Rwanda : 451,000 dollars to improve the quality of the Internet
This investment will enable the Rwandan government to resolve the dual issue of the slowness of the Internet and the poor access of the population to this tool, which has become indispensable since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In order to facilitate work in all the country’s administrations, Rwanda will invest 451,000 dollars to improve the quality of the Internet. The information was revealed on Wednesday 29 March 2023 by the Rwandan Prime Minister, Edouard Ngirente. For him « these funds will complement the sum of 1.3 million dollars allocated earlier for the same purpose ».
The government of this East African country justifies this investment by « the slowness of the Internet connection and its difficulty of access which hinders the provision of services at various levels ». For the Prime Minister, « this is a concern that we are committed to addressing in the next fiscal year and the budget has been allocated.
« Rwanda aims to become a major technology hub in East Africa »
Like most African countries, Rwanda has embraced the technological revolution taking place on the continent. The country aims to become an important technological hub in the sub-region. According to the local authorities, this involves « the digitalisation of most administrative processes and the establishment of a technological ecosystem to ensure the proliferation of start-ups ».
In February 2023, the Minister of ICT and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, announced a project to connect more than 3 000 schools to the Internet by 2024. In the same month, the government announced the digitalisation of the land title procedure throughout Rwanda. Also in February 2023, Rwanda signed a partnership with Starlink, the satellite internet provider of American billionaire Elon Musk. The aim was to connect 500 schools as part of the pilot phase of the school connectivity programme.
« The Covid-19 pandemic has made the internet an indispensable tool for everyone »
As a reminder, in Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the Covid-19 pandemic made the Internet an indispensable tool for administrations, institutions and populations. The post-Covid period is therefore marked by the commitment of African countries to invest in the digitalisation of services so as not to miss the train of the technological revolution underway.
