Business round up

Tigo surpasses Rwandatel in subscriber base Tigo Rwanda has attracted more mobile subscribers in the last three months, taking over Rwandatel’s position as the second largest cell phone company, by subscriber base, according to the Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Agency (RURA). Information published on the regulator’s website, indicates that mobile subscribers have increased by 20.9 percent from March to June 2010 from 2,722,236 users to 3,293,891 overall. However, RURA figures also indicate that Tigo Rwanda claimed the bigger percentage of that market growth. The figures indicate that ,overall, teledensity now stands at 31.7 percent with MTN Rwanda claiming 22 percent, Tigo 5.3 percent and Rwandatel 4.4 percent. Teledensity refers to the number of telephone subscriptions per 100 people. It is a rough measure of the ubiquity of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in a country.According to RURA, MTN Rwanda is still the market leader, claiming 66.99 percent of the market share with 2.2 million subscribers, as of June 2010. Tigo Rwanda now claims 16.05 percent with 529,114 subscribers while Rwandatel claims 13.4 percent with 443,534 subscribers. EA real estate experts hold Expo The East African Real Estate group held a two day Conference and Expo at Kigali Serena Hotels. The expo brought together key players, professionals and all dealers in the industry from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. According to David Kizito Mokua the deputy president of the East African Real Estates group, the conference, focused on exploring the emerging topics and issues that the industry encounters. “This conference and expo are going to give an opportunity to, all players in the industry to exchange ideas, eventually learning from each other,” Mokua said.Mokua explained that the Expo highlighted the affordable technology which will make housing units cheaper in the region. Rwandan house units fall in a deficit of 20,000 out of the estimated 25,000 per year and Mokua said that they will also be focusing on bridging the gap to create a more vibrant market. RwandAir’s second Boeing to be delivered this week RwandAir second leased Boeing 737-500 arrived at Kigali International Airport this Friday, an official has revealed.The new Boeing leased from the world’s largest aircraft leasing company, General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), will be an addition to the already existing fleet of two CRJ-200s aircrafts and one dry-leased Boeing 737-500.According to the Marketing and Corporate Communications Manager, Michael Otieno, the aircraft will have a two class configuration of 12 business class seats and 90 economy class seats. “The Boeing is coming in to support the Johannesburg root and the chatter we are using to transport the troops to Darfur region,” Otieno said. Transport fares hiked during rush hours Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency (RURA) the institution charged with regulating public utilities announced an increment in taxi fares within the city center. Passengers will pay an extra Rwf50 for most of the routes in the city during rush hour (5:00 pm - 8:00 am the following morning) with immediate effect. “The increase in fares was triggered off by the fact that during rush hour, commuter taxis ferry people from the city to suburbs but on their return they are empty hence making a loss,” said Twahirwa Dodo, the President of the taxi commuters association (ATRACO) in a statement issued on Wednesday. The new taxi tariff outlook shows that commuters from the city center to Nyamirambo will pay Rwf150 up from Rwf120.From the city centre to Kacyiru, passengers will pay Rwf230 from Rwf180, to Gikondo Rwf200 from Rwf150. This represents an average increase of Rwf50. Ends