Global Information

Global Information Society Watch 2008 is the second in a series

Global Information Society Watch 2008

Global Information Society Watch 2008

of yearly reports critically covering the state of the information society from
the perspectives of civil society organisations across the world.

Global Information Society Watch or GISWatch has three interrelated Society Watch 2008
goals:

• Surveying the state of information and communication technology (ICT)

Focus on access to infrastructure
policy at the local and global levels

• Encouraging critical debate

• Strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information

society.

Each year the report focuses on a particular theme. GISWatch 2008 focuses
on access to infrastructure and includes several thematic reports dealing
with key access issues, an analysis of where global institutions stand on the
access debate, a report looking at the state of indicators and access,
six regional reports and 38 country reports.

GISWatch 2008 is a joint initiative of the Association for Progressive

Communications (APC), the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with
Developing Countries (Hivos) and the Third World Institute (ITeM).

Global Information Society Watch

2008 Report
www.GISWatch.org
9 789 295 04 9659
I SB N 92 - 95 04 9- 6 5- 9

Association for Progressive Communications (APC), H ivos and the Third World I nstitute (ITeM)
Global Information Society Watch
2008
Global Information Society Watch 2008

Steering committee
Karen Banks (APC)
Roberto Bissio (ITeM)
Anriette Esterhuysen (APC)
Paul Maassen (Hivos)
Loe Schout (Hivos)
Magela Sigillito (ITeM)

Coordination committee
Pablo Accuosto (ITeM)
Inés Campanella (ITeM)
Monique Doppert (Hivos)
Karen Higgs (APC)
Natasha Primo (APC)

Editor
Alan Finlay

Assistant editor
Lori Nordstrom

Publication production
Karen Higgs

Graphic design
monocromo
Myriam Bustos, Leticia da Fonte, Pablo Uribe
[email protected]
Phone: +598 (2) 400 1685

Cover illustration
Matias Bervejillo

Proofreading
Lori Nordstrom
Lisa Cyr

Website
www.GISWatch.org
Andrea Antelo
Ximena Pucciarelli
Monocromo

Printed by
CinnamonTeal Print and Publishing
Printed in India

Global Information Society Watch 2008

Published by APC, Hivos and ITeM
2008

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0

Some rights reserved
ISBN: 92-95049-65-9
APC-200812-CIPP-R-EN-P-0058
 Rwanda
Rwanda Development Gateway Centre, National University of Rwanda
Emmanuel Habumuremyi
www.rwandagateway.org

Introduction the competitiveness of the telecommunications industry and

Rwanda, a densely populated, landlocked country in East attracting foreign investment. Amongst them, the Rwanda
Africa, lies south of the equator and covers 26,338 square Utility Regulatory Agency (RURA) was established with a
kilometres. In 2008, the population was pegged at 9,139,919 mission to promote fair competition, to improve quality of
(CNE, 2008). Dominated by very young people, with about services, and to create an enabling environment that attracts
63% of the population living below the poverty line of investors with the intention of improving the provision of
USD 1 per day, there is a rapid population growth of 2.9% services to citizens. This step was taken in accordance with
per annum. The country’s commitment to gender equality the universal access obligations set by the International Tel-
has resulted in a high representation of women in decision- ecommunication Union (ITU).
making positions. Along with recent legal reforms, these Rwanda has based its ICT policy on the Common Market
changes hold the potential of alleviating the unequal share for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) model ICT policy,
of challenges facing the population. which was developed to serve as a guide for the harmoni-
Despite the 1994 genocide and challenges of poverty, ous development and application of ICTs within member
Rwanda is hailed in the region as having the highest level of states. To this end, a Rwanda-Tanzania “digital bridge” policy
commitment and a unified approach to ensuring information framework was developed to provide affordable, ubiquitous
and communications technology (ICT) diffusion and exploi- and high-quality services, and to build a competitive regional
tation for development. The country is trying to find the path ICT sector, while creating an enabling environment for sus-
that will set it on course for achieving the objectives laid out tainable ICT diffusion and development.
in its Vision 2020.
Physical access to technology
Today, Rwanda boasts an internet exchange point
(IXP), an ICT park, a national computing centre, and a tele- Rwandatel, the main fixed operator and internet service pro-
medicine network that connects hospitals and universities vider, has a fairly extensive national microwave backbone
in an attempt to transform and expand health services to that covers the capital Kigali and the main urban and semi-
underserved areas. However, despite a high level of political urban areas. It has built a fibre ring around Kigali city, as
commitment to taking ICT development forward as a priority well as a link from Kigali to Butare in the southern part of
area, the current trend reveals several gaps. These relate to Rwanda. It also has a code division multiple access (CDMA)
access to adequate infrastructure, affordability of ICT serv- network on top of its microwave backbone. MTN Rwanda-
ices, and weak coordination of ICT initiatives. Cell and Rwandatel have both started to lay fibre to the east,
This report considers how far Rwanda has come in close to the Tanzanian border. The current MTN network is
its plan to move from an agricultural-based economy to a estimated to cover 75% of the country, including Kigali and
knowledge-based economy through developing competitive, smaller, rural towns.
service-based industries. The government is currently rolling out fibre optics
along all the main roads, a process which will be completed
by 2010. From the main fibre-optic trunk, internet will be
Policy context carried to the countryside via wireless technologies. It is ex-
Rwanda started developing an integrated ICT policy in the late pected that the combination of fibre-optic backbone and 3.5
1990s, with the vision of making ICTs a key part of its global gigabytes per second (Gbps) WiMAX wireless will cover the
socioeconomic development planning and policy. Known as country and make Rwanda the most communication-wired
the National Information and Communication Infrastructure country in East Africa (RIEPA, 2007). The first phase, cover-
(NICI) plan and policy, the plan is to be implemented in five- ing 134 kilometres, is already underway (New Times, 2008).
year phases with a different focus for each phase. The current The power utility company Electrogaz has also decided to
NICI II plan (2006-2010) serves as a point of policy reference. establish a private fibre-optic network alongside its grid.
It also serves as a framework for the government’s long-term Besides these, the Karisimbi project plays a significant
goal to transform the country into an information-rich, knowl- role in enhancing electronic communications and broadcast-
edge-based economy by pursuing an ICT-led socioeconomic ing capabilities, not only in Rwanda, but also in nearby areas
development policy (Government of Rwanda, 2006, p.13). in neighbouring countries. This project seeks to provide
The country has gone through major economic and low-cost, high-capacity communications capability to both
telecommunications reforms that were aimed at increasing rural and urban populations, and will expand coverage for

