Rwanda: Village phone bridging communication gap
The penetration of Telecommunication services in sub-Saharan Africa remains minimal on average. For some nations like Rwanda, penetration is as low as 4 percent when compared to the country's total population figures. Some times limited telecom penetration in sub-Saharan Africa can be as a result of lacking basic telecom infrastructure in place but also simply failure, on the part of those countries with the right infrastructure, to design ample and affordable telecom products for the rural poor.
Highway Africa News Agency
The penetration of Telecommunication services in sub-Saharan Africa remains minimal on average. To some nations like Rwanda, penetration is as low as 4 percent when compared to the country's total population figures.
Some times limited telecom penetration in sub-Saharan Africa can be as a result of lacking basic telecom infrastructure in place but also simply failure, on the part of those countries with the right infrastructure, to design ample and affordable telecom products for the rural poor.
MTN Rwanda's Tel'imbere product is an answer to the latter. Tel'imbere, Village Phone Rwanda has been singled out as a "special tool" that provides affordable telephone access to places where there could be no access to public communications and where power supplies are either unreliable or nonexistent.
Tel'imbere has been perfectly designed for the rural poor and comes to solve the rural telecommunication blackout but also enhance the economic welfare of those living in the rural setting.
As MTN Rwanda counts down nearly a year after introducing Tel'imbere, statistics show that the Village Phone has been embraced with open arms. "The reception amongst the rural folks has been incredible," says Albert Kinuma, Managing Director of the Tel'imbere.
"It has changed the lives of people not only in terms of bringing affordable communications to their door steps but also to some it is an income generating venture" Tel'imbere was launched in June by MTN Rwanda and Grameen Foundation, a global non-profit organization that combines microfinance with new technologies. The village phone concept was first introduced in Bangladesh A Village Phone set consists of a mobile handset, an external long-lasting battery that can last a month without the recharging it, and boasts of an extended antenna that can capture even MTN's weakest communication signals.
Village Phone Rwanda is partnering with local microfinance institutions to help rural individuals have access to soft loans needed to purchase the village phone equipment. Some 50 Rwandans took part in a one-year pilot program which ended in April 2006 but the figure has now risen to 400 subscribers. MTN Rwanda will target 3 000 customers over the next 2 years. Today each operator serves close to 200 people within one community.
"Under this initiative, we extend the benefits of affordable telecommunications solution in a sustainable, profitable and empowering way," says Albert Kinuma.
"This relatively inexpensive technology can solve many of the problems the poor in rural villages have faced for decades."
The village Phone solution is a win-win concept for all stakeholders. The phone operators have strong, thriving and profitable businesses, rural microfinance institutions earn considerable revenues on accrued interest on loans as well as commissions from the sale of prepaid airtime cards and of course the ordinary rural lives have changed as a result of affordable phone services linking them to their friends, family, business contacts and the world at large.
"As you know market penetration is around 4 percent. This means that 96 percent of the population does not own mobile phones. Therefore, these are the people that Tel'imbere is targeting. This initiative perfectly suits MTN's vision and mission of extending telecom services to each and every individual in this country," says Albert.