Rwanda mobile penetration at 40%

TELECOMS

Rwanda’s mobile penetration has reached 40%, with internet penetration at 7%.

According to statistics released by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), phone user numbers in Rwanda total 4.3 million, with mobile subscriber penetration having grown from 36.5% in June last year to 40.2% by September.

The report said the major players in mobile telephony included MTN, Rwandacell and TIGO Rwanda Ltd, with the mobile penetration rate growing “at a remarkable rate”. The country’s overall target for mobile telephony by the end of 2011 was 3,730,102. This number was already exceeded by 15% as of September 2011. MTN led the market, with a 67% share, followed by Tigo with 33%.

In contrast, fixed telephone subscriptions growth remained stagnant. The number of subscribers on fixed network slightly decreased in September 2011 to 43,095 down from 43,169 in June 2011 as Rwandatel lost subscribers.

Rwanda’s Internet penetration was estimated at 7% by September 2011, up from 5% in June 2011. As far as fixed broadband internet is concerned, as of September 2011, among the six operating ISPs, Rwandatel is the main player with a 62% market share followed by MTN with 21% market share and Altech Stream with a 13% market share while the other six ISPs share the 4% remaining.

Though MTN used to have a biggest mobile broadband market share, the information from the operators indicates that TIGO already grabbed 54% of the total mobile broadband market as of September 2011.