Mobile phone subscribers increase by 1.2 per cent

THE number of active mobile phone users for the month of April increased by 1.2 per cent, according to figures released by industry regular Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) early last week.

Monday, June 11, 2012
More Rwandans are now using mobile phones. The New Times / File.

THE number of active mobile phone users for the month of April increased by 1.2 per cent, according to figures released by industry regular Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) early last week. The agency said the country’s mobile phone users increased by 54,955 users in the month of April to 4,508,666 up from 4,453,711 from the previous month.The statistics only represent MTN and TIGO. Figures for new entrant, Airtel, will be included by the end of this month, according to Regis Gatarayiha, RURA’s Managing Director.MTN Rwanda, the most dominant operator by market share, enlisted an additional 48,140 mobile users in its network to reach 2,952,262 subscribers. On the other hand, TIGO Rwanda registered 6,815 users in the month of April to reach 1,556,404 million from 1,549,589 the previous month.The statistics also indicate that the country’s mobile cellular penetration rate increased to 42 per cent from 41.6 per cent in March. The regulator projects the rate to stand at 60 per cent by December.With Airtel’s entry, RURA projects to have six million mobile phone users and 60 per cent mobile penetration rate by the end of this year.Rwanda’s mobile penetration is the lowest in the region after Burundi.