50% have access to mobile phones - Karega

KIGALI - The Minister of Infrastructure, Vincent Karega, has said that Rwanda’s telecom industry registered a healthy growth with over 50 percent of the population having access to mobile phones.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Minister Vincent Karega

KIGALI - The Minister of Infrastructure, Vincent Karega, has said that Rwanda’s telecom industry registered a healthy growth with over 50 percent of the population having access to mobile phones.

According to the Minister, the projected target is to have 100% of the  population having access to mobile telecommunication by 2020.

"We calculate this basing on a phone per household. We assume, if one person has a phone in the family, the rest of the family members have access to it,” he said.
Meanwhile, a report released by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) in September, indicated that the number of mobile phone subscribers was standing at over 3 million by August this year.

MTN Rwanda is still leading in mobile subscriber base with 66% of the market share, followed by Tigo which has 19% while Rwandatel has15%.

Rwanda expects to hit six million subscribers by 2015.
According to RURA, the country had 3.29 million subscribers as of 30 June; the sector had leaped 3.6 million subscribers by September with a general tele-density of 36.44%.

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