(f) Telecommunication facility: Any cables, wires, lines, wave guides, antennas and any other equipment that is used or associated with the provision of one or more telecommunications services. (g) The Law means the Telecommunications Law of Rwanda 4. Objectives The objectives of these guidelines are as follows: - - - To protect the social and physical environment from potential negative impacts, while at the same time not restricting the development of essential telecommunications infrastructure. Minimize disturbance to the environment and loss of amenity in the provision of the telecommunications infrastructure. To protect the environment by reducing the land use as well as infrastructure and facility installations thereby not changing the aesthetic of the country’s landscape. To maximize the use of network facilities including but not limited to network capacity and capabilities, base station sites, backbone, towers etc. To proportionate infrastructure ownership that shall enhance sharing and reduce dependency, as well as duplication of investment for network facilities. In this context “Infrastructure sharing means the joint use of telecommunication infrastructures and facilities by two or more operators. The term “Infrastructure sharing” for the purposes of these guidelines refers to the Passive Infrastructure sharing. To promote the availability of wide range of high quality, efficient, cost effective, and competitive telecommunication services throughout the country by ensuring optimum utilization of telecommunication resources. To optimize operator’s capital expenditure on supporting infrastructure. To provide rules for price setting in a transparent, non-discriminating way for access to passive infrastructure sharing. 3