Rwanda is targeting to see 70 percent of the households connected to internet by 2017, says Philbert Nsengimana, Rwandan minister of youth and ICT. internet He made the remarks on Monday while addressing local reporters ahead of the Commonwealth Electronic Governance forum which kicks off Tuesday.
About 200 information and telecommunication policymakers, members of academia and private sector players from Commonwealth nations will meet in the Rwandan Capital, Kigali to explore contributions of e-Government on socioeconomic transformation of the people.
“Rwanda embraced the power technology to change the lives of citizens from an agriculture-driven into a knowledge-based economy where all government services are accessed via internet,” said Nsengimana.
He noted that the government is targeting at least 70 percent of the population to have internet access by 2017 with convenient service provision through electronic governance.
“We also want to see all services between government and citizens available on-line by 2018 to bridge the gap of access to information for both the public and businesses. This will ultimately improve public service delivery through the digitalization of services,” the minister said.
He stated that the government is going to address the challenges brought about by slow internet speed which he said it’s going to be history in few years.
Last year the government and Ngali Holdings, a Rwandan company signed a deal to implement “RwandaOnline”, a platform that will make government services accessible on the internet and mobile devices.
The small central African nation rolled out a high-speed Fourth Generation (4G) broadband network that delivers download speed of up to 100 Megabytes per second.
The high speed wireless broadband technology builds on more than 3,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable that is rolled out across the country.
4G rollout in the country is expected to cost about 260 million U.S dollars within a period of five years.
The infrastructure also targets to cover 95 percent of the population within three years, according to the joint venture deal that is based on an initial 25-year term.
Presently 4G is only accessible in the capital Kigali but will be extended to the rest of the country within three years.
Over the last five years, ICT sector has attracted around 45 percent of all foreign direct investments in the post-Genocide country.
According to Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency, 25 percent of the population was active internet users by February 2015.
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Quelle/Source: spyghana, 23.03.2015
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