Friday, November 20, 2009

Tigo Launches As Rwanda's Third Operator

Luxembourg-based telecoms group Millicom International Cellular (MIC) has launched mobile services in Rwanda under the Tigo banner, becoming the country's third wireless operator.
 
'We are here to compete. We want to increase penetration and accessibility to telephone services that are affordable,' commented Alex Camara, chief executive of the company. MIC won the tender for a 15-year wireless licence with a bid of USD60 million in November 2008, beating competition from Telecel Globe, Zain and Larrycom-Expresso.
 
The company has invested over USD100 million in the rollout of a 2G/W-CDMA/HSDPA network across around 13 districts of the central African country. Tigo joins two other cellcos in the market: MTN of South Africa, which had a market share of around 79% at 30 September 2009; and Rwandatel, which is owned by Libyan government investment vehicle LAP Green Networks (80%) and the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (20%) and launched commercial GSM/W-CDMA services in December 2008.

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