Information Policy

ANRCTI announces winners of tender for new Telecentres

The Romanian telecoms regulator ANRCTI has announced that AccessNet International, Rartel, National Radiocommunications Company and Vodafone Romania have won the tender for the installation of telecentres in 172 rural localities of Romania that currently have limited or no access to telephone and internet services. AccessNet will install 150 telecentres in 31 counties, Rartel 19 telecentres in 14 counties, the National Radiocommunications Company one telecentre, and Vodafone Romania will install two. To date, ANRCTI has organised tenders for the installation of telecentres in 633 localities with 350 telecentres already functional. Each telecentre is equipped with at least two telephones, two computers linked to the internet and a fax, and are available for use by the whole community at ‘affordable’ tariffs.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=23022&email=text

Empowerment through community e-centres

Community e-centres (CeC) are the “Shared ICT Access Facilities,” having computers, internet and other affiliated equipment, made available for community access free or at affordable prices, mostly in developing country rural environments. CeCs are popularly known as telecenters in Bangladesh. International and national organisations are investing in CeCs because they believe communities benefit from having accurate information, and CeCs are an important way of getting information. They believe that information technologies are a key to providing timely and useful information on subjects ranging from market prices to health care. And because many in the community do not have individual access to these technologies, CeCs (much like telephone shops) provide shared access and a gateway to cyberspace.

The government of Bangladesh has committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have set challenging targets to humanity to improve the living conditions of excluded people around the world. One of these goals concerns Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Target 8 of MDGs states: “In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies.”

http://www.egovnews.org/?p=3648

Handbook for Telecenter Staffs

This handbook of training materials for telecenter staff was created by a team from Cornell University, in collaboration with telecenters throughout the world. The handbook addresses "the wide range of different factors that may come into play in the planning and daily functioning of a telecenter for community development. As a manual, it stands not only as a self-learning tool and management guide for telecenter staffs, but also as a reference resource to guide the reader toward a future search for additional educational materials. The Handbook may also serve as a reference tool for organizations involved in telecenter development, or as a guide for trainers of telecenter staffs. It includes the following modules: * 1. The Role of Telecenters in our Communities * 2. Community Participation in Your Telecenter * 3. Research Methods for Needs Assessment and Monitoring and Evaluation * 4. The Role of the Telecenter Manager * 5. Basic Guidelines for Telecenter Financial Sustainability * 6. Marketing your Telecenter * 7. Communication Planning for Telecenters and their Partners * 8. Information Production and Dissemination * 9. Effective Training in Telecenter Activities * 10. Making Computers Work for You Royal D. Colle and Raul Roman, Cornell University, October 2002.

http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/handbook.cfm

Challenging the digital divide: the role of telecenters in e-inclusion practices

The problem is that there is not only one digital divide, but many: geographical, etc. These efforts have, hence, many designs, from fiscal incentives to direct provision of Internet access from physical places: telecenters, places people can go to use telecommunication services. The main difference with a cyber cafe is profit ≈ in the latter case ≈ or bridging the digital divide ≈ in the fomer case.

http://ictlogy.net/20080327-challenging-the-digital-divide-the-role-of-telecenters-in-e-inclusion-practices/

Win US$5,000 funding for your project through IFAP Success Stories platform

UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP) wishes to encourage communities using information for development to share their success stories. We are therefore inviting organizations to submit their success stories to our website where others can learn from them and either replicate or adapt them to their own local situations.

http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/ifapstories/page.cgi?g=;d=1

LT: Public Internet Access Points

Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania implements the project “Development of Rural Internet Access Points Network” that is focused on residents of remote rural areas seeking to enlarge the RIAPs network with new 400 RIAPs in rural areas of Lithuania and integrate all existing RIAPs into unified administration system, thus allowing all people to use IT technologies independently of place of their residence.

The project will be accomplished in March 2008. Seeking to present information on RIAPs network, achieved results also to discuss future plans Ministry of Interior organizes this final event on 18th January 2008.

The main objectives of the conference:

• Dissemination of the rural internet access points situation in Lithuania after the end of the project.
• Discussion on the role, sustainability and future perspectives of RIAPs network.
• Sharing experience of similar foreign initiatives.

http://www.vipt.lt/cms/app?service=external/index&sp=5664&sp=1460

Goa Getting Broadband Network

Goa's setting a prime example of how private-public enterprise can help development at state-level.

On Friday last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the "Goa Broadband Network" (GBBN), an example of private-public partnership, amidst hope and apprehension about the future of the project. Previously named "Goa Net", the Broadband Network project aims at building a state, which is "enabled by IT to be efficient and accountable with a global thinking approach".

GBBN will provide privileges to citizens, including information around education, health care, agriculture, welfare, entertainment, IP telephony, and video conferencing. It will also provide e-governance and B2C (business-to-citizen) services. In a bid to bring in greater efficiency, the network will be rolled-out to nearly 280 government offices, including municipalities, the collectorate, and the state secretariat.

The Prime Minister lauded the project, saying it is a milestone in the use of modern telecommunications and IT for improving public services and the overall quality of life. He praised the private-public partnership responsible for the initiative, calling it a 'viable business model'.

With 10 'Citizen Service Centers' at launch, GBBN intends to scale-up to around 200 such centers by the end of next year. This will generate substantial revenue to meet a major portion of costs involved in the project.

http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Goa_Gets_Broadband_Network_Project/551-85572-549.html

Call for broadband community centres in Malaysia

Alcatel-Lucent is bringing broadband based community centres in order to deliver high-speed Internet services to rural folk in Malaysia.

The broadband community centres can provide rural folk with basic telecommunication services, as well as facilities such as mobile banking. In India, farmers are using their local broadband community centres to conduct e-Agriculture activities, such as checking up on local prices of goods online and selling their produce over the Internet. While in Philippines, villagers are able to make even small transactions from their villages without having to travel to the nearest bank which may be quite a distance away.

http://www.egovonline.net/news/news-details.asp?newsid=12977

Telecentre on Wheels: A new way to access information in rural India

"Telecentre on Wheels" is the name of a six-month experimental project for remote villages in West Bengal, India. It was recently launched by the Change Initiatives, a rural Indian NGO, with support from UNESCO and the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA).

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=25713&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Bangladesh Telecentre Network launched in Dhaka

Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN), a coalition of telecentre practitioners in Bangladesh, was formally launched in Dhaka on December 6, 2007. Chief Advisor to the caretaker government Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, attending the event as chief guest, made formal announcement of launching of ‘Mission 2011’ at Bangladesh China Friendship Convention Centre. “I consider this initiative by BTN as a timely one in the context of our development priorities,” Fakhruddin Ahmed said in his speech. BTN eyes to set up 40,000 telecentres across Bangladesh by 2011, which would coincide with fortieth anniversary of the country’s independence. Dr Fakhruddin in this regard, felt: “The target to set up 40,000 telecentres in Bangladesh by 2011 is ambitious but certainly achievable if pursued with pragmatism and vigour.” Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, chairman of BTN presided over the inaugural sessin while Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, vice chancellor of Brac University presented keynote speech.

http://bangladeshictpolicy.bytesforall.net/?q=node/156