Terracom is a communications provider investing in Rwanda to create low cost communications with quality, services and pricing on par with Europe and the States. For the most part African countries telecom have been dominated by mobile providers only looking for high profits and monopolies. This has resulted in expensive phone calls, poor services and no data infrastructure investment. Despite these mobile phone companies making tremendous profit, they refuse generally to bring new technologies to the people or to invest in Infrastructure. This is why internet access and phone calls are so expensive in all African countries. Subsequently, without an infrastructure and easy access to data you cannot build a base of skilled workers. The measure of a strong communications systems is the price and availability of data (voice travels over data networks). In USD the price for mobile phone calls in Rwanda is about $.28 per minute, which is less than Tanzania at $.30 per minute for a local call. However in the States mobile calls are less than $.08 per minute and free at night and on weekends. Why is it so expensive in Africa? First of course is pure profitability, companies like Millicom in Tanzania have 42% profit margins while companies like Sprint in the states have less than 10%. Second, is the lack of any infrastructure. With a high quality infrastucture all of the costs come down, and the people have more choices (email, telephone, chat - many ways to communicate).

Terracom is building a very high end network which will put Rwanda in the same leagues as Europe and America.

Terracom has already laid over 10km of fiber throughout Kigali using extremely sophisticated technologies called a “passive optical network” or PON for short. This is not a “ring” we do not use “rings” because they are older and more expensive than this new PON technology. This PON technology is so good that Verizon, a major provider in the States has just announced their commitment to bring PON based fiber to over 1,000,000 homes in the next 2 years. Kigali already has it.

The Terracom Fiber Network in Kigali is currently providing customers with a first world infrastructure. This means speeds of up to 1gigabit and rock solid reliability. In fact the Terracom Fiber Network has no electrical requirements like older rings. This makes it less susceptible to the power problems of Rwanda.

We are currently hooking up over 30 buildings to the network in just the next two months, and will be hooking up many houses as well. This gives people telephone, internet, data access solutions (like live back-up capabilities) and even television capabilities. The Terracom Fiber Network has the capability of delivering hundreds of channels of television. Many businesses and buildings are coming to us now to be connected to the Terracom Fiber Network because it improves the value of the buildings and the rents they can charge. For businesses it reduces the costs of their communications and gives them access to the world and to the other business on the network. Banks are coming on line because it is the fastest most secure way of transferring data.

If you look at fiber maps of the world, every first world country has a large detailed fiber infrastructure. Not just between cities, but within the cities. For instance look at the MCI global fiber network I attached.

Or this companies network of the US:

Or this network of the US:

Or the many others. For instance, in San Diego they have over 71,000 miles connecting all the buidings http://www.bandwidthbay.org/main.htm. They call San Diego “bandwidth bay”.

These large networks span the globe connecting all major cities and even buildings together. These investments CREATE a first world infrastructure. They reduce costs and increase the types of services offered. They bring in businesses who want to be located where calls are inexpensive and have high quality and they allow for the creation of new businesses. This is the essence of a knowledge based economy. This is why India has done so well with outsourcing, and why Rwanda, if it is to succeed with vision2020 NEEDS to have a first world infrastructure.

Notice how there is almost no fiber in Africa? (look at the mci global presence above). The African communications systems are way behind.

So Terracom is building an infrastructure which already flows through Kigali, and in the next 8 months will reach Butare, Gisenyi, Gitarama and Ruhengeri. On the Terracom infrastructure all phone calls will be the same price, there is no more pricing by city as we have now in Rwanda. With the Terracom fiber network we can connect all the small villages, schools and health centers as the fiber is laid from Kigali outwards. This means that the 12 villages on the road between Kigali and Butare will have the SAME communications capability as Terracom is offering in Kigali. The Terracom Fiber Network needs such low power that solar panels can easily drive the 20 watt access points. This is what the Terracom Fiber Network will look like in 8 months (blue) and then in 24 months (add the Yellow). Rwanda will have a first world infrastructure with extremely low cost international calls (less than 140rwf per minute to the states and Europe) and one rate calling within the country (no penalties for being outside the city).

With this fiber network as the main super highway, we can span out into many small villages, and even re-build the Rwandatel network into a first world system not dependent on so many generators and microwave transmission sites. This will dramatically increase quality and reduce the costs of services. All the major universities will be connected at high speed and they can share data, teachers and resources. For instance, one teacher in NUR could teach in all the schools at the same time over a high speed video link - carried over the Terracom Fiber Network.

This all IP network from Terracom, worth tens of millions of dollars, will be the cornerstone of Rwanda's economic growth in the near future. It will catapult Rwanda ahead of all the other countries in Central Africa and put it on par with the States and Europe communications networks.