Rwada Gets Proactive with Broadband Internet

Kato Mivule
While Uganda struggles with corruption, lack of political will, and largely lethargy among the Top ICT Officials in the ICT Ministry, Rwanda is moving on very fast to fully utilize the SEACOM Fiber Optic Cable. Rwanda knows that this infrastructure is imperative to her Economic Stability, Growth, and even National Security Interests…

Uganda, Rwanda firms get piece of optic cable
Daily Monitor Correspondent |Nairobi | 27 August 2009

Uganda Telecom and Rwandatel have purchased up to 620 Mega bytes per second of capacity on the Seacom fibre optic cable and secured links from the landing point on the Kenyan coast through to Kampala and Kigali.
The partnership between Seacom, UTL and RTL now extends international connectivity from the undersea cable throughout East Africa.

The link to Rwanda has been made possible after Seacom secured rights to use the terrestrial networks constructed by the two players between Kampala and Kigali.

Under the terms of the deal, UTL and RTL, both subsidiaries of the Libyan Africa Portfolio LAP Green Networks will have immediate access to the Seacom capacity.

Whilst Uganda has been connected to the network since its commercial launch on July 23, Seacom CEO Brian Herlihy expects Rwanda to benefit from the broadband capacity starting next month.

Rwanda ICT Center - Image Source: http://ictpark.rita.gov.rw/index.htm

“This development is in line with Seacom’s objective to provide connectivity solutions to landlocked countries across the East and southern African region,” said Mr Herlihy.

“The capacity purchase by Uganda Telecom will dramatically modify the local Internet market,” said Mr AbdulBaset Elazzabi, LAP Green Networks and Uganda Telecom Ltd MD.

Mr Patrick Kariningufu, chief executive of Rwandatel said; “we are excited about our deal with Seacom and look forward to delivering affordable broadband to our customers.”