A STEP CLOSER TO BEING AN ICT HUB

Rwanda has moved closer to her ambition of becoming the continent’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) hub. The recent development to the effect that Rwandan ICT companies have connected to the interim micro-wave internet technology of the International Submarine Optic Fibre Cable System, is welcome news. Rwanda earlier outlined her vision of laying 2,300 km of fibre optic cable, to deploy a national backbone network connecting 35 nodes across the country and 350 sites. The plan was to have all this in place before the end of the year. Work to lay the optic fibre cable is going on through out the country, with the various districts in partnership with government and the private sector digging the trenches. This means the country, across the rural and urban divide will be connected to the rest of the world through a faster and more so cheaper internet connection. All in line with government’s Vision 2020 that aims at transforming Rwanda into an information-rich, knowledge-based society and economy by the year 2020. Investments in this endeavor include the setting up of the Kigali ICT Park which is attached to RDB/IT formerly Rwanda Information Technology Agency (RITA) and aims at creating a center of innovation, production and showcasing of the country’s investment in ICT. Other programmes include; the One Laptop Per Child project, the setting up of internet kiosks through out the country and capacitating each of the ministries with functioning websites, and the establishment of ICT departments, in each of these. While the above development is a stopgap measure, it calls for all stakeholders in the telecommunications industry to pull their weight behind it. The investment has been a national one, meaning a win-win situation has to prevail. Ends

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A STEP CLOSER TO BEING AN ICT HUB