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. 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%. Ends

National

50% have access to mobile phones - Karega