MTN, Tigo and Airtel Rwanda have lined up promotions and new investments to attract customers and boost Internet use. FILE
By BERNA NAMATA, The EastAfrican
In Summary
- MTN, Tigo and Airtel Rwanda have lined up promotions and new investments to attract customers and boost Internet use.
- Telecom companies in Rwanda are increasingly investing more in data infrastructure to grow their market share.
- As of June, Tigo Rwanda dominated at 44 per cent, followed by MTN Rwanda at 40 per cent while Airtel had 16 per cent.
- MTN Rwanda had a subscriber base of 3.6 million; Tigo Rwanda Ltd has two million while Airtel 973,000 subscribers as per September statistics.
Rwanda’s telecom firms are stepping up
investment in data services to reduce their reliance on the voice
market, as competition in the sector heats up in the wake of increased
uptake of the Internet.
Over the past two months, the country’s three
telecom companies — MTN Rwanda, Tigo Rwanda and Airtel Rwanda — have all
rolled out promotions aimed at increasing data penetration, a move that
is expected to reduce the cost of Internet use. They have also lined up
new investments in the data segment hoping to ride on the growing use
of smartphones to access the Internet.
Global telecom industry body GSM Association says
in its latest report that Africa is the fastest growing market for
smartphones in the world, with East African countries topping the list
of nations where the devices are increasingly gaining a foothold.
Industry data package charges per day on Internet
modems in Rwanda have dropped to an average of between Rwf500 ($0.744)
and Rwf800 ($1.19) from Rwf1,000 ($1.4), while weekly charges have
dropped to Rwf 4,500 ($6.7) from Rwf 6,000($8.9), and monthly charges
stand at Rwf18,000 ($26.7) from Rwf 30,000 (Rwf44.6) a year ago.
Rwanda’s Internet penetration is currently
estimated at 12.2 per cent, representing an increase of 27 per cent as
of June this year, mainly driven by mobile data.
However, the country lags behind its counterparts
in the East African region apart from Burundi, which has an Internet
penetration rate of 3.9 per cent. Kenya leads at approximately 41.1 per
cent, Uganda’s stands at 17 per cent while Tanzania’s is 14 per cent.
Telcos across the region have been banking on non-voice segments such as mobile money transfer and data to drive growth.
Two weeks ago, Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom declared a Ksh11.2 billion ($130.2 million) net income
for the six months to September, riding on higher incomes from the
non-voice segment. Mobile data revenue grew by 43 per cent to Ksh4.3
billion ($50 million).
While industry players maintain that Rwanda’s
mobile penetration at 60 per cent is still low, giving room for more
competition for voice, the data segment is an avenue to drive revenue.
Operators are counting on a rise in mobile
subscriptions, currently estimated at 60. 9 per cent, to grow their
market share of data penetration.
“In this country, any new operator will have
numbers because people have double sim cards. There is still room to
grow voice, which is the entry point before getting to data,” said
Ebenezer Asante, MTN Rwanda’s chief executive officer.
“A significant chunk of revenue is coming from
voice but in terms of year-to-year growth, we see more occurring in
mobile money, data and value added services.”
MTN Rwanda slashed its data charges by half last
year, with the cost of a 250MB package reducing to Rwf3,000($4.46) from
Rwf6,000($8.92) while prices on its 5 GB bundle were reduced to Rwf
15,000($22.3) from Rwf30,000 ($44.6), 500Mb to Rwf 5,000 ($7.4) from Rwf
10,000 ($14.8) respectively.
Data solutions
“We are focusing on data solutions for customers
because we believe we can be market leaders,” said John Magara, the
public relations officer of Airtel Rwanda.
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