rwanda / 169
mobile phones, internet, TV and FM radio, and reach many Appropriateness of technology
beneficiaries. It also seeks to offer air safety and surveillance As communications facilities are mostly found in the cities
capabilities through a Communication Navigation Surveil- where telecom operators are based, radio is the dominant
lance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system, which has source of information in Rwanda, because of its ease of use
already been endorsed by COMESA. Once fully operational, and access for more than 94% of the population living in
the project is expected to reduce the cost of communica- rural areas (RITA, 2007). The lack of adequate power supply
tions in Rwanda on average by about 50%. in remote areas also hinders the development of communi-
Various initiatives in Rwanda are underway to increase cations facilities.
the population’s access to ICTs. For example, the govern- Nevertheless, the health sector in Rwanda has started
ment is deploying multi-purpose community telecentres to use ICTs to deliver information focused on safe and ef-
throughout the country to facilitate the spread of ICTs in the ficient care. Another project is TRACKNet, a database used
community (RITA, 2007). to collect AIDS data from the field, using cell phones with
Another government initiative is the ICT Bus Project interactive voice response (IVR), general packet radio serv-
being developed by the Rwanda Information and Technol- ice (GPRS) and short message service (SMS) technology
ogy Authority (RITA) and scheduled to commence late (Index, 2008).
this year. The programme will use two buses, each with a The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project is also worth
fully equipped computer laboratory, that will act as mobile mentioning. Currently 5,000 laptops are being distributed to
computer labs that will benefit farmers, traders, students, all primary school children within five years. The project’s
women, youth groups, entrepreneurs and other rural-based implementation faces some challenges, such as reaching ru-
Rwandans (RITA, 2008). ral areas. For Carine Umutesi, who is in charge of the project
As for the Rwandan private sector, the Scan ICT survey at RITA, sensitisation campaigns targeting the schoolchil-
(Gatera, 2007) shows that ICTs in business is in its infancy dren and teachers will be key to the success of the project.
stage. A number of businesses are aware of ICTs but are The other major challenge is the lack of pedagogical materi-
not using them, and only a few of them have a website als on the laptop. The English versions are not understood
presence. by every child. Another issue is that technology is changing
Before June 2004, internet service providers (ISPs) so fast that the OLPC programme might become redundant
were using international operators to carry their local as well very quickly.1
as international traffic. The high cost of the satellite links and
delays in connection made the situation unbearable, and lim- Action steps
ited the growth of the internet in Rwanda. A number of initiatives, projects and activities are being
In October 2003, the Swedish International Develop- carried out by the public and private sector. However, the
ment Cooperation Agency (SIDA) assisted Rwanda in the organisations carrying out these initiatives are not collabo-
establishment of an internet exchange point (IXP). The rating or communicating, leading to a duplication of some
Rwanda Internet Exchange (RINEX) project entered into op- of the activities (DICTM, 2008). It is recommended that the
eration in February 2004. RINEX keeps local traffic local and government put in more effort to encourage synergies. In
saves international bandwidth (Gatera, 2007). particular, RITA’s authority to manage and oversee all ICT
Some ISPs were reluctant to connect to RINEX because initiatives should be strengthened.
they thought that the IXP would be managed by Rwandatel, The level of ICT awareness is quite low amongst the
since it is hosted there. This threat has been relieved a bit general population, and even within some organisations.
following a statement by RINEX management ensuring its Although the use of mobile phones is quite widespread in
neutrality. There is also a need for developing an IXP policy Kigali, there is a general lack of knowledge about the ben-
at the national level that guarantees its sustainability. efits of using other ICT technologies (DICTM, 2008). It is
Licence application processes have been a problem recommended that the government of Rwanda support and
for new telecommunication companies wanting to operate encourage civil society organisations to take on the roles of
in Rwanda. Delays in processing applications are common, awareness raising, sensitisation and encouraging the uptake
a situation which also contributes to delays in driving ICTs of ICTs in society.
forward in the country. At the moment, Rwanda’s ICT sector is growing fast and
Recent research by Research ICT Africa (RIA) has shown the situation is likely to continue into the next few decades.
Rwanda has very poor scores across a range of technical The government of Rwanda’s commitment to ICTs is seen by
areas, from tariff regulation, to interconnection, to spectrum Rwandans as noble. The introduction of ICTs with a view to
management. This reflects, according to the authors, the contributing to Rwanda’s socioeconomic development is a
“general lack of capacity in the regulator, as well as lack of long-term strategy and at present the country is still building
a visible regulatory environment that involves not only the the foundations of an information-based economy. Efforts
regulator, the Ministry of Communications and private op-
erators, but also civil society and academics” (Esselaar et
al., 2007, p. 45). 1 From an interview with the author, 30 April 2008.

