Speaking at the launch, the chief executive officer Francis Karema said that the new image was conceived because the company that was originally privately owned by Artel International and Artel Communications, and was then taken over by the government after the two companies had failed to deliver.

The new look of Artel (photo Timothy Kisambira)

He said that its not only the new image but they have new technology, and new services, adding that the new services are going to connect all the country—so far they have connected all the districts in the country and now they are moving to all sectors, which after they will move to mudugudu’s.

Distancing itself from the old company, Francis Karema said that the new Artel focuses on efficient technology, which provides more capacity, cheaper end user equipment, cheaper recurring costs and reliable services.

“If we are to compare the technology used by new Artel today, the end user equipment can handle more than 700 times the capacity of the similar equipment used before, because the end user equipment is ten times cheaper and the bandwidth to customers is much cheaper than offered by similar companies in Africa,” said Francis Karema.

In addition, he also said that most of the public institutions are located in suburban and rural areas—hospitals, schools, health centers, etc.—so they are targeting these institutions where no other operators are servicing.

“The new Artel is a government-owned company and we are an internet service provider using different technologies including VSAT and DVBS, the new technology for satellite communication,” Francis Karema said, adding that they are operating with the latest technology, which enables them to provide voice, data and video.

“Video technology is one of the newest services that we are bringing in the country. In the last parliamentary elections, for instance, you could watch the exercise in real time all over the country. Such services are the ones that we are to extend to the whole country,” he said.

He added that places such as Rusinzi which have hilly topography connection through underground becomes difficult, therefore in such areas satellite will be used to connect to people.

According to Francis Karema, the rural population is going to benefit from the connectivity; for example, they are currently connecting telecenters that are being operated by RITA, which are helping the rural communities to check prices of agricultural produce or to learn to use of ICT.