
About 4.6 million people out of Rwanda's 11 million population have access to mobile phones with that number forecast to reach 6 million by the end of 2012, according to the Rwanda Utility Regulation Authority (RURA).
“About 45% of Rwandans now own mobile phones, 6.3% of homes have access to TVs’ and 10.8% have an access to internet," said Jean Philbert Nsengimana, minister of Youth and Information Communications Technology.
“We shouldn’t look at mobile phones as a technology; instead, we should use them as a solution to social and economic challenges," he added.
He also said that mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human development from providing basic access to education, agriculture, health information to making cash payments and stimulating social cohesion.
Innocent Bahizi, a mobile phone vendor in Kigali says that everyday he sells approximately 10 phones.
“We receive over 50 clients who come to buy phones even though not all that buy them, but this motivates us to operate the business because we find it very attractive,” he explains.
Nsengimana says government’s target is to see as many Rwandans as possible accessing ICT applications and not only the mobile applications.
“This is very encouraging because it eases development process in terms of communication, when it comes to business transaction and social cohesion,” he concluded.
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