communications system, also known as IEEE 802.16 that is intended for wireless "metropolitan area networks”.

This was revealed by the company’s Chief Technical Officer, Basilio Sadindi during a Corporate Breakfast meeting between IT Managers of Financial Institutions RRA and RECO, RWASCO.

The new technology will provide Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) up to 30 miles (50 km) for fixed stations, and 3 - 10 miles (5 - 15 km) for mobile stations.

According to Sadindi, the wireless technology has been operational for one month but it has not been commercially launched.

"We are soon launching the product, which is a very good broadband solution of 4G technology. Its performance is also similar to 802.11/Wi-Fi networks, with the coverage and Quality of Service (QOS) of cellular networks,” Sadindi said.

As the first 4G wireless technology, WiMax has the potential to do for broadband what the cell phone did for voice and provide high-speed internet access for millions of users globally.

At the event, Rwandatel’s Chief Commercial officer (CCO), Francis Egbuson, announced that the operator is also ready to slash bandwidth fares as the company now has redundancy to internet connection.

With regard to the undersea Fibre optic connection, Sadindi added that they had ordered for 700 km worth of fibre which will be laid, connecting to Rusumo, Burundi and two border points of Gisenyi. There will also be a ring connecting all institutions and the new Estates.

"We secured a contract with RECO/RWASCO to lay our fibre above their electricity cables and they shall also use our underground fibre to channel their electricity cables,” Sadindi said.

After the outages caused back in July due to cuts in SEACOM’s undersea cable, Rwandatel invested in building a fully redundant data and internet network, as well as a skilled human resource base to deliver a remarkable customer experience.

Currently, the company has a back-up capacity from two additional suppliers (74 Mb from one supplier and 140 Mb from the other) bringing Rwandatel’s total capacity on satellite to 214 Mb which is 26 percent above our monthly utilisation.

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