Rwanda: Regional ICT Hub
Rwanda government plans to lay 2 300 km of fibre optic cable between February and September 2009 to deploy a national backbone network connecting 35 nodes across the country and 350 sites. Rwanda currently accesses internet through satellite connections at USD 3 000 Mbps/month. The price is expected to drop to USD 25 Mbps/month once the national grid is connected with the future submarine fibre optic cables on the east coast. A 135 km network has already been deployed in Kigali at a cost of USD 5 million. Private sector operators are also contributing to ICT development. The development of Kigali ICT Park, which comprises three components, namely: Established ICT companies, Incubated companies (ICT startups) and a Multi-disciplinary Centre of Excellence in ICT (MCE-ICT), is one such example. Rwanda is expecting to position itself as a regional ICT hub.
Source: Rwanda’s 2009 African Economic Outlook country note and author.
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Experts from different fields analyse what measures should African governments take in order to engage effectively with emerging economic partners in Africa, such as China, India, Brasil or Turkey.
Tax expenditure surveys
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Useful links
- African Development Bank
- OECD Development Centre
- OECD
- Proparco's magazine - Private Sector and Development
- UNECA
- UNDP Africa bureau
- United Nations
- World Bank
