Airtel to invest $100m in Rwanda

Bharti Airtel plans to invest $100 million in Rwandan operations over the next three years, which is expected to generate both direct and indirect employment opportunities for the African country, New Business Ethiopia reports.

The company will also be bringing in partners like IBM and Ericsson to set up and manage world-class facilities in the country.

Manoj Kohli, Bharti Airtel CEO and joint MD, reinforced the telco's commitment to work with the government in support of developing a knowledge-based economy, StarAfrica.com states.

Kohli says: “Our strategy for Rwanda is in harmony with the government's vision to make telecommunications a priority. We plan to work closely with the government to provide access to affordable telecoms products and services across the country.”

Rwanda is among the fastest growing telecoms markets in Africa and, according to the National Statistics Institute of Rwanda, mobile penetration in the country was at 38.4% as of July 2011.

Airtel was awarded a licence by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency late last year to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services, Telecom Lead says.

According to the telco, the rollout of Airtel's 3G platform will help large corporate, small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, Rwanda will also benefit from Airtel's mobile commerce platform, Airtel Money.