Information Policy

“Cybercafé in a container”: Rural Kenya's mobile internet stations

The lives of Maasai men and women in rural Kenya’s community will never be the same now that they have access to maarifa – knowledge in the Kiswahili language. Launched in April by APC member Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), the new Community Knowledge Centre commonly referred to as Maarifa centre lies in the heart of Massai country and is the newest of four containerised community knowledge centres in the region.

Men and women from the local communities can now walk over to the station from their village to surf (or learn to surf) the internet and ALIN’s website to learn about better agricultural practices, marketing, environmental management, as well as content generation and dissemination including the cultural knowledge of the Maasai. The centre will also facilitate delivery of e-Government services, e-Education and support skills-building among the youth from the area.

Noah Lusaka, programme manager at ALIN is responsible for the implementation of this centre and the eleven other knowledge centres, where the goal is to create local content rather than saturate rural Kenyans with foreign content, to which the communities are not as receptive. This local information can help them learn about livestock diseases, improve their pasture and develop other types of agriculture, and other communities as far as Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have also been able to trade skills and information. APCNews talks to Lusaka to find out more about “Cybercafes in a container”.

http://www.apc.org/en/node/8765/

Rwanda launches telecentres in rural areas

The government of Rwanda will open a further 18 telecentres nationwide within one month to help enable access to ICT services, the minister of ICT, Romain Murenzi, told Rwandan daily The New Times. Murenzi added that there are currently twelve fully functional telecentres in the country providing services such as internet, telephony and money transfer, while work on a further 18 is underway. As reported by CommsUpdate on 29 January 2009, the government plans to provide the whole country with access to the internet by 2012, with the aim of closing the digital divide between rural and urban areas. Soon after the announcement the state began rolling out the first phase of the telecentre project. Poor telecoms infrastructure has stifled ICT growth in Malawi; according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, the country had only 126,000 fixed lines at the end of 2008, representing a teledensity of just 0.9% of the population, while the number of broadband subscribers stood at just over 1,000.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=28945

Report of the Workshop on Sustainable Rural Telecentres in Africa

This workshop aims to contribute to the identification of key factors of success for sustainable rural Telecentres in Africa.

http://www.anancy.net/documents/file_en/Workshop_Report_Sustainable_Telecentres_Africa_-_Zambia_-_June_2008.pdf

EU considers spending EUR 1bn for satellite broadband technology

The EUR 200bn economic rescue plan being considered this week by European Union leaders includes a proposal to spend EUR 1bn on bringing high-speed Internet access to rural areas. The proposal is likely to pit the Continent's telecommunications operators against satellite companies, which say they are uniquely suited to expand the broadband, or high-speed, network to underserved parts of Eastern Europe and the Alps by the end of 2010. Despite its potential reach, satellite technology has remained little used for broadband compared with cable television and DSL, or digital subscriber line, high-speed connections by telephone. But support for the plan by EU government leaders, who begin a two-day meeting to consider the rescue plan Thursday is not assured. The money would come from unspent funds in the current EU budget, which under EU rules normally revert back to member countries. Germany, which contributes the most to the EU budget and stands to get the largest refund if the project is rejected, opposes the expenditure. The broadband spending was proposed last month by José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, who said linking more Europeans to the Internet would improve economic competitiveness. Across the EU, 21.7 percent of residents had broadband Internet access in July, according to the commission; 107.6 million received service from a telephone DSL line or a cable television connection and 130,592 via satellite. Only 6 percent of EU residents on average received broadband via mobile phones.

http://www.ejc.net/media_news/eu_considers_spending_eur_1bn_for_satellite_broadband_technology/

Inclusion Solutions

The creation of an online social network linking organisations running public access internet and IT centres across Europe, 'telecentre-europe', was launched last week. Members have signed up from 20 countries, to swap ideas on boosting digital inclusion:

http://telecentreeurope.ning.com/.

Meanwhile a new database of projects supporting digital inclusion has been launched by the Department for Communities and Local Government, in partnership with De Montfort University and others. Case studies from the UK and elsewhere can be searched and browsed by category including all 198 national indicators used by government to assess council performance: http://www.solutions4Inclusion.org

Rural ICT access: Information Centers, CMCs and CLICs, a trigger for rural connectivity

'Local Information and Communication Centers (CLIC according to its French acronym) and Multi Media Community Centers (CMC) have been implemented in some information centers. They help communities deprived of quality communication infrastructure to have access to new technologies. This enables people to improve their life conditions as thanks to these technologies they are now able to obtain valuable information concerning the main sectors of development: health, education, agriculture.'

http://www.iconnect-online.org/Documents/MaliRuralAccessICT4DiConnectEng.pdf

Tata Teleservices Invests INR 100 crore in Assam

Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), has launched its telecom operation in the Assam circle, under its brand Tata Indicom. The company has introduced a range of products which include Prepaid and Postpaid mobile services, Photon-High Speed Internet Access, Fixed Wireless Telephony under the brand name Walky Talky and a host of value added services.

