Rwanda plans to lay 2,300 km of fibre-optic cable costing $38 million in 2009 to extend a network throughout most of the country.

In February, South Korea’s KT Corp will begin laying the fibre which will connect to one of Africa’s planned undersea telecommunications cables. The firm is expected to complete the work by September next year.

The 2,300 km of fibre will connect with 35 main nodes throughout the country and 350 sites.

Government officials however say it cannot wire the whole country and private companies will have to lease the fibre to provide broadband wireless to the rest of the country, using the fibre as their transmission backbone.

Rwanda which is positioning itself to be a regional ICT hub is seeking to revolutionise its economy to be ICT driven, and has already completed laying 135 km around the capital at a cost of $5 million.

Analysts say Africa's expensive and unreliable telecommunication services are a major hindrance to investment.