
Telecommunication in Rwanda
Compared to the United States, Rwanda is massively lagging behind in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +250, there were a total of 10.91 million connections in 2021. Among them were 10.90 million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 0.81 per person. In the US, this figure is 1.1 mobile phones per person.With about 1,447 webhosts, Rwanda is below the world's average by population. At the end of 2020, 1,061 of these, or about 73 percent, were secured with SSL or comparable encryption.
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Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 9.6 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Rwanda ranks 153rd in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 6.8 Mbit/second (143rd place).The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in October 2022 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the internet in Rwanda from 1990 - 2020
Broadband internet in Rwanda 2004 - 2021

Landlines 1990 - 2021
Mobile phones 1990 - 2021
Distribution in 2021 | Rwanda Total | Rwanda percent | USA Total | USA percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
Broadband users | 31,902.00 | 0.24 % | 127.03 m | 38.27 % |
Landlines | 11,893.00 | 0.09 % | 97.11 m | 29.26 % |
Mobile cellulars | 10.90 m | 80.99 % | 361.62 m | 108.96 % |