“By the time of the launch we will have covered all the major cities, towns, populated areas as well as along the major highways” Kabasiita said.

The company is targeting to make its network cover 13 major towns. In addition, the company will also make available the usual T19 handsets which go for Frw. 12,000 and the upgraded model of U120 3G handsets which according to Kabasiita will be sold at a competitive price.

However, she stressed that Rwandatel’s business was the sale of airtime, and that the handsets were only distributed temporarily to make it easy for people to become subscribers.

“We are not planning to compete with the private sector, especially those who import handsets, but our aim is to support them so that the handsets can use our network,” she said.

The PRO also announced that Rwandatel subscribers who are still using the CDMA technology (used when the company was still run by Terracom) will be issued with handsets with SIM cards by next month. This will ensure that all the Rwandatel subscribers are on the GSM network.

Concerning the competition with the already established MTN and the soon to come Millicom, Kabasiita stated that the company is not worried about it and is bent on providing its subscribers with the best network and competitive prices.

“We are not going to be making hasty decisions because a competitor is coming into the market or because a competitor has changed strategy,” she said, adding that with or without competition the Rwandatel would continue to offer better services to its clients.

Rwandatel promotion has entered its third months and subscribers are continuing to enjoy extra airtime. However, the PRO explained that this too is a temporary promotion which is scheduled to end after the upcountry launch.

“We cannot promise that there will constantly be promotions, that would be fooling our subscribers. As a company we have to see what works for us as well as for our clients,” she said, adding that their cheap rates were also a major factor in the company’s success so far.

Moreover, she explained that while other interesting packages would be offered in the future, currently the company was concentrating on extending its network to the entire country.

Apart from the mobile phone network, Rwandatel is also upgrading its land line system so that it can have a bigger capacity and quality.

“Land lines phones have always been the traditional way of doing business, and therefore we are improving the system we already have so as to accommodate more clients,” she said.

As regards the internet, Kabasiita explained that after the laying out of the fiber optic lines and the introduction of the new system known as ASDL, Rwandatel internet subscribers will be able to access internet connection wherever they will be.

Rwandatel currently has 185,000 mobile subscribers in just two months after its launch. It targets around 600,000 users by midyear and a total of 1,200,000 by the end of the year.