Ericsson, MTN deliver telecom services to Millennium Village in Rwanda

Ericsson and pan-African telecom operator MTN have kick-started their commitment with The Earth Institute at Columbia University to bring connectivity and telecom services to the Millennium Villages. The first village to receive these services is Mayange, Rwanda, which is getting support in healthcare, education and small-business development to empower social and economic growth in the community.

The initiative through Ericsson’s partnership with The Earth Institute – to bring mobile communication and internet access to rural areas in Africa – will reach about 400,000 people living in extreme poverty in 10 African countries.

“The integration of information and communications technology plays a critical role in ending the cycle of poverty, helping people share information and giving them the tools to improve their own social and economic situations,“ said Jan Embro, President of Ericsson in sub-Saharan Africa.

The upgrade of MTN’s GSM network to EDGE will enable mobile broadband connectivity and equip community health workers with tools to allow them to better serve their communities and help save lives.

One initiative to improve health services is a new toll-free phone service that can be used in medical emergencies to connect patients with on-duty medical personnel. Other initiatives include a mobile learning tool to train community health workers and applications to collect and share basic household health information.

Sony Ericsson has also provided mobile phones to the Millennium Village health clinics and community health workers. Together with Ericsson, it has developed and will provide a new Solar Village Charger capable of recharging at least 30 mobile-phone batteries per day and eight phones simultaneously for each village cluster.

To support economic development, Ericsson has focused on identifying and developing telecom services and applications customized to meet the needs of poor, rural communities. As part of this program, small-business entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to sell shared voice and data services to villagers, thanks to a partnership with the GSM Association’s Development Fund.