Rwanda Provides Broadband Internet to Remote Area Schools

Indeed, a beautiful small country Rwanda is! With the beauty in the country, several attractions and activities that can be done, many have opted for Rwanda safaris. January2019, Rwanda announced its long-term space plan, with a complementary initiative to launch its own first satellite this year.

In a move to make the country a better place to live broadband internet is being extended to schools in remote areas of Rwanda.

Rwanda is working with OneWeb, a UK based company to unveil a satellite that will provide broadband internet to schools in Rwanda’s remote areas as announced this week by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation Ms. Paula Ingabire.

On Wednesday OneWeb succeeded in launching the first six (OneWeb F6) of their compact low-latency ultrafast broadband satellites into circular Low Earth Orbit (LEO) around the earth at 1000km.

This was at Guiana Space Center in South America and happily all the aircrafts were released without any problems and signal acquisition has been confirmed since then.

The Rwanda broadband satellite was nicknamed Icyerekezo by students from Nkombo Island (Groupe Secondaire St Pierre Nkombo) being the first school that will benefit of the broadband satellite.

This comes as a fact that the location of the school (on Nkombo Island in Lake Kivu-Rwanda’s largest lake) had made it extremely costly and inefficient to be connected to standard fiber connections.

The global communication firm’s partnership with Rwanda will, however, enable orbiting satellites to connect more remote schools across Rwanda.

The Rwandan government believes that launching ‘Icyerekezo’ satellite is a symbol of the country’s commitment to build the local space industry, build local capacity, inspire the younger generation and prepare to usher Rwanda into a hyper-connected future.

Without a means of connection, economies stagnate, education falls behind, and development slows significantly compared , a satellite is the perfect solution to provide internet connectivity and improve on the economy.

Rwanda also popularly known as the land of a thousand hills, is famously home to the mountain gorillas that are still existent in only three African countries which are Rwanda, Uganda and Congo.

Rwanda gorilla trekking safaris are only undertaken at Volcanoes National Park a safari activity that is so rewarding and unique.

Within the country are a total of 4 national park of which the three offer amazing wildlife safaris in Rwanda with an encounter of the big five wild animals.

Alongside wildlife safaris avid birders can also take a birding safari in Rwanda with a rewarding list of about 703 bird species.

Great when such innovations come in to the country. For inclusive conservation the young generation is going to get involved in conservation by sharing ideas and learning online in this information technology revolution.

This is a great move by the government to make even the rural areas have a chance to involve in this fast-growing technology world.