To increase its national footprint TTSL has invested over INR 100 crore, in Assam circle establishing a pan India network with 20 circles. During the current stage of launch, TTSL will provide seamless coverage in 31 towns of Assam and will shortly be launching services in the North East region.

On the occasion of launching services in Assam, Tata Indicom introduced North East Corridor Starter Pack just for INR 199. Subscribers in the region can now make STD calls across Assam for just 50 paisa per minute.

Tata Indicom has also announced the launch of Photon - High- Speed Internet Access service with speeds 10 times faster than any existing mobile wireless technology. The Photon service can be accessed using two devices - Router for Small & Medium Enterprises and Business Enterprises and the USB Modem, for individual users and the Small Office Home Office (SOHO) segment. The Photon Internet access service allows customers to be connected—not only for mails, but also for downloads, large files uploads, photo sharing, send & receive SMS and is compatible to both laptops and desktop PCs. With Photon, customers can avail the benefit of multiple infotainment services such as access to rich text and images, Web browsing, blogging, network on friendship sites and enter forms for travel, e-commerce, jobs, entertainment and more.

Tata Indicom products & services will be available at exclusive Tata Indicom Showrooms and several retail selling points (RSP's) across the state. Tata Teleservices has already installed over 134 cell sites in the first phase of its network roll out itself.

Tata Indicom has deployed a state-of-the-art CDMA network in the Assam Circle which allows superior voice quality and data connectivity. The CDMA advantage ensures improved call quality with better and consistent sound, minimum call drops, enhanced privacy, improved coverage and network efficiency amongst others.

http://www.egovonline.net/news/news-details.asp?Title=Tata-Teleservices-Invests-INR-100-crore-in-Assam&newsid=15638

Rethinking telecentres in the Second World: Knowledge demands, remittance flows, and microbanks

The international telecenter movement is barely under way in Latin America (http://www.tele-centros.org). While the traditional and new, mercantile elites, awash in the current neoliberal rhetoric and blessed by multilateral development banks' structural adjustment programs, have assured Internet access and training for their children in the expensive private school system, public schools, urban and rural, languish without connectivity and social services have been curtailed across the board (viz. www.bicusa.org, an NGO documenting the impact of IMF/WB lending strategies). At the same time, the pollyanish 'let's get everybody connected' slogans (viz. 3 April 2000 TIME Latin American edition cover story) and costly, high profile, difficult-to-replicate pilot programs (e.g. http://www.worldbank.org/infodev, http://www.iadb.org/regions/itdev) have gleefully galvanized the 'IT development business'. However, no measurable impacts are yet to be observed in this hit or miss strategy, as the 'market is deciding who can play' and the heterogeniety of the current pilot projects begs a common denominator. At the same time, it is apparent there are no public policies that recognize the virtues of capital flows in remittance economies, and employ the public sphere to catalyze social development with, for example, Internet-based sources of credit, microbanks. For most of the world, the touted 'knowledge society' (viz. http://www.techKnowLogia.org/welcome.asp ) will run on credit and remittance-fed microbanks offer an alternative to the current, polarized dual economy, at home and abroad.

http://ict.developmentgateway.org/uploads/media/ict/Rethinking%20telecentres%20in%20the%20Second%20World.doc

Initial Lessons Learned About Private Sector Participation in Telecentre Development

Telecentres have become a popular and often effective approach to telecommunications development and achieving universal access/service. They can also play a significant role in poverty reduction, ranging from job creation to providing ICT skills. Nevertheless, telecentres have also suffered from sustainability problems and from dependence on donors. As this study will demonstrate, increased private sector investment is critical for telecentre sustainability and growth.

http://www.comminit.com/en/node/209812

Telecentres: Case studies and key issues

Information communication technologies (ICTs) are fast becoming essential tools in the delivery of information, knowledge and education all over the world. Their application among developing Commonwealth countries is, although slow, expected to increase as the costs of appliances and telephony decrease. Anticipating this increase and mindful that some valuable lessons have been learnt about the role of ICT-based telecentres in supporting educational and community development in both rich and poor countries, The Commonwealth of Learning decided to assemble in a single volume 14 case studies, five chapters summarising the key issues and an appendix of valuable print and online resources on the subject within its Perspectives in Distance Education series. This is the first book to thus examine developments in this field.

The eclectic collection of case studies provided by practitioners and observers of telecentre development offers many useful insights into the ways in which these centres can be designed to serve the educational, socio-economic and communications needs of particular communities and how they can be accommodated, managed and used to good effect. The stories told by these contributors cover developed and developing countries, formal and informal education and training, teleworking, government and community information services, and private and public sector participation. They evidence the factors that determine the success or failure of such centres: the appropriateness of the facilities and learning materials; the sustainability of the funding system; participatory governance and management; the creation of an encouraging and welcoming learning environment; and respect for and engagement with local communities and cultures. It is our belief that this book will help anybody interested in the development, management and use of telecentres to make wise decisions on these matters.

http://ict.developmentgateway.org/uploads/media/ict/prelims.pdf