Google has done a deal to offer students in Kenya and Rwanda access to Google Apps - its online selection of products including Gmail.

Lecturers and students at Rwanda's National University, the Kigali Institute for Education, and Kigali Institute for Science and Technology will all get access to Google's online applications - Google Docs, calendar and spreadsheets. In Kenya some 50,000 students and staff at the University of Nairobi get a Gmail account.

Google is trying to sell its online apps package to small businesses for an annual per seat charge of $50. The company offers an education version of the package free to schools and colleges.

Google Apps does not support local languages like Swahili or Kinyarwanda.

The deals are Google's first in sub-Saharan Africa although the company promised more to come in its blog entry. ®

Related stories

Google gets involved in Kenya, fights back in China (6 February 2008)
Microsoft's search excels in spreading malware (20 March 2007)
Google confirms Adscape buy (19 March 2007)
Google phone - it's for real (16 March 2007)
Viacom sues Google for $1bn (13 March 2007)