Introducing microwave broadband connectivity services and broadband applications to the wholesale market in Burundi Note: This project has been cancelled, because RVO has no confidence that it will be successfully completed in the short term.Access to internet is rapidly improving in east Africa in the last few years. Since the fibre optic sea cables from India have landed in Kenya, Mombasa, Rwanda and Uganda have been connected to the world wide web through high speed glass fibre technology.Burundi however, is still not connected to this intercontinental fibre optic backbone. Although there are plans to extend the cable all the way up to Burundi in the future, the partners in this project proposal want to speed up the process by introducing broadband microwave connectivity; i.e. pick up the signal in Rwanda and transport it through wireless technology to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi.Applicant Tricomp Sp.z.o.o. is an experienced company in ICT and telecom infrastructure, networks and services. Although based in Poland, Tricomp's founder is of Kenyan origin, and as such has developed a thriving business in Kenya, Rwanda, southern Sudan and Uganda as well.Local partner CBINet SA, was Burundi's very first Internet Service Provider (ISP) and still is the biggest company in the country when it comes to internet connectivity and related services. They are currently serving more than half of the market in Burundi and have the largest bandwidth available of all ISP's in the country.Afriregister SA is another Burundian company owned by one of CBINet's shareholders, and has been added as a third partner to this project. Afriregister is involved in domain name registration and e-business solutions and is therefore interested in improving the internet connectivity in Burundi as well.Together, these three companies will establish a new joint venture to connect Burundi to the international fibre optic backbone, through microwave technology. The joint venture will sell its bandwidth to the existing ISP's in Burundi, telecom companies, large government institutions and large corporates in order to replace the high-cost and low-speed VSAT connections that are currently Burundi's only gateway to the world wide web. Apart from the broadband connection, the joint venture will also offer Internet Exchange Point (IXP) services, Data centre services, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and Voice over IP (VoIP) services.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The project partners take a positive stance towards CSR. In this new project, CSR will be embodied through the implementation of a HRM policy elaborating on employee facilities like coverage of medical costs, savings and housing finance programmes, paying additional school fees for children and providing HIV / AIDS prevention training. An Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) will be implemented as well.Next to this internal focus, the partners also focus on their direct environment and have expressed their intentions to consult the local communities in Burundi, before building the microwave towers in their communities, and to offer internet access to the people living next to the towers.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsThe project will provide employment to 57 people (13 basic-level and 44 medium-/high-level. These can be grouped as follows:- Finance, administration and HR: 12.- Sales and marketing: 9.- Technical department: 30.- Business development: 3.- Senior management: 3.Two years after the project has ended, they expect to employ 84 people (24 basic-level, 60 medium-/high-level).The lowest salaries will be at least 15% above local minimum wages. The majority of the employees will have to be paid competitive wages, as ICT personnel in general are qualified people.Fringe benefits include medical care, group savings programmes, education and school fee allowance for children.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeA whole range of new communication technologies will be introduced to Burundi. The employees of the joint venture and the future clients will be informed and trained about these new technologies in order to bring ICT services in Burundi in general to a higher level.•	Chain effectsThe growth of internet and ICT in any country has proven to be a major driver for development. The direct beneficiaries of this project will be ISPs, Telecom companies, governments and large corporate clients who can now develop new, technologically advanced services like e-banking, mobile internet and other e-business.Indirectly, the people of Burundi (the end consumer) will benefit from these new developments.The connectivity price will become lower, the availability of broadband internet will speed up transactions and will boost the volume of business.•	EnvironmentThe impact on the environment will be positive. The microwave towers will be equipped with solar panels, which (in Uganda) have proven to generate sufficient power for 24/7 operations.•	Position of womenThe partners aim to employ women on 30% of all positions throughout the company. To connect Burundi to the fibre optic backbone of East Africa in order to improve the available bandwidth to 155 Mb/sec and improve the speed of internet in the country, thereby allowing ICT operators and other wholesalers to offer modern telecom services to the public.