Enhancing Rwanda’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Through Software-Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization: A Design Science Framework

Rwanda’s pursuit of a high-income, knowledge-based economy under Vision 2050 depends on scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient telecommunications infrastructure. Despite achieving near-universal 4G LTE population coverage (97–99%), a persistent usage gap — approximately 62% of the population remains unconnected — reveals that supply-side infrastructure alone is insufficient to bridge the digital divide. This paper investigates how Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) can serve as strategic enablers of telecommunications modernization in Rwanda, addressing the twin challenges of cost and operational complexity in a landlocked, resource-constrained environment. Employing a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, this study evaluates Rwanda’s infrastructure readiness, identifies technical, economic, and regulatory barriers to SDN/NFV adoption, and proposes a context-adapted, phased deployment artifact the Frugal SDN/NFV Framework aligned with Rwanda’s ICT Sector Strategic Plan 2024–2029. The framework is supported by five formally specified mathematical optimization models: the Controller Placement Problem for Rwanda’s 30-district fiber topology, the VNF Resource Allocation mixed integer program, a Network Slice SLA Allocation model, a CAPEX/OPEX Net Present Value cost model, and a joint SDN-MEC task offloading optimization. Numerical projections derived from these models informed by comparable African SDN/NFV deployments including Safaricom Ethiopia’s 2022 greenfield virtualized network and MTN South Africa’s cloud-native 5G core suggest potential CAPEX reductions of 20–68% and OPEX reductions of 20–67%. The proposed three-phase roadmap (Pilot 2025–2026; Scale 2026–2028; Optimize 2028–2029) positions SDN/NFV as a leapfrogging catalyst for equitable digital growth, contributing the first academically grounded SDN/NFV deployment framework for an African national telecommunications network.