Rwanda aims to become Africa's high-tech hub

By Scott Baldauf 2 hours, 38 minutes ago

Kigali, Rwanda - Sometime in the next two years, nearly every school in Rwanda – from distant mountain villages to swelling urban areas – will be hooked up to the Internet. And it won't be some crummy dial-up service. It will be high-speed broadband, carried by fiber-optic cables.

The fact that Rwanda is closing in on this goal without having the massive oil wealth of Angola or Sudan, the diamonds of Congo or South Africa, or even the copper of nearby Zambia is a testimony to the power of imagination. And Rwanda imagines that one day, it will be the information technology center of Africa.

"In 2000, we decided to transform the country from agricultural subsistence to a knowledge-based economy," says Albert Butare, Rwanda's minister of state for energy and communications. With two fiber-optic rings around Kigali, and cable being laid across the country, Rwanda is well on its way to being wired. "Once we've reached the towns of each sector, it's like you've covered the whole country. In another two years, we should be there."

- taken from here, where you can read the rest of the story as well. I personally find it rather intriguing, to say the least. In this line, I wouldn't be surprise to hear of statements declaring Romania the next U.S. of A. of Eastern Europe... I'm just curious on the area such a statement might choose...