[April 30, 2012]

Research and Markets: Rwanda - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2dxlxp/rwanda_telecoms) has announced the addition of the "Rwanda - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts" report to their offering.

The Rwandan telecommunications sector is now rapidly catching up with other markets in Africa. Mobile market penetration is still significantly below the regional average. The country has been slow to liberalise the sector, allowing South Africa's MTN a monopoly until 2006 when the fixed-line incumbent, Rwandatel became the second mobile operator. The launch of a third network (Millicom (News - Alert)/Tigo) in 2009 sparked a new subscriber growth phase.

Rwandatels mobile licence was cancelled in 2011 and its Libyan-owned assets frozen under a UN resolution, to be sold in 2012. Bharti Airtel (News - Alert) of India was licensed as the country's new third mobile network, and a fourth operator may be licensed in the future.

Third-generation mobile services have been launched, providing an opportunity for operators to improve ARPU by offering broadband services. Rwanda's internet and broadband sector has suffered from limited fixed-line infrastructure and high prices, but developments in the fixed network market are beginning to change this. The operators are rolling out national fibre-optic backbone networks which also allow them to connect to the international submarine fibre-optic cables that landed on the African east coast in 2009 and 2010. These cables have given the entire region fibre-based international bandwidth for the first time and brought to an end its dependency on satellites.

The price for international internet bandwidth is expected to fall to a fraction of the current level. Several ISPs are rolling out WiMAX (News - Alert) wireless broadband networks. They have adopted VoIP internet telephony although the technology has not yet been officially deregulated, which potentially turns them into converged fixed-wireless voice and data/broadband service providers.

Rwanda is also a key partner in the One Laptop per Child project and has a major e-government program.

This report contains an overview and analysis of Rwanda's telecommunications market, profiles of the major players in all market sectors, relevant statistics and analysis, and scenario forecasts to 2013 and 2016 for the country's mobile market.

Companies covered in this report:

Rwandatel (Terracom, LapGreen);

MTN (News - Alert) Rwanda;

Millicom (Tigo);

Bharti Airtel;

Artel Communications;

Electrogaz.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive summary

2. Key statistics

3. Telecommunications market

4. Regulatory environment

5. Fixed network operators in Rwanda

6. National fibre backbone networks

7. International infrastructure

8. Internet market

9. Broadband market

10. Mobile communications

11. Forecasts

12. Related reports

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2dxlxp/rwanda_telecoms

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