High speed internet to boost entrepreneurship in Rwanda

I was privileged to attend the official launch of Broadband Systems Corporation (BSC) on the Rwanda market, an event that was held at the Serena Hotel 31st May, 2012. BSC pledged to provide the best-valued broadband Internet services to enterprises and individual clients in Rwanda. BSC has come at a time when the growth of investors, small and medium enterprises needed more dynamic enterprise solutions.“Customers are increasingly becoming more demanding of the Internet services to enrich their lives and also businesses. However, Internet users in the Rwandan market have been suffering slow speed, high prices and poor customer care services. For BSC it is our aim to lead the market from the customer’s perspective, by providing a balance between reliable, fast Internet connection and value added services with a reasonable price to our customers”, said Antoine Sebera, BSC’s Ag. Chief Executive Officer. He further reiterated BSC’s commitment to cutting edge solutions, “Soon, we are going to provide Cloud Computing Services in our next generation Internet Data Center. These services will be targeting both Government & Business customers to relieve them from the burden of maintaining their own IT hardware, software and sizeable IT Team. They can just ask BSC to provide required computing power and storage they need.”Among the services announced at the launch, are Fiber Internet, Dark Fiber leasing, bandwidth transport services and virtual private networks (VPNs). Other services include, Wireless Broadband (WiBro) through wireless devices and cloud based Data Center services. With a dedicated Fiber Internet supply via the submarine cable landing both in Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam, Broadband Systems Corporation is set to provide an unrivalled internet supply experience to its customers.With unprecedented internet speeds, scalable data services and enterprise solutions such as the 3000KM of fiber optic cables laid out across the country, startups can take advantage of this environment to develop hosted applications, data backups and so many other virtual services. Entrepreneurs are guaranteed maximum up-time and service availability due in part to the looping fiber cable and Tier 3 data center.Among the SME targeted products is the ‘egg’, a wireless broadband product. The ‘egg’ is a truly revolutionary device, the first of its kind on the Rwandan market. This device allows a single internet connection to be shared among 5 devices. The beauty of this device is that there is no need for cables. Everything is wireless. Setup is so simple. Let me put it this way, there is no setup. Any WIFI enabled devices can share the internet connection. If this is not innovation, I don’t know what to call it.In a market where the internet is hardly usable, BSC promises Rwandans more choice, affordability and accessibility to faster connections to communicate better, do business more efficiently, and be empowered with usage of ICT. Better still, Rwandan ICT companies and entrepreneurs now have a better opportunity to deploy more advanced ICT solutions leveraging on the broadband Fiber network that is now available nationwide.I tried the SME focused ‘egg’ a wireless broadband product from BSC. This device can serve up to 5 users using different gadgets ranging from laptops, ipads and smartphones. This gadget basically creates a broadband hotspot which can be shared with up to five users over WIFI. These devices can be wireless-enabled computers or handhelds (tablets or smart phones). The speeds on this little guy (upload and download) are just amazing. I haven’t experienced this kind of speed in a long while. I was able watch videos on Youtube without any buffering. I was able to download 5MB email attachments in seconds in certain locations. My only complaint was the signal fluctuates in certain locations. Apart from this minor inconvenience, I think that the ‘egg’ is a product that is almost perfect for my kind of work. A representative from Broadband Systems Corporation assured me that plans were under way to boost their signal strength in the greater Kigali area and the suburbs.With innovations like the range services from Broadband Systems Corporation, Rwanda is poised to be the Number One destination for IT startups and entrepreneurs in the region. www.afrogeek.tk