Rwanda's 4th Generation Long-Term Evolution internet (4GLTE) was recently awarded for its innovative business model in form of a public-private partnership at the Global Telecom Business Innovation Awards.

Olleh Rwanda Networks (ORN), a partnership between the Rwandan Government and Korea Telecoms, South Korea’s largest telecommunications provider, is the firm, behind the technology’s rollout in the country. Patrick Yoon, the Chief Executive Officer of the firm spoke to The New Times’ Collins Mwai about the unique business model and their experience in the Rwandan market so far.

Below are the excerpts

Your firm was recently feted at the Global Telecom Business Innovation Awards for the business model you employ in the 4G rollout process. How did the business model and partnership come about?

Olleh Rwanda Networks came about as a result of a public-private partnership between the government and Korea Telecom, to provide 4GLTE internet to retailers on a wholesale basis. Though we have a right to a monopoly, it was clear from the beginning that we would only engage on a wholesale basis. The country has a very clear vision to develop the government based on ICT development. The partnership bonded well since Rwanda and Korea have similar features; small countries, small population and limited natural resources. We, however, have determined and committed human resource. There was need to develop the sector in order to achieve a middle income status by 2020. The only requirement to achieve this objective is rolling out ICT technology and educating citizens.

Korea telecom and the government had a joint venture to develop an advanced solution launched in Rwanda and exported to other countries. The model has worked for Koreans where about 10 million people work outside the country and remit returns back home.

You have monopoly rights in the Rwandan market, a move that has been said to limit positive competition and slowing down the rollout process. Don’t you think this slows the rollout pace of the technology?

That could have possibly happened, but in our agreement with the government, it was clear that within three years of launching, we would have covered over 90 per cent of the nation. So far, we have rolled out to four districts outside Kigali; Rusizi, Huye, Rubavu and Musanze. We have plans to reach seven more districts by October this year. By 2017, we will have covered over 90 per cent of the country.

What is your take on retailers’ performance in rolling out the technology?

We have two different groups; those with their own systems, mostly telecoms, and internet service providers.

Among the two groups, fairly speaking, telecom, companies are not very active compared to internet service providers not because they are against ORN but because they prefer to use their own systems which they have invested in. For Internet Services Providers (ISPs) they rarely use 4G as their commercial product. We are trying to change this because beyond selling network, we provide value added services, we are now discussing with ISPs to make them understand the potential of 4G and we are beginning to see numbers of subscribers go up.

Some of the potential subscribers say that the service is too expensive and does not necessarily translate into increased productivity...

We would like to increase the value of 4G LTE because we have sights beyond the Rwandan market since its not enough. We would like to integrate our services with the network and also export the technology. Following our launch, there was still some confusion among some of the retailers who viewed us as competitors, but we want the same thing which is to develop the telecom business in the country. We want to add value for them to provide additional services, better value to their clients and increase their market. If they adopt 4G, they can do more business.

They should look beyond their current market size and look at ways of penetrating the entire region by adding value to their services. To increase the subscription base, we are reaching out to the various clients showing them the benefit of the technology.

Are you doing anything to show the public the potential of the technology?

I will admit we have a problem in this regard because we cannot go to the retail market; all I can do is convince the internet service providers and Telecoms. We try to show them the business models they can employ to make proper use of the technology.

Would you say that Rwanda was not ready for 4G as has been suggested by some parties?

I have a counter question, if not Rwanda, who is ready for 4G? Yes, Rwanda may be a developing country, but there was no better time as it will give the country an upper hand to launch the technology, before other countries. By the time the rest of the world is adopting the technology; Rwanda will be a world leader in that regard and be among the exporters of the technology.

The retail prices of the service have gone down by almost 70 per cent in the past few months. Some retailers had earlier said that the high prices were as a result of high wholesale rates, have you loosened the leash?

We do not charge much for wholesale price; it is up to the retailers to package the services they offer to clients. Even though it is not our duty to reduce the retail price, we are trying to reduce it. Some of the retailers have reduced their prices accordingly.

There is an ongoing initiative to have 4G internet in public transport buses, what do you hope to achieve through it?

We would like to boost 4G rollout in partnership with the government and ensure that it increases people’s productivity. Availing 4G internet on public transport vehicles is one way of doing it.

Overall, what do you make of the ongoing ICT development and transformation in the country?

The drive in ICT development is going well, it is at the right pace. However, we are taking too much time to implement in some aspects. There is a lot of potential in the country, the ecosystem is favourable and can be developed further. We only need to come up with more solutions, implement them and export them to other countries.

As a wholesale provider, we are continuously expanding our network. We have recently opened a 4G centre in Rubavu where we provide our network and also train people on how to use the internet and technology as a corporate social responsibility. We want more people to be able to use technology and internet to venture into business.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw