Low Cost Access and Connectivity

Transcription

Preface
The emergence of modern Information and Communication technologies from
radio and telephones to wireless Internet applications has helped people all over
the world. In industrialized countries these tools have played an integral part in
economic, social and political development providing means for communication,
information and knowledge sharing.
In developing countries the ability to communicate is more important now than
ever. The divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots is
widening and information and communication technologies have the power to
turn this development around to the benefit of millions.
The United Nations Information and Communication Task Force is a multistakeholder body put together by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan to forge linkages and partnerships to use ICTs for achieving the
Millennium Development Goals.
In spite of the many challenges faced by people in the developing world, their
need for communication and empowerment through information is so large that
innovation has spurred many interesting solutions. The local demand for
information services has created many interesting solutions. This publication is
an effort to highlight some of these initiatives to change the gloomy view that is
currently being perpetuated in the world.
I hope that the essays you will find in the following pages will provide you with
inspiration and hope for the future.
Finally I would like to extend my gratitude to all those people that have
contributed to this publication, the authors, the members of the UN ICT Working
Group on Low Cost Access and Connectivity, the UN ICT Task Force secretariat
and our editor Catherine J. Steele.
Astrid Dufborg
UN ICT Task Force
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Low Cost Access and Connectivity
Local Solutions
A UN ICT Task Force Working Group Paper Series
I.
GHANA
“Demand and Supply for Access and Connectivity: The Case of Ghana”
By Professor Clement Dzidonu……………………………………….p. 1-20
II.
UGANDA
“Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET): ICTs as tools for information
access among women in Uganda”
By Dorothy Okello, Coordinator, WOUGNET………………………p. 21-37
III. INDIA
“Connectivity and Access in India”
By Vickram Crishna and Arun Mehta……………………………….p. 38-57
IV. LAOS
“Low Cost Access and Connectivity for Laos”
By: Vorasone Dengkayaphichith …………………………………..p. 58-74
V.
MOZAMBIQUE
“The Long Road to Universal Access in Mozambique”
By Americo Muchanga and Björn Pehrson……………………….p. 75-88
VI. BENIN
“Quelles technologies, quelles actions et quels bénéficiaires pour mettre
les NTIC au service du développement au Nord du Bénin ?”
By Thomas Baboni et Javier Simó………………………………..p. 89-95
VII. CAMEROON
“Stratégies d’intégration du Cameroun à la société
de l’information et de la communication“
By Jean Lucien Ewangue…………………………………………p. 96-103
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DEMAND AND SUPPLY FOR ACCESS AND CONNECTIVITY:
THE CASE OF GHANA
Professor Clement Dzidonu
Senior Research Fellow
International Institute for Information Technology (INIIT)
Accra, Ghana
E-mail: dzidonu@iniit.com
Table of Contents
1.0 A Review of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Facilitating Access and
Connectivity in Ghana
1.1 Establishing the Regulatory Agency
1.2 Liberalization of the Communications Sector
2.0 The Landscape of ‘Access and Connectivity’ in Ghana: Examining Some Key
Indicators of Demand and Supply
2.1 On the Provision of Telephone Services
2.2 On Regional Distribution of Demand for Access: Fixed and Payphones
2.3 On the Provision of Mobile Services
2.4 Meeting Public Demand for Access: The Communications Centers
2.5 On the Level and Spread of Internet Access and Connectivity
3.0 Examining the Supply-Side of ‘Access and Connectivity’: The Landscape of the
Ghana’s Communications Backbone and Internet Connectivity Infrastructure
3.1 On the Nation’s Communications Network Backbone
3.2 Exploring the Landscape of Internet Access Infrastructure
4.0 Sectorial Analysis of the Demand Side of Access and Connectivity
4.1 On Ownership of Computers
4.2 The Degree of Internet Access, Usage and Presence
5.0 Analyzing the Limiting Factors to the Growth and Spread of Access and Connectivity
in Ghana
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Abstracts
In this paper the term ‘access and connectivity’ is used to broadly examine a number of issues
relating to access to communications infrastructure and services with specific reference to access
to telecommunication services (fixed and mobile) and to the Internet and its resources by
subscribers; namely, individuals and organizations in Ghana. A review of regulatory framework
guiding the development of the communications sector in Ghana is provided as well as the details
of the landscape of communications sector. Also examined are issues relating to demand and
supply of services as they relate to the much broader issue of access and connectivity. The paper
examined the rural and urban disparity of access and connectivity in quantitative and qualitative
terms and also considers the access and connectivity question in terms of specific target sectors;
namely: education, public and private sectors as well as the ICT sector. Also addressed are
issues relating to the affordability and sustainability of access as well as some of the factors
limiting access and connectivity in Ghana with specific reference to the Internet.
1.0 A Review of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Facilitating Access and
Ghana has been one of the African countries who in the late 1990’s was in the forefront of the
liberalization of the telecommunications sector to attract investments and improve competition
within the sector. The communications sector was deregulated in 1994 when the Government
initiated the implementation of the Accelerated Development Program 1994-2000 (ADP 2000) -- a
five year program for restructuring of the communication industry. This reform program has
brought about a number of significant changes in the communications sector, including the
introduction of cellular phones, FM radios, cable TV and the Internet. The emergence of these
communications services on the Ghanaian scene gave rise to a number of institutional and
regulatory initiatives including:
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the separation of posts and telecommunication (P&T) into different corporations
the separation of regulatory responsibilities from operational and service provision
functions
the diversification of sources of telecommunication services and
the creation of a new Ministry of Communication
On the whole the aim of the ADP was to create a national communications agency, increase the
teledensity of the country, allow private participation in some sectors of the industry and permit
other network operators to have the same rights and privileges to compete with the national
operator, Ghana Telecom Ltd., as a step towards introducing competition at all operational levels
of the telecommunications market place.
The ADP Program ended in 2000 with the realization of a number of its objectives including
increasing the teledensity from 0.34 lines for 1000 inhabitants in 1994 to 1.16 lines in 2000;
increasing the number of public phones per 1000 inhabitants from 0.001 in 1994 to 0.16 in 2000;
the creation of the National Communications Authority (NCA) in 1996; the licensing of a second
national operator; the partial privatization of Ghana Telecom with Government maintaining a
70% share; and the liberalization of the communication sector.
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1.1 Establishing the Regulatory Agency
The National Communications Authority (NCA) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1996
to regulate communications sector. The specific objectives of the Authority are to:
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ensure that communications services are provided throughout Ghana, as far as they are
practicable and reasonably necessary to satisfy demand for the services;
ensure that communications system operators achieve the highest level of efficiency in
the provision of communications services and are responsive to customer and community
needs;
promote fair competition among persons engaged in the provision of communications
services;
protect operators and consumers from unfair conduct of other operators with regard to
quality of communications services and payment of tariffs in respect to the services;
protect the interest of consumers;
facilitate the availability of quality equipment to consumers and operators;
promote research into and the development of technologies and use of new techniques
by providers of communications services and to
develop adequate human resources in collaboration with such other government
departments and agencies, as the Authority considers appropriate
1.2 Liberalization of the Communications Sector
The liberalization of the communications sector was a key component of the ADP. As part of its
policy to liberalize the sector and open it up for competition, the Government granted a second
national operating license (the "SNO License") for the provision of telecommunications services
to Westel Telesystems. As with the license issued to Ghana Telecom (GT) the SNO License
permits Westel Telesystems to provide domestic and international telecommunications services
within Ghana including voice telephony, leased lines, public pay phones, telegraph and telex,
data, mobile and value added communication services. The GT License and the SNO License
allows each of the licensees to:
• develop, own and operate a fixed telecommunications service system,
• develop, own and operate a wireless system;
• develop, own and operate transmission, reception, switching and any other associated
equipment for the exchange of wireline and wireless communications;
• develop, own and operate earth stations to be connected to other public and private satellite
communication systems;
• connect to other licensed public and private systems in Ghana and to public and private
telecommunications systems abroad;
• procure, distribute, sell, rent, install and maintain customer equipment; and
• offer any other related activities under the scope of the license
The GT License and the SNO License were each granted for an initial period of 20 years, with the
possibility of renewal at the expiration of the initial term as long as the licensee is in compliance
with the material provisions of its license. During the first five-year period of each license, the
SNO and GT will be the exclusive operators of fixed telecommunications services in Ghana. This
exclusivity period ended in February 2002. The liberalization of the communication sector also
resulted in licensing Capital Telecom to provide telecommunications services to the rural areas.
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The Mobile Sector
The liberalization also brought about the introduction of mobile services into Ghana. Currently
Ghana has four cellular phone operators: Millicom (Ghana), Celltel Ltd, Scancom Ltd and Ghana
Telecom. They are all operating a GSM 900 based fully digital mobile telephone service covering
voice and data (SMS) service. Millicom, the first cellular network operator, started its operations
1991. Celltel Ltd. was licensed in 1993, and became operational in 1995. Scancom Ltd. was
licensed in 1994 and became operational in 1996, and Ghana Telecom started its mobile services
in 2001.
On the use of mobile services, according to the findings reported in the CTO and Gamos Ltd
Study [1], the use of mobile phones in Ghana is a long way behind the use of fixed line phones 80% of those who participated in the study do not use mobiles (compared with only 13% not
using fixed line phones). Of those who do not use mobile phones, 98% regard themselves as
having no access to a mobile phone.
•
Internet and Connectivity Service Providers
The explosion of Internet access partly due to the licensing of a number of ISPs is often
regarded as one of the key impacts of the liberalization of the communication sector in Ghana.
The Internet service market is one of the dynamic and competitive areas of Ghana’s information
and communication sector. Currently over one hundred ISPs have been registered by the
National Communications Authority to provide Internet services in Ghana. The majority of these
provide standard dial-up services of up to 56K modem speed to their customers. A number
provides corporate link services via lease line links, wireless link and through VSAT
connections.
The major ISPs operating in the country include: Network Computer Systems Ltd (NCS),
Internet Ghana Ltd. and Africa Online (GH) Ltd, Some of the Universities and the Research
Institutes also provide Internet services to their staff and students and to the public on a limited
scale. A number of the larger ISPs like the NCS and Internet Ghana also serve as connectivity
and gateway service providers to large corporations and the smaller ISPs.
Ghana now has over 2.5MB long-haul link to the international Internet backbone via these
gateway service providers. The services provided by the ISPs in Ghana include:
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Dial-up access to the Internet
Leased line Connectivity for corporate bodies
National Backbone connectivity services
Wireless connectivity for SMEs, as well as corporate bodies and institutions.
Web hosting and Publishing Services
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) services
Web broadcasting services
Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) services
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Table 1: Major Communications Service Providers
Telecom Operators [Fixed Line]
National operator
Ghana Telecom
SNO
Westel Telesystems
Regional Telecom operators
Capital Telecom Ltd
Mobile Operators
Mobile operator 1
Ghana Telecom Limited
Mobile operator 2
Milicom Ghana Limited
Mobile operator 3
Scancom Ghana Limited
Mobile operator 4
CelTel Ghana
VSAT Service Providers
Provider 1
Westel Telesystems
Provider 2
Ghana Telecom
Major Internet Service Providers
Provider 1
Network Computer Systems
Provider 2
Africa Online
Provider 3
Internet Ghana
Provider 4
Africa Express Comms. Ltd
Provider 5
Ghana Telecom
Major Backbone Access Providers
Provider 1
Volta Comms Ltd (VoltaCom)
Provider 2
Ghana Telecom
Major Public/Corporate Data
Network Service Providers
Provider 1
Data Telecom Ltd
Provider 2
Volta Comms Ltd (VoltaCom)
Provider 3
GS Telecom Ltd
Provider 4
Afripa Telecom Group
Provider 5
Satellite Connexions
Source: National Communications Authority, Ghana
2.0 The Landscape of ‘Access and Connectivity’ in Ghana: Examining Some Key
Indicators of Demand and Supply
2.1 On the Provision of Telephone Services
Despite the achievements of the Accelerated Development Program targeted at reforming and
liberalizing the communications sector, Ghana still faces a huge unmet demand for access to
basic telephone services and to other communications services including those relating to
connectivity to the Internet. For example, by 2002, Ghana had only 242,100 lines; 455,000 fixed
line and mobile subscribers; a teledensity of 1.16; a waiting list for main telephone lines estimated
at close to 15,567; and a public telephones (per 1000 inhabitants) estimate at 0.16. Table 2
below provides details of some of the key basic telecommunication indicators as a measure of
level of access and connectivity in Ghana.
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Table 2: Basic Telecommunications Indicators (2002)
Level of Access and Connectivity
Total No. of Tel. Subscribes (fixed line + mobile)
Total Fixed Line Subscribers
Mobile System Subscribers
Total Number of Subscriber (per 100 inhabitants)
Main Telephone lines
Teledensity
Main Tel. Line Capacity Used
Main Telephone Line (Residential %)
Total Residential Main Line
Residential Main Lines (per 100 inhabitants)
Digital main lines (%)
Waiting list for main lines
Public telephones
Public Telephones (per 1000 inhabitants)
Public Telephones as % of Main Lines
Mobile subscribers
Mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
Mobile Subscriber as % total Tel Subscribers
455,000
225,000
230,000
2.08
242100
1.16
82.2%
42.0%
99,600
2.4
100%
15,567
4180
0.17
1.35
19,3800
0.93
44.5
Source: ITU World Telecom Indicators (2002) and National Communications Authority, Ghana
On the usage of telephone services; the findings of the study [1], reported in [2] shows that the
vast majority of the respondents regularly use the fixed line telephone as a means of
communication and that usage is lower where there is no telephone coverage; in other words,
coverage of the telephone network is an important determinant of level of usage of the service.
The study also shows that about 79% of respondents in what could be described as ‘no service’
areas regularly access telephones -- an indication that there is a huge demand for telephone
access in these areas. This in effect points to the fact that there is a substantial un-met demand
for telephone connectivity within the country.
On the whole, these findings show that there is a huge gap between supply and demand for fixed
telephone line services and that the local telecommunication sector has the potential to grow if
the necessary financial and technological investments are made to develop and expand the
telecommunication infrastructure to increase capacity to satisfy the documented unmet demand
for services. Also raised in [2] are issues relating to poor quality of service (QoS), unreliability of
services, poor customer services and relations and problems relating to non-competitive fixed line
phone access pricing structure.
On Access and Affordability of Telephone Services
On the question of access and affordability, telephone access tariffs in Ghana are still high even
by African standards. For example, telephone connection charges for both residential and
business users are about $75 with a 3 minutes local call of close to $1. Details of various access
charges for both fixed-line and mobile services are provided in Table 3 below.
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Table 3: Measuring Affordability of Access
Telephone Tariffs: Residential
Connection (US$)
Monthly Subscription rate (US$)
Telephone Tariffs: Business
Connection (US$)
Telephone Tariffs: 3 minutes Local Call (US$)
Telephone Tariffs: Subscription as % GDP per capita
Mobile Telephone Tariffs:
Connection (US$)
3 minutes local call (US4)
75
0.50
75
0.50
0.09
3.9
50
10
0.81
On Payphone Services
According to [2], since the majority of Ghanaians cannot afford to own phones at home; public
payphone booths provide an effective way to address problems relating to providing universal
access to telecommunication services in rural areas and in most deprived urban centers of the
major cities of the country.
The findings of the CTO and Gamos Study show that pay phone booths are the cheapest way for
most people to get access to telephone services. It also indicates that in remote rural
communities, the only means of making and receiving phone calls is via public telephone booths.
It was also discovered that for all regions, the use of public payphones increases with the level of
service coverage and intensive use of booths is only possible where services exist.
2.2 On Regional Distribution of Demand for Access: Fixed and Payphones
Ghana is made up of nine regions with the majority of them based in the rural areas. Greater
Accra has a predominantly urban population, while regions like Ashanti, Western, Central and to
some extent Brong Ahafo and Eastern regions have between a quarter to a half of their
population in urban areas. The regions of Upper West, Upper East, Northern, and to some extent
the Volta region are predominantly rural.
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Regional Distribution of Access to Telephone Services
Upper West
1%
Upper East
1%
Upper West
Brong Ahafo
Northern
2%
Volta
2%
Brong Ahafo
3%
Central
3%
Eastern
Western
Ashanti
Volta
Upper East
Northern
Central
Eastern
4%
Western
Ashanti
6%
Greater Accra
12%
Greater Accra
0%
66%
Fixed Telephone Subscriber Base
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Public Payphones (2001)
The regional distribution of the fixed line telephone subscriber base and the public payphones as
illustrated above shows that the predominantly urban regions like Greater Accra and to some
extent the Ashanti and the Western regions, have close to 80% of the access to telephone
services. The rural areas on the whole have a considerably low telephone subscriber base as
well as a low density of public payphone access. The urban-rural disparity of access and
connectivity is in effect very pronounced in the case of Ghana.
Comparing Regional Population Distribution with Fixed and Payphone Distribution
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
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70%
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50%
40%
30%
20%
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Fixed Tel. Line Population
Payphones
Population
Comparing the regional distribution of population with access defined in terms of access to fixed
telephone lines and payphones, shows that the population in the urban based regions like
Greater Accra, Ashanti and the Western regions has disproportionate access to telephone
services compared to the population in those regions that are predominantly rural based. Also
given that access to Internet services in most cases depends on access to telephone network
services, it could be argued that the rural populations are also considerably disadvantaged in
terms of Internet access and connectivity. In fact, evidence shows that there is a huge disparity
between the urban and rural areas in terms of Internet access and connectivity.
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2.3 On the Provision of Mobile Services
In relation to the demand and supply of mobile services, although there has been an explosion
in services, the over-subscribed nature of most of the mobile networks has given rise to poor
interconnectivity and quality of service (QoS). According to [2], because of the limited coverage of
the fixed line telecommunication infrastructure, the long waiting time (of close to a year or more)
to get a fixed line phone connection and in some cases the poor quality of services of the fixed
telephone operators, the use of mobile phones as an alternative means of communications is
rapidly developing in Ghana. However the geographical coverage of the mobile phone services is
on the whole still limited --- with some mobile operators having services in just some of the main
urban centers and cities.
Although mobile phones offer the convenience of mobility and time saving as per the findings of
the CTO and Gamos Study [1], the cost of acquisition and ownership (including usage cost) of
mobile phone services is comparatively much higher than in the case of fixed line phone
services. In effect only a small section of the population can afford mobile phones and services.
In fact it has been discovered that in the case of Ghana, the availability of mobile services in a
particular community does not necessary translate into a high acquisition of mobile phones and
the usage of mobile phone services. According to [2] a major barrier to the use of mobile services
is the cost of acquisition, ownership and the cost of usage of the service. Affordability, it is pointed
out, is a major barrier to the use of mobile phone services in Ghana.
The point is also made in [2] to the effect that subscribers of mobile services in Ghana are also
experiencing problems associated with poor quality of service (QoS) resulting from, among other
things: poor interconnection between the mobile phone networks and between the mobile
networks and the fixed telephone networks; poor call completion rates mainly due to the oversubscription of the existing capacity of the networks of the mobile service providers; and the
unfair pricing structure for the use of mobile phone services. Competition in the mobile sector has
not contributed to addressing a number of the poor QoS issues facing the sector.
2.4 Meeting Public Demand for Access: The Communications Centers
In Ghana, communication centers no doubt serve as the most popular telephone and other basic
communications service access points in most parts of the country. Because of their availability
and easy reach within most neighborhoods and communities, communications centers are the
preferred means of access to telephone, fax and Internet services for most households in Ghana
--- Customers according to the findings of the CTO and Gamos Study [1] prefer these centers
over public payphone booths.
According to [3], most communities in both the urban centers and rural areas have a number of
strategically located communication centers serving on average 5 to 10 households in a given
neighborhood. The use of these centers is popular in communities in which the majority of the
households do not have telephones at home. Most of these types of neighborhood are inhabited
by low income households. The communication centers therefore play a key role in facilitating
universal access to communication services for a large section of the Ghanaian society. Most of
these centers provide local telephone access with some providing IDD, fax services and cyber
café services. A key observation is that; the majority of Ghanaian without Internet access at
home or work places makes use of the cyber café facilities of the communications centers to gain
access to the Internet.
As pointed out in [2], it could be argued that the overwhelming popularity of communication
centers is yet further evidence of the large pool of unmet demand for telecommunication systems
in the communities. The potential for growth in the telecommunications services sector does
therefore exist. In other words, there is no doubt that the popularity of the communications
centers apart from demonstrating the public’s need to have access is also an indication of the
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huge gap that now exists between the demand and supply of alternative means of affordable
access.
2.5 On the Level and Spread of Internet Access and Connectivity
With the availability of a reasonably adequate national communication backbone and various
Internet connectivity infrastructure options and solutions, Ghana, like most African countries, now
has full Internet connectivity, with long-haul connection to the international backbone of the
Internet at rates above 2.5MB. In fact, Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country (outside
South Africa) to have full Internet connectivity, in 1995 [4]. Prior to this there were a number of email systems, based primarily on Fidonet and UUCP.
Table 4: Other ICT Indicators
PC (Per 1000 persons)
Internet Hosts
Long-Haul Internet Bandwidth
Internet Users (per 1,000 persons)
Radios (per 1000 persons) [2000]
TVs (per 1000 persons) [2000]
3
235
2.5+ MB
40,500
710
118
With over a dozen major ISPs currently operating in Ghana, a number of organizations in the
public and private sector have at least a dial-up link to the Internet. These include the large
private sector businesses like financial institutions, the National Utilities, the mining companies
and small and medium size (SMEs) businesses, the universities, colleges and research
institutions as well as a dozens of secondary schools; the Government Ministries and other Public
Sector Organizations (PSOs); International Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs), and hundreds of thousands of individual subscribers. Most of the connected
organizations and private individuals with access use the Internet mainly for e-mail and for
browsing the Web. The larger organizations especially those in the private sector have some
presence on the Web, but most of the SMEs do not have websites.
Although the Internet subscriber base has increased in the last couple of years, the majority of
those with access are based in main urban centers, with the rural areas grossly underserved.
Basic telephone coverage in the rural areas is limited, with a large section of the country, either
having limited connectivity to the Internet or extremely low speed connectivity. In effect the
Internet has yet to spread to the rural areas of Ghana.
In fact, one of the greatest challenges of providing Internet services in Ghana relates to what is
normally referred to as the 'last mile' problem; that is, how to extend the services to the remote
centers to spread the use of the technology. There are three main reasons for this lack of rural
connectivity: (i) lack of adequate telecommunications infrastructure in these areas to support the
connectivity, (ii) the affordability of the service and (iii) lack of awareness by potential users of the
Internet in some cases and ignorance about what it can be use for.
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3.0 Examining the Supply-Side of ‘Access and Connectivity’: The Landscape of the
Ghana’s Communications Backbone and Internet Connectivity Infrastructure
We examine in this section the broad issues relating to the basic infrastructure for supporting
access and connectivity with specific reference to the components of the communications
backbone of the country and the specific types of infrastructure for supporting Internet access and
connectivity nation-wide.
3.1 On the Nation’s Communications Network Backbone
Ghana’s communications network backbone for supporting domestic and international data and
voice services is made up of a number of separate (not-integrated) networks owned by different
operators. These include:
(i) a partial national fibre backbone network, consisting of the fibre networks of Voltacom, made
up of about 900km of fibre covering a major session of Southern portion of the country; the
Ghana Telecom’s Metro Fibre Network covering sections of Accra, the capital city; and the
28,800 km SAT-3/WASC submarine fibre cable network (partly owned by Ghana Telecom and a
dozen other Telecom Operators of a number of African countries including, South Africa, Nigeria,
Benin, Cameroon, Senegal etc);
(ii) a satellite network with VSAT facilities, made up of components invariably owned by Ghana
Telecom and other private corporate bandwidth access service providers like ISPs and Internet
Gateway and Bandwidth Service Providers and
(iii) Microwave Network, comprising of various inter-city microwave links owned mainly by Ghana
Telecom. In addition some of the mobile service providers have installed there own network
covering some section of the country.
3.2 Exploring the Landscape of Internet Access Infrastructure
Internet access in Ghana is based on a variety of connectivity infrastructures. Generally, these
can be classified in terms of types of (i) long-haul and short-haul connectivity to the Internet
backbone being deployed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Bandwidth or Gateway
Service Providers, (ii) connectivity options available to subscribers, namely individuals and
organizations; and (iii) client access systems and platforms used by subscribers to access the
Internet. We examine each of these below.
Types of Long-haul and Short-haul connectivity to the Internet Backbone
The majority of ISPs and Bandwidth or Gateway Service providers in Ghana connect their
systems to the Internet backbone mainly via a long-haul satellite/VSAT link with downlink facilities
in either North America (mainly USA) or Europe. A number of these providers do have a
nationwide VSAT network that connects their POPs (points of presence) in key regional capitals
and major towns to the Internet backbone via a central VSAT base/hub or gateway facility in the
capital city, Accra.
Some of these providers connect sections of their national networks via leased- landline and/or
wireless links that provide a short-haul connectivity of their POPs and in some cases their major
corporate subscribers to their central system/hub at their headquarters which then connects to
the Internet backbone over a long-haul link. The bandwidth of the long-haul connectivity to the
Internet backbone by local ISPs and Internet Gateway Service Providers is on overage above
2.5MBits/sec.
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Short-haul Connectivity Options Available to Subscribers
Subscribers including individuals and organizations connect to the Internet through their local
ISPs through a variety of means. These include: dial-up connectivity (landline); dial-up
connectivity (wireless/cellular); leased landline connectivity; wireless [non-dial up] link (2.4GHz,
3.4GHz etc), and direct VSAT link (C-band. Ku-band).
Dial-up connectivity which is popular with households and some SMEs is mainly via land-line
telephone links using standard 56K modem access to local ISPs with or without a POP in the
locality of the subscriber. Most ISPs have POPs in the major cities of Ghana but subscribers in a
large section of the country, especially those in the rural areas and the northern parts of the
country still have to link to the nearest POP of their ISPs by making trunk calls.
A number of the ISPs also provide dial-up wireless access but this type of connectivity is not
common. Some local ISPs are also providing a non-dialup wireless link (2.4GHz, 3.4GHz etc),
services to subscribers like the schools, telecenters, Internet Cafés, and SMEs as a faster
alternative to dial-up connections. Direct VSAT connection to the Internet via either a local ISP or
via an international bandwidth provider with a local agent is increasingly becoming a faster and
more affordable alternative to the Internet for a number of Universities and corporate subscribers.
Types of Client Access Systems and Platforms
Subscribers including individuals and corporate subscribers to the Internet use a variety of access
systems and platforms including: stand-alone computers, wiredline local area networks, wireless
local area networks (WLANs), wiredline campus networks (spread-over a number of buildings on
the same campus), wireless campus networks (spread-over a number of buildings on the same
campus), corporate backbone networks (wiredline, wireless or combination) and national
backbone networks (wiredline, wireless or combination).
The vast majority of dial-up household-based subscribers use stand-alone computers (desktop or
laptops), while organizations and institutions mainly connect their users via computer networkbased systems with a common Internet gateway access. Most of the organizations connects via
a LAN (wiredline or wireless LAN), with only a limited number of organizations having campus or
corporate backbone network connectivity to the Internet. A number of the Banks and some of the
very large corporations with national branches have a nation-wide backbone network through
which their employees connect to the Internet via a gateway facility at corporate headquarters.
On the question of types of usage of Internet access, on the whole, subscribers (including
individuals, households and corporate subscribers) use their Internet access mainly for e-mail,
web access and browsing and in some cases for information distribution, publicity and marketing,
and for access to research, learning and teaching materials, etc.
4.0 Sectorial Analysis of the Demand Side of Access and Connectivity
We present below some of the relevant findings of the Scan-ICT study [5] on the deployment and
exploitation of ICTs within key sectors of the Ghanaian economy. Specific emphasis is laid on
those aspects of the findings of the study which relate to the broader issue of ‘access and
connectivity’ within key sectors like the ICT Sector, the public and private sectors as well as the
educational sector. For each of these sectors we examine issues relating to (ii) the spread of
ownership of computers (specifically home ownership) as a measure of the degree of spread of a
key access and connectivity device --- the personal computer; and (ii) the degree of Internet
access, usage and presence (web presence).
12
4.1 On Ownership of Computers
•
The ICT Sector
The findings of the Scan-ICT study show that the staff of the majority of the ICT companies has
and uses computers at home. About 86% of the companies surveyed indicated that some
proportion of their staff do have computers at home. Of these 53% stated that less than 10% of
their staff has computers at home with only about 2% indicating that all their staff (100%) has
computers at home.
Distribution of Home Ownership of Computers
About 100%
About 75 %
About 50%
Below 10%
About 25%
Source: The Ghana Scan-ICT Survey, 2002, © 2002, INIIT
On the whole, the majority of the companies (80%) surveyed have less than a quarter of their
staff with computers at home. This figure, coupled with the fact that about 14% of the companies
report having none of their staff with computers at home, indicates a relatively low prevalence of
home ownership of computers among the staff of ICT companies in Ghana.
•
The Public and Private Sector
The results of the nationwide Scan-ICT survey on the home ownership of computers by
employees of public and private sector organizations and establishments show that: a high 81%
of organizations have some proportion of their staff that own and use computers at home.
Sectorially, about 68% of the public sector organizations have staff with computers at home. The
corresponding figures for the private sector and the NGO sector are: 81% and 93% respectively.
Home Ownership of Computers
Distribution of Home Computer Ownership
Yes
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes
Yes
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes
No
No
No
No
All Sectors
Public Sector Private Sector
NGOs
About 100%
About 75 %
About 50%
About 25%
Below 10%
All
Sectors
Public
Sector
Private
Sector
NGOs
Looking at the findings on a sectorial basis, while as high as 95% of the public sector
organizations reported having less than 10% of their staff having computers at home, the private
13
sector organizations recorded just about 67% with the NGO figure at 31%. Only 3% of the public
sector organizations have about a quarter of their staff with computers at home; the
corresponding figures for the private sector and the NGOs are: 22% and 46% respectively.
•
The Education Sector
The Schools
A number of Ghanaian schools, especially the secondary schools have computers. About 79% of
the schools reported having computers, with the average number of computers per school
estimated at 19. Of the schools with computers, about 53% reported using computers to support
school administrative work, with a high 97% reporting using the computers to support teaching
and only 16% indicated using their computers to access the Internet. This survey shows that not
a high proportion of schools with computers use the computers for access to the Internet.
Type of Computer Usage in Schools
Access the
Internet
To support
Teaching
To Support School
Admin. work
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
On the issue of home ownership of computers, the Scan-ICT survey shows that home ownership
of computers by teachers is not widespread in Ghanaian school, only about 25% of the schools
reported having staff that have computers at home. Close to 63% of the schools reported that
their staff do not have computers at home. Of those schools with staff who are home owners of
computers, the majority reported that below 10% of their staff have computers at home. Only 2%
of the schools reported that close to a quarter of their staff have computers at home.
The Universities and Colleges
A high percentage of university staff indicated having computers at home. Of all the University
and College departments surveyed close to 82% of the departments indicated having some
percentage of their staff with computers at home. The corresponding figure for the Engineering,
Computing and Computer Science departments is 74%.
4.2 The Degree of Internet Access, Usage and Presence
•
The ICT Sector
About 86% of the ICT companies that were surveyed have Internet connectivity; the majority of
these have a dial-up access through a local ISP. Some of the medium to large-scale ones do
have leased line access (fixed, wireless) to the Internet via an ISP. Of the companies with access
to the Internet, 28% reported using it for e-mail, 25% for access to the Web and just 11%
indicated using the Internet for advertising the marketing of their services while only 12% reported
using the Internet for providing information and publicity about their organization. With most of the
companies reporting using the Internet for a number of purposes, the majority are involved in
using it for e-mail and Web browsing rather than for the promoting or marketing of their services
14
Advertising/mar
keting
Providing
info/publicity
Downloading
Materials
Access to the
Web
E-mail
Types of Internet Usage
On the question of Web presence, about 65% of the ICT companies surveyed do not have a
presence on the Internet. In other words, only 35% of the companies reported having a Web site
on the Internet. Relating to electronic commerce, the vast majority (84%) of the companies
reported no involvement in e-commerce. Although a relatively high percentage of Ghanaian ICT
companies have access to the Internet, most of them use it for e-mail and web browsing, with
very few using it for facilitating, promoting or selling their products and services. The resources of
the Internet, as a tool for business and commerce, have yet to make their mark on the Ghanaian
ICT sector and industry.
Internet Access, Web Presence and E-commerce
Involvement
100%
No
Yes
No
80%
60%
Yes
40%
No
Yes
20%
0%
•
Internet Access
Web Presence
E-Commerce
The Public and Private Sector
The Scan-ICT survey on the level of Internet connectivity within the public and private sector
shows that: close to 81% of the public and private sector organizations including the NGOs have
access to the Internet. Sectorially, 69% of the public sector organization have Internet access
compared to 90% of the private sector establishment and 100% in the case of the NGOs.
15
Internet Access
Spread of Internet Usage within Organizations
Yes
Yes
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes
60%
Yes
50%
No
40%
0% (none)
30%
below 10%
About 25%
No
No
No
20%
About 50%
10%
About 75 %
0%
All Sectors
All Sectors
NGOs
Public
Sector
Private
Sector
NGOs
Of the organizations with Internet access, 44% reported that below 10% of their staff uses the
Internet; while about 14% reported that about a quarter of their staff uses the Internet. On the
whole, although close to 81% of public and private sector organizations have Internet access, the
vast majority of them reported less than half of their staff that using the Internet.
Examining the results in terms of the spread of usage of the Internet within each sector, about
54% of the connected public sector organizations reported that less than 10% of their staff uses
the Internet. The corresponding figures for the private sector and the NGO sector are: 45% and
31% respectively.
In relation to the type of usage of the resources of the Internet, about 30% of the organizations
use the Internet for e-mail while 26% use it for Web browsing and 24% for downloading materials,
among other things. Only 14% use the Internet for providing information or publicity material
about their organizations. A much lower percentage of 7% use the Internet for advertising or
marketing their products or services. On the whole the majority of the public and private sector
organizations do not use the Internet to promote or inform their prospective clients or the public at
large about what they do or the services they offer.
Types of Internet Usage
35%
E-mail
30%
25%
Access to the Web
20%
Downloading Materials
15%
10%
Providing info/publicity
about the organization
5%
0%
All
Sectors
Public
Sector
Private
Sector
NGOs
Advertising and/or
marketing
In relation to Web presence, just about 48% of the organizations indicated that they have their
own web site. On the whole a higher proportion of private sector organizations (about 58%) have
web-sites compared to 41% of public sector companies and 54% of NGOs. By comparing the
sectors in terms of the degree of Internet access and the level of web presence of the
organizations within each of the sectors, we see that for all sectors only a small proportion of
those with Internet access have Web sites. The relatively low level of Web presence of these
organizations implies that Ghanaian organizations are weak on content development in relation to
the Internet.
16
Comparing Internet Access and Web Presence
Internet Access, Web Presence and Involvement
in E-Commerce
100%
100%
80%
80%
60%
60%
40%
40%
20%
0%
20%
All Sectors Public Sector
Interne Access
Private
Sector
NGOs
0%
Web Presence
All Sectors
Internet Access
Web Presence
NGOs
E-Commerce Involvement
Across all sectors, the proportion of organizations with Web presence is relatively lower than the
proportion with Internet access, and the proportion involved in e-commerce is considerably lower
than those with Web presence. Also, for all sectors there is a huge disparity between the
percentages of organization with Internet access compared to those involved in e-commerce.
Very few Ghanaian establishments across all sectors are using the Internet to promote their
organization and to do business.
•
The Education Sector
The Schools
A high percentage of Ghanaian schools don’t have access to the Internet. Of the schools
surveyed nationally 81% of them reported not having connectivity to the Internet. Most of the
schools with access to the Internet use it for e-mail, Web browsing and for downloading teaching
learning materials. Of the schools with Internet connectivity, 29% reported that access is
available to staff only with 14% having access to their students only. About 86% of the schools
reported making the access available to both their students and staff.
On the duration of access, the vast majority of the Ghanaian schools with access to the Internet
had connectivity for less than a year. About 43% of the schools reported having access for less
than a year, while 29% reported having access for 1 to 2 years. About 14% indicated having
connectivity to the Internet in the last 2 to 3 years. None of the schools surveyed have had
access for more than 4 years. About 14% of the schools reported having Internet access in the
past, but not the present. In other words their connectivity was terminated for one reason or
another.
Duration of Access to the Internet (To-Date)
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
less than 1- 2 years, 2- 3 years, 3-4 years
a year,
17
4-5 years
more than
5 years
Of the schools with access to the Internet, only 14% indicated having free access, where the
schools does not pay for the service from its own resources. As high as 43% of the schools
indicated paying for their Internet connectivity and usage from their own resources, with another
43% reporting paying for some of the cost.
•
Universities and Colleges
Close to about 42% of all the Department and Units within the Universities and Colleges surveyed
have access to the Internet. The corresponding figure for the Engineering, Computing and
Computer Science (Eng. & CS) departments is slightly higher at 48%. Of those departments with
access to the Internet, 41% indicated that access is available to only the academic and
administrative staff, with none reporting access to students only. About 59% of those departments
with Internet access reported making the access available to both their staff and students. The
corresponding figures for those Engineering, Computing and Computer Science departments with
Internet access show that 47% of them have access available to only their staff while 53%
indicate that both staff and students of their departments have access to the Internet
On the duration of access, most of the departments and units within the universities and colleges
had access to the Internet for less than 3 years. Of the departments and units surveyed about
42% had access for less than one year with 21% of them having access between 1 and 2 years,
and 17% indicating that they had their Internet access between 2- 3 years. Of all the university
departments surveyed, only 1% reported having access to the Internet for more than 5 years.
In relation to what the Universities and Colleges use their Internet access for, about 38% of those
departments with Internet access indicated using it for e-mail, with 33% indicating using the
Internet for Web access and browsing, and with 29% reporting using it for downloading materials.
The corresponding figures for the Engineering, Computing and Computer Science (Eng. & CS)
departments are: a high 93% reported using their Internet access for e-mail, 87% indicating using
it also for Web access and 80% for downloading materials.
What Depts/Units use the Internet for
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
E-mail
Access to the
Web
All Departments
Downloading
materials
Eng & CS
In relation to meeting the cost of Internet access, only 2% of the departments indicated that they
have free access to the Internet. In other words, some other agency pays for the cost of access.
Of all the departments surveyed within the universities, a high 81% indicated that they meet the
cost of their Internet access from their own resources, while 17% reported that they meet part of
the cost. The corresponding figures for Engineering, Computing and Computer Science (Eng. &
CS) departments are: 60% meeting all cost and 7% meeting part of the cost.
18
Paying for Cost of Internet Access
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Free Access
Pay for all
Access Cost
All Departments
Pay part of
Access Cost
Eng & CS
5.0 Analyzing the Limiting Factors to the Growth and Spread of Access and
Despite the modest achievements in Internet access and connectivity in Ghana, there are still a
number of technological (infrastructural), environmental, operational and financial bottlenecks
inhibiting the spread of access and connectivity throughout the country. A key limiting factor as
pointed out earlier is the poor telecommunication infrastructure in some parts of the country. The
coverage of the Internet in a given country can only go as far as the telecommunications
infrastructure extends. For example, the findings of the CTO and Gamos Study [1] established a
link between the level and the availability of telecommunication services and the level of use of
the Internet. In other words the availability of the necessary communications infrastructure to
support access to the Internet is essential for promoting the growth and the use of the Internet
and its resources within the society at large. Some of the telecommunication bottlenecks that is
inhibiting access and connectivity in the case of Ghana are:
-
the non-existence or the inadequacy of telecommunication infrastructure in some
parts of the country, especially in the rural areas.
low-speed lines for dial-up connectivity to the systems of the ISPs
poor quality of connections, especially in the case of subscribers residing outside
the cities
narrow- bandwidth of links to the Internet
limited coverage of telecommunications infrastructure
limited number of lines at the ISPs end of the connection
high Internet connectivity charges and usage cost
high cost of equipment (e.g. computers modems etc)
Other Limiting Factors to the Spread of Access and Connectivity in Ghana
According to [3] some of the other limiting factors to the growth and the spread of the Internet in
Ghana include:
The high cost of connectivity to Internet backbones: The high cost of the available long-haul link
to the high-speed Internet backbones (in mainly North America and Europe) is one of the key
obstacles to Internet growth in Ghana. As should be expected, this high long-haul connectivity
cost usually translates into high subscription and connection charges to the ordinary subscribers
and as such raises the issue of service affordability from the point of view of end-users and
service sustainability from the point of view of the ISPs.
The cost to subscribers: Cost to subscribers is another limiting factor. Most organizations and
individual subscribers cannot afford the running cost of access to the Internet through the local
ISPs. In fact, the user-base of some of the ISPs is very limited as a result.
19
Limited financial resources: Most of the small to medium-sized ISPs in Ghana have problems
raising the necessary financial resources needed to get a viable operation off the ground and to
sustain it. Some of these start-up ISPs are by local entrepreneurs, most of whom lack the
necessary credit track record to raise finance from the banks and local or foreign investors. In
fact, some of the local ISP initiatives have not expanded after years of operation simply because
they lack the capital to benefit from economics of scale and revenues from a wider user-base.
Organizational bottlenecks: These include: (i) lack of motivation at both management and staff
level in relation to the need for Internet connectivity to support organizational activities and
operations; (ii) lack of a dedicated technology champion or a group of champions to establish the
case for the for connectivity, (iii) lack of management support and appreciation of the value of the
Internet technology to support the operations of the organization; (iv) lack of awareness and
appreciation amongst staff and availability of human resources to implement the use of the
technology at the organizational level
Shortage of technical skill: One other key factor that is constraining the growth of access and
connectivity to the Internet in Ghana is the acute shortage of technical staff to design, install,
operate, troubleshoot, support and maintain Internet nodes/hosts and backbone networks as well
as provide technical support for end-users. Numerous Internet initiatives and projects are
seriously constrained to the extent of being delayed, postponed or poorly implemented technically
simply because there is not enough technical expertise with the requisite computer networking
and Internet node installation and operation skill to go around. Internet Service Providers as well
as large corporations, organizations, colleges and universities and large research institutions
implementing their own organizational or campus-based Internet systems are forced to rely on a
handful of local technical experts that are difficult to recruit and retain.
Lack of awareness: Although the Internet is now a household word in most parts of the world,
there is still a large proportion of the Ghanaian population who are not aware of what it is all
about. This lack of awareness, especially in relation to the value of access to the Internet to
support the operations and activities of organizations and institutions in the private and the public
setup, is one of the reasons for the slow take off and growth of the Internet in the country.
References
1. The CTO and Gamos Ltd Study: E-mail and Internet; Fixed, Mobile and Public Phones;
Telephone Shops: Current and Prospective Use, Ghana, The Commonwealth
Telecommunication Organization (CTO) and Gamos 2003
2. Dzidonu C.K (2003) An Analysis of the Policy Development and Business Strategy Implications
of the Findings of the Study on the Use of Communication Services in Rural and Low-Income
Communities in Africa: The Case of Ghana, Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization
(CTO), 2003
3. Dzidonu C.K and Adeya C.N, (2000); The ICT Policy Environment and the Impact of the
Emerging Educational Technologies on the Education and Training Delivery System in
Ghana, International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva, August, 2000
4. Tevie W., Quaynor N. and Bulley A. [1995), Development of the Internet in Ghana,
Proceeding of INET 95
5. Dzidonu C.K (2002) An Empirical Study of the Development, Deployment and the
Exploitation of ICTs in Ghana: The Ghana Scan-ICT Report, IDRC/ECA, 2002
20
Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET):
ICTs as tools for information access among women in Uganda
By Dorothy Okello, Coordinator, WOUGNET
E-mail: dokello@wougnet.org
Table of Contents
1.0
Introduction
2.0 Situational overview of communications in Uganda
2.1 Communication policies in Uganda
2.2 Pricing for telecommunication services
3.0
ICTs as tools for information access among women in Uganda
3.1 Overview of WOUGNET activities
4.0 Challenges in using ICTs for communication among women in Uganda
4.1 Information access for rural women
5.0 ALFA Rural Information and Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC)
5.1 Information needs served by the ALFA-RICC
5.2 ALFA-RICC: The technology
5.2.1 Management of the ICT infrastructure
5.3 Planning for information demand within the community
6.0 Concluding remarks
List of Acronyms
ANNEX I: WOUGNET Organization Members (July 2003)
21
1.0 Introduction
Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) is a non-governmental organization established in May
2000 by several women organizations in Uganda to develop the use of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) among women as tools to share information and address
issues collectively. We define ICTs to include email, the web, radio, television and print media.
However, WOUGNET’s emphasis is directed towards email and the web, and how these
technologies can be integrated with the traditional means of information exchange and
dissemination for maximum outreach.
WOUGNET’s vision is to improve the living conditions of Ugandan women by enhancing their
capacities and opportunities to exchange and share information, and to collaborate. Currently,
WOUGNET operates primarily online and most members are based in Kampala, where it is
relatively easier to gain Internet access in comparison to other places in Uganda. However, there
are a few members who are based in rural areas or areas that otherwise lack Internet access.
Typically, such members have colleagues or other contacts who do have internet access and
who are able to serve as “information conduits”. In addition, members can interact with
WOUGNET by alternative means such as by telephone, fax, post, or at the WOUGNET office.
This discussion paper presents the operation of WOUGNET as an example of a local initiative
facilitating