ICT for Development

The Ministry of CT and Innovation is mandated to accelerate the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the fields of socio-economic development in Rwanda.

The Ministry of ICT and Innovation does this through its mandate of addressing national priorities for economic growth and poverty reduction through development and coordination of national information technology, communication, and Innovation policies and programs as well as citizen’s empowerment.

Key achievements

 ICT is an enabler for development which cuts across all sectors. As such, tracking of implementation of ICT programme requires factoring in activities and contributions from various sectors.

Every year, the ICT sector profile makes a compilation of indicators that have been selected to measure Rwanda’s ICT sector performance and track ICT for Development programs which will guide the implementation of current national policies and strategies as well as to facilitate formulation of new policies and strategies to further uptake of ICT to help develop the country.

It has been compiled from the information collected from sectors such as Governance, Health, Education, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Justice, Finance and the private sector to get holistic picture. A particular emphasis was placed on tracking the current adoption and use of key ICT systems, services, and solutions in the above mentioned sectors to showcase the trends of the ICT evolution in Rwanda.

II.1. ICT in Telecommunication

II.1.1. Mobile Phone and Internet Penetration

Technological evolution and healthy competition among technology vendors, telecom operators, and service providers over the years have contributed to a continuous decrease in the price for accessing voice and data services, as well for obtaining accessibility devices such as feature phones and smartphones. The improved affordability has directly contributed to increasing mobile phone and Internet penetration in the country. Internet penetration 2011-2018 Mobile cellular phone telephone subscriptions ICT

II.1.2. Broadband access: 4G LTE deployment

As of end 2018, Rwanda enjoys 4G LTE services of 96.7% of geographic coverage and 96.6% of population coverage, while 3G and 3.5G services remained at the rate of 93.37% of population coverage. With the focus on 4G LTE deployment, 4G LTE service now surpassed 3G and 3.5G services. Deployment of LTE technology in Rwanda is opening up new opportunities for innovative services and applications, as well as providing opportunities to improve existing businesses.

II.2. ICT in Finance (Toward Cashless Economy) ICT continues to support the growth of the Finance Sector while improving the financial-inclusion for all Rwandan. This is evident through improved use of ICT in financial services delivery, increased number of mobile payment subscription and electronic transactions, increased deployment of electronic billing/transaction machines, increased use of online tax payments, etc. The benefits of actively deploying ICT into finance sector include improved effectiveness and efficiency in both transaction and business processes, increased transparency, opportunities in new and existing businesses, financing opportunities, etc. Creation and adoption of more innovative ICT tools/services is needed, however, to realize much wider financial inclusion by the people and resultant improvement of their socio-economic welfares.

II.2.1. ELECTRONIC FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS

Rwanda is actively promoting e-Payment for every level of financial transactions. This is in line with its ICT outreach efforts. Specific outreach activities include promotion of ICT enabled Government and banking services, providing specific ICT tools to facilitate e-payment (e.g.; Rwanda Integrated Payment System, Shared Agency Banking System, etc.), and instituting conducive strategies/policies (e.g.; Rwanda Payment System Strategy, Regulatory Sandbox for innovative Fintech solutions, Financial Literacy strategy, etc.).

These efforts are responsible for much of the rapid acceptance of electronic financial services and the adoption of e-transactions. Observing the current trend, it is fair to conclude that the electronic financial services are getting more common among citizenry and playing a crucial role in transforming the business processes in Rwanda.

Meanwhile, citizens’ welfare is being improved through new innovations in the financial sector. An example of such innovation is a Rwandan mobile financial service called “Save” by Exuus, a mobile group saving/lending platform that would allow its users to save and borrow at low interest rate. The users can get access to much needed financing opportunities without going through more rigorous financial lending processes.  

II.2.2. Mobile Payment

In 2018, Mobile Payment subscribers across all mobile network operators have reached 11,067,077 from 9,912,735 users in 2017. This makes an increase of 12% of the total subscribers in one year. The growth of subscribers is steadily increasing which reflect growing use for these services within various different sectors. 2016 2017 2018 The figures are cumulative which include both active and inactive users. Efforts are underway to streamline the statistics of mobile payment subscribers to reflect the active mobile cellular phone subscribers.

II.2.3. Mobile Payments - Value of transactions (In Million FRW)

In December 2018, the total number of values transacted through mobile payment reached FRW 1,808 billion. The increase of 31% was observed from FRW 1,384 billion transacted in the previous year (2017).

The figure also corresponds to approximately ¼ of GDP in Rwanda. Consumers’ economic behavior is changing rapidly. People are increasingly comfortable in using mobile services and non-cash instruments for such services as financial account creation, money transfer, money deposits, and payments.

II.2..4. Mobile Money Agents

Mobile money agents are rapidly growing in the country. In 2018 the number of mobile money agent reached 107,858 from 83,531 of 2017, which is 37.9% increase within one year. These agents are the first contact of financial services for the citizenry, especially in the rural area where access to financial institutions are limited. 

II.2.5. ATM and POS transactions/volume

The number of points of sales (POS) terminals has increased by 33 percent from 2,104 to 2,801 in 2018. This increase was due to the high demands from merchants like hotels and other retail entities. Meanwhile, the number of ATM terminals have decreased by 6 percent from 406 to 383, suggesting a correlation that more people are using mobile based transactions in lieu of relying on traditional cash. 

The number of debit cards issued in Rwanda increased by 18% from 746,458 in 2016 to 883,755 in 2018. In the same period, POS transactions increased by whooping 140% from 660,746 to 1,588,639 with corresponding increase of value from FRW 41.5 billion to FRW 85,434 billion, an increase of 106%. This was a result of strong partnership between banks and local telecom operators. Financial sector recorded the big impact on financial inclusion in the last three years by working together to rollout products capitalising on the popularity of electronic transaction platforms, hence leading to the realization of the vision of “Cashless Economy.” In the same period, Rwanda welcomed more international electronic transaction platforms in addition to Visa International. Currently, other international payment cards (American Express, Master Card, China Union Pay, Dinners Club and Japanese Credit Bureau) are accepted in Rwandan market seamlessly.

II.2.6. ICT in Tax and Revenue Payment

Introduction of E-filling and E-payment has continued to increased compliance and reduction of transaction costs for both tax administration and taxpayers. Increasing number of enterprises are now using their mobile devices to declare and pay taxes using different mobile money platforms. The number of taxpayers using online tax filling has increased by 12% in 2018 from 113,479 in 2017 to 126,838. The growing use of Electronic Billing Machines among the vendors has improved revenues collection and management; these devices contributed to reducing time of transactions, reducing the efforts of massive document auditing, minimizing errors, and frauds.