Burundi embarks on a full digitalization journey
From Digital ID systems, Data protection and cybersecurity laws, AI strategies, and universal connectivity, Burundi has embarked on a bold digital journey to redefine governance, business, and daily life. However, insufficient and outdated digital public infrastructure, goods, and related challenges still impede progress, despite initiatives to overcome them.
This series takes you inside the country’s push toward ambitious digital transformation. Current initiatives, challenges, and expected outcomes.
This series has been produced under the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism Fellowship for Eastern Africa and Media Partnership with CIPESA.
PART 1
Burundi takes off into the Digital space.
This part one explores the ambitious digital transformation of Burundi, aiming to connect citizens through modernized digital public goods. However, Tech experts argue that success will hinge on political will, transparency, and citizen engagement.
With its clear vision, “a connected Burundi with digitalized, interconnected, and accessible public services, serving as a lever for good governance, economic growth, and improved quality of life for citizens,” Burundi has kicked off its digital transformation journey.
President Ndayishimiye emphasized that digitalization is core to Burundi’s 2040–2060 vision of an emerging and developed Burundi, helping fight corruption and fraud.”
He added that Digital public infrastructure (DPI) and goods (DPGs) are not only essential to the foundations of the digital economy but also “cornerstones in achieving the vision.”
This declaration followed the World Bank‘s assessment of Burundi’s digital economy, which found it embryonic but insisted that increasing internet access and supporting greater uptake remain the most pressing priority and the first step toward accelerating Burundi’s digital transformation.
Following the assessment, the government of Burundi, through the Ministry of Communication, Information Technology, and Media (MINCOTIM), elaborated a strategic digitalization document titled Le Plan Directeur de Digitalisation des Services Publics (PDDSP 2023‑2033), or the Master Plan for the Digitalization of Public Services in Burundi.
The master plan reveals that mounting challenges weigh down Burundi’s march toward a digital future. These include the high cost and sluggishness of internet services, the reliance of public institutions on obsolete equipment, and the absence of a National Data Center, which leaves sensitive data scattered and insecure. And the absence of verifiable digital ID systems is another issue.
It also notes that frequent power cuts and unreliable backup power threaten the continuity of online services.
At the same time, weak legal and regulatory frameworks expose the system to cybercrime, despite improvements brought by the Law No. 1/004 of March 16, 2022, on the prevention and repression of cybercrime in Burundi.
The absence of a Computer Incident Response Team and Human capital remains another stumbling block, with limited digital skills among civil servants and low citizen awareness, both of which fuel resistance to change.
Financial constraints, reliance on external donors, and poor coordination among ministries and other public institutions further fragment efforts, leading to duplicated and isolated projects.
However, the same digitalization master plan document lays out ambitious solutions to overcome them. The strategy calls for modernizing the outdated IT equipment in public institutions and establishing a National Integrated Data Center to secure and centralize information.
It emphasizes the rollout of high‑speed internet and a government intranet to improve connectivity, while ensuring service continuity through backup energy sources. On the legal front, the plan recommends adopting priority legislation and creating a national e‑Government framework, supported by an infrastructure for electronic signatures and authentication to strengthen digital trust.
It also focuses on human capacity building through education, training programs, and public awareness campaigns to increase citizen engagement.
Finally, the plan proposes the creation of a Digitalization Fund and the use of public‑private partnerships, alongside the establishment of steering and technical committees to guarantee effective coordination.
Despite ambitious goals for a digitalized Burundi, realities on the ground paint a different picture. Tech experts, activists, and consumers of digital goods argue that, beyond the proposed solutions, political will, patriotism, anti-corruption, transparency, and collaborative efforts should also be prioritized.
Expensive and sluggish internet hampers the journey
Among the challenges cited in the document mentioned above, the most significant is the expensive, sluggish internet, which has left Burundians, especially young people, jobless, along with other challenges.
As a matter of fact, the market observatory for voice, sms, internet, and mobile financial services published by the Agence de Régulation et de Contrôle des Télécommunications (ARCT) in December 2025, showed that out of 13,097,400 people that make up the population of Burundi in 2025;3,609,308 people, representing 29.27% of the population, are connected to the internet.
Paradoxically, they generate an average monthly tax revenue of 19,683,292,096 BIF, which is 5,453 BIF per person per month. This cost may be perceived by a lambda citizen, referring to their income
With just 26,136 Mbit/s available at the national border and a total of 3,609,308 users, the average allocation per subscriber is 0.00724 Mbit/s.
According to technology experts, this figure is far below global benchmarks, underscoring the persistent sluggishness of connectivity across Burundi.
The same observatory revealed that the number of mobile telephony subscriptions amounts to 8,757,033, representing 71.01% of the population, with an average monthly revenue of 27,998,597,665 bif during the same period.
A blend of telecom operators and ISPs with optic fiber networks (BBS, Viettel, ONATEL) and satellite providers (Starlink, NT Global) drives the Internet market across Burundi.
The limited bandwidth not only slows everyday browsing but also hampers access to essential digital tools and online services, including research activities for academic institutions and e-commerce platforms, a bottleneck that continues to restrict Burundi’s digital transformation ambitions.
youth employment snarled
Franck Faith, a web designer at Xdash Media, a collective of young developers and designers based in Bujumbura, the economic city of Burundi, shares his frustration with the slow internet speeds, particularly upload speeds, which hinder him from meeting his clients’ expectations.
“When designing websites, I have to work late at night because that is when I at least have a short window of stable internet connection for uploading. However, not all can stand till late at night, Lamented Faith.
Not only do young people complain about the sluggish internet, but even well-known activists complain.
Faustin Ndikumana, the head of Parole et Action pour le Réveil des Consciences et l’Evolution des Mentalités (Parcem Burundi), a Burundian civil society organization committed to promoting good governance, combating corruption, safeguarding human rights, and advancing economic development, says that it will be tough for Burundi to achieve its 2040 and 2060 visions with such internet speed.
“During webinars, our internet connection is often unstable. A scenario that differs from participants from other countries, who have stable connections. These issues stem from the burden of high taxes and the demands for bribes by authorities to grant internet provider licenses. Unless there is proper governance in the sector, meaningful change will remain elusive,” warned Faustin.
The government of Burundi, through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, says that the 10-year program entitled Master Plan for the Digitalization of Public Services in Burundi, has come to reverse the situation especially through the current project of PAFEN (Projet d’appui aux fondations de l’économie numérique) for a period of five years starting in 2022, to lay the foundations of Burundi’s digital transformation.
Its main objectives are to expand access to high‑speed Internet, modernize digital infrastructures, and improve electronic governance.
Beyond these ongoing infrastructure projects, the Head of State, Evariste Ndayishimiye, revealed that a fourth mobile Internet provider has now been licensed to enter Burundi’s market. He emphasized that the newcomer is expected to challenge the existing three operators, which he said: “are not providing good services to the citizens of Burundi.”
In a stern warning, he also addressed malpractice among public officials, declaring: “Corrupt authorities who collaborate with tech companies to milk down a citizen will be held accountable.”
Even though all those projects are still in the preliminary phases, Franck and other young people hope that once high-speed internet is available, online jobs and other internet-dependent services will be easily accessible.
In the next part, we will explain how Burundi is laying the foundations of its digital economy through PAFEN, a World Bank–backed program to expand high‑speed internet access, modernize public administration, and strengthen governance.