Secondary school students in the remote Nkombo Island in Rusizi district will have to wait until April to get connected to high-speed Internet provided by a satellite that was launched in February last year.

The communication satellite nicknamed ‘Icyerekezo’ by students from Nkombo Island was sent into space last year in February in a partnership deal between Rwanda and One web, a UK communication company to provide broadband Internet in remote areas.

Groupe Scolaire Saint Pierre de Nkombo, one of the schools located in the Lake Kivu’s island was the first education institution to benefit from a pilot programme, but the school has not yet been connected to the high-speed Internet.

School authorities hope that in April, the remote establishment will be connected to broadband.

“Up to now we have not yet been connected to the satellite broadband but we have been told by OneWeb that if nothing changes, in April this year the company will start rolling out the connection to the school,” Father Sylas Nsengumuremyi told Rwanda Today.

“We hope that when the satellite broadband is deployed it will facilitate us (students and teachers) to do our work seamlessly,” Father Nsengumuremyi further said.

The Internet facilitates students and teachers to access global education content among other learning materials online.

The satellite Internet is an alternative option to connect to the broadband as as the standard fiber optic connection to connect the schools in the island was said to be costly and inefficient.

The 4G LTE mobile infrastructures is also sometimes not strong in remote areas.

According to estimates by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, it would take about Rwf1.9 billion to extend traditional fiber network to some remote areas such as Nkombo Island.

Dr Christine Niyizamwitirira, Director of ICT in Education Department at Rwanda Education Board told Rwanda Today that the UK Company is now looking for a licence because it will also provide commercial Internet services to others clients.

“It is looking for the licensing market because it will not only provide Internet to schools but also to other clients in the country,” she said. Students use Internet for computer science lessons and in free time they do research online.

There are six schools on Nkombo Island in Lake Kivu.

The Ministry of ICT and Innovation has not yet provided an update on broadband Satellite project at press time.

Meanwhile, the mobile telephone network communication on the island is also poor nowadays for subscribers of two telecom companies operating in the country making telephone communication difficult for residents on the remote island in western province