Tigo Rwanda partners with Ministry of ICT to launch Smart Village

Tigo Rwanda, in partnership with the Ministry of Information, Technology and Communications, launched the Tumba Smart Village Initiative today. 

The Smart Village, located in Tumba Sector Rulindo District, Northern Province, has a population of 21,000 and an estimated 5,000 households.

The Smart Village Initiative aims to bridge the digital divide in rural Rwanda by bringing technological solutions and innovations to residents in order to enhance their daily lives, increase socio-economic opportunities and create jobs by increasing their access to ICT and services. The pillars of the Smart Village are Digital Literacy, Financial Inclusion, Education, Connectivity/Electricity, Healthcare, Agriculture, Governance and Smart Markets.

Tigo Rwanda support the Smart Village Initiative through the three pillars of Connectivity, Digital Literacy and Financial Inclusion.

Speaking on the launch of the Tumba Smart Village, Tigo Rwanda Deputy Chief Operating Executive, Chantal Umutoni Kagame said;

“In order to support the three pillars, Tigo Rwanda invested in providing 3G and 4G connectivity to the 21, 000 Tumba Sector residents. Today, they are able to enjoy the fastest and most affordable Internet in the country.  

Working with our suppliers, we are providing subsidized handsets to residents. The feature phones and smart phones we provide are the most affordable in Rwanda at the cost of Frw 6,000 and Frw 36,000 respectively. This shall ensure that as many people in this community are able to access handsets.

Alongside our partners, our VAS (Value Addded Services) trainers are teaching residents how to utilize the Internet, thereby opening the digital world to them. Using our various Mobile Financial Services, residents can now enjoy Tigo Cash services such as Push and Pull, which allow them to move money to and from their bank accounts using their handsets. With our Digital Saving Groups platform, we created a platform that allows unbanked local savings groups (Ibimina) to digitize. Now youth and women’s groups as well as cooperatives can enjoy the convenience of our MFS tools.”

About Tigo Rwanda

Currently, Tigo Rwanda has over three million customers and has invested over US $310 million from 2009 to date.   Tigo Rwanda provides 4G LTE on mobile for both prepaid and post-paid customers.  Tigo Rwanda was awarded as the ‘Most Innovative Service’ at Africa Com 2014, for international mobile money transfers with integrated currency conversion between Tigo Rwanda and Tigo Tanzania. In 2016 Tigo Rwanda became the first telecom operator in Africa to sign the Connected Women Commitment Initiative.

Tigo Rwanda is owned by Millicom, a leading telecommunications and media company uniquely dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America and Africa. It provides mobile, mobile financial, cable and satellite services to more than 60 million customers in thirteen countries, primarily under the Tigo brand. Tigo has been operating in Africa since 1993, in Rwanda since 2009, and serves more than 26 million customers in Africa.