170 / Global Information Society Watch

made now will realistically only have a serious impact on Government of Rwanda (2006) An Integrated ICT-led Socio-economic
overall standards of living several years down the line. Development Plan for Rwanda 2006-2010: The NICI-2010 Plan.
Kigali: MININFRA.
The development of human capacity in the ICT sector is,
Gatera, E. (2007) Scan ICT Baseline Survey Report. ICT Indicators:
however, a critical issue that must be given immediate atten- Measuring Usage and Penetration (Draft). National Institute of
tion. Along with human resource development programmes, Statistics of Rwanda (NISR).
the curricula developed in higher education institutions Index (2008) Pioneering ICT in Rwanda’s Health Care System. The
should be designed to meet Rwandan labour market re- Index Magazine, January, pp. 18-23.
quirements and the demands of changing technologies, New Times (2008) Business Sector to Foot Bill for Fibre Infrastructure
particularly in the ICT sector (World Bank, 2007). n in Rwanda. The New Times, 15 August. Available at: www.
balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act_419.html
Nsengiyumva, A., Habumuremyi, E. and Haba, S. (2007) Pro-Poor ICT
References Project Report – Rwanda: A Community-driven Network. Kigali:
UNDP.
CNE (National Electoral Commission) (2008) Final Voter List Statistics.
Available at: www.comelena.gov.rw/index.php?&Effectif RIEPA (Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency) (2007)
ICT Sector Profile. Available at: www.rwandainvest.com/spip.
DICTM (Danish ICT Management) (2008) Support to RITA and php?article88
RURA for Monitoring Competition and Developing Regulatory
Framework within ICT services (funded by the UNDP). Kigali: RITA (Rwanda Information Technology Authority) (2007) Business
DICTM. Plan Model for the Multipurpose Community Telecentres. Kigali:
RITA.
Esselaar, S., Gillwald, A. and Stork, C. (2007) Towards an African
e-Index 2007: Telecommunications Sector Performance in 16 RITA (2008) ICT Buses to bridge the digital divide in Rwanda. Available
African Countries. Johannesburg: Research ICT Africa (RIA). at: www.rita.rw/spip.php?article132
Available at: www.researchictafrica.net/images/upload/Africa_ World Bank (2007) ICT at Glance: Rwanda. Available at: devdata.
comparativeCORRECTED.pdf worldbank.org/ict/rwa_ict.pdf

rwanda / 171
 Global Information
Global Information Society Watch 2008 is the second in a series
Global Information Society Watch 2008

Global Information Society Watch 2008

of yearly reports critically covering the state of the information society from
the perspectives of civil society organisations across the world.

Global Information Society Watch or GISWatch has three interrelated Society Watch 2008
goals:

• Surveying the state of information and communication technology (ICT)

Focus on access to infrastructure
policy at the local and global levels

• Encouraging critical debate

• Strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information

society.

Each year the report focuses on a particular theme. GISWatch 2008 focuses
on access to infrastructure and includes several thematic reports dealing
with key access issues, an analysis of where global institutions stand on the
access debate, a report looking at the state of indicators and access,
six regional reports and 38 country reports.

GISWatch 2008 is a joint initiative of the Association for Progressive

Communications (APC), the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with
Developing Countries (Hivos) and the Third World Institute (ITeM).

Global Information Society Watch

2008 Report
www.GISWatch.org
9 789 295 04 9659
I SB N 92 - 95 04 9- 6 5- 9

Association for Progressive Communications (APC), H ivos and the Third World I nstitute (ITeM)