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Rwanda Seeks Mobile Network Investors For Internet Access

Rwanda Seeks Mobile Network Investors For Internet Access

From The Globe and Mail.

South Korea’s KT Corp. is investing $145-million in a joint venture with the Rwandan government and more investors are sought to roll out a fast 4G LTE broadband network that will be accessible to 95 percent of Rwandans, according to a report in The Globe and Mail.

The Rwandan government wants other mobile network operators to invest in the project and provide retail access to 4G LTE wireless broadband services to about 12 million Rwandans.

The landlocked central African country is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, showing a 9.4 percent increase in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the report says.

Rwanda laid more than 1,864 miles of fiber-optic cable since 2009 in an attempt to develop a service-based economy and become a regional leader in information communication technology. But without a large investor coming forward, critics say, just 8.3 percent of the population have Internet access, according to the report.

The government’s equity investment in the joint venture, which has a 25-year term, would consist of using its national fiber-optic cable, spectrum and wholesale-only operator licence.

Read more at The Globe and Mail.