Rwandatel targets 500 roaming partnerships

Rwandatel’s post-paid clients will access roaming services with over 500 telecom operators worldwide according to officials. This follows an agreement between Rwanda’s second biggest telecom operator by market share and Belgacom International Carrier Services (Belgacom ICS), a Belgian telecom giant.

Thursday, August 06, 2009
Patrick Kariningufu, the CEO Rwandatel. (File photo)

Rwandatel’s post-paid clients will access roaming services with over 500 telecom operators worldwide according to officials.
This follows an agreement between Rwanda’s second biggest telecom operator by market share and Belgacom International Carrier Services (Belgacom ICS), a Belgian telecom giant.

According to the agreement, the company’s subscribers on the post-paid platform will access Voice and Short Messages (SMS) communication services on any roaming network affiliated to Belgacom.

Rwandatel will also fully leverage Belgacom’s unrivalled reach and provide an enhanced user experience for its post-paid subscribers wishing to communicate globally, on any network.

"This is a key differentiator for Rwandatel in meeting the requirements of the post-paid subscribers,” said Patrick Kariningufu, the Chief Executive Officer of Rwandatel.

"In an increasingly intricate and competitive retail market, we acknowledge the importance of partnering with an established recognised leader in international mobile services,” he added.

Kariningufu explained that it enables the company to constantly improve its consumer product offering and deliverance of superior services at home and abroad.

Prior to the partnership, launch post-paid customers were only able to take advantage of Rwandatel’s existing bilateral agreements in Europe and Africa. Some of these include roaming partners in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Statistics from the company owned by Libya Arab Portfolio (LAP) Green a Libyan investment conglomerate and Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) shows that there are about 400 post-paid active subscribers. The post-paid platform was launched two months back.

"We chose this unique route to enables us to quickly shorten the lead time it takes to achieve worldwide roaming capabilities” Kariningufu explained.

The CEO of Belgacom, Daniel Kurgan said, "This agreement confirms yet again the commitment of Belgacom ICS to Mobile Operators, to continuously enhance their voice and data service offering.”

"We are delighted to be able to provide Rwandatel with the necessary global reach, allowing Rwandatel’s subscribers to call and text their families, friends, and business associates abroad,” he added.

Belgacom is a global carrier of voice, data and value added services to over 500 wireless, wireline and service providers through sales offices in Brussels, Bern, Dubai, Singapore and New York.

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