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The state of ICT

By Tom Jackson
Johannesburg, 28 Jan 2016

The ICT sector in Rwanda is booming. During 2014, ICT grew at 25 percent, while the rest of the economy grew at 7.1 percent. ICT's contribution to GDP was valued at three percent, more than all agriculture exports combined. Phone and internet penetration stand at 70 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

The sector is also a primary target for foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country, with the Ministry of Youth and ICT putting the figure for last year at more than US$66 million. According to the report, both telecoms and the broader ICT sector are also experiencing growth and gaining prominence, while ICT is increasingly enabling and advancing the delivery of government services such as education, healthcare and security. Many opportunities exist for South African companies within all these sectors.

In its Towards Transformation report on Rwanda, infoDev said Vision 2020 - and notable case studies such as the Karisimbi Project, the eRwanda program, TRACnet and One Laptop Per Child - contained lessons for other countries seeking to emerge from difficult situations.

International companies and organisations are expressing an interest in the country. Carnegie Mellon University opened a Rwandan campus in 2012, while smaller local companies have partnered with manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, HP and Lenovo to roll out monthly payment systems to make devices more affordable.

Challenges remain, however, mainly around structural and cultural change. "For instance, awareness of the benefits of ICT is still not widespread and a labour force highly skilled in ICT is still more an aspiration than a reality," infoDev said.

Given the government's keen interest in developing the sector, it's perhaps no surprise that the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) considers ICT as a utility. RURA's mandate within the ICT sector is to license, monitor and enforce licence obligations, manage scarce resources, advise policymakers on ICT-related issues and represent Rwanda in international organisations on issues pertaining to ICT. The ICT sector regulation in Rwanda includes Media and Postal regulation, ICT Standards and Quality of Service regulation, and ICT Scarce Resources Management and Monitoring.

This article was first published in Brainstorm magazine. Click here to read the complete article at the Brainstorm website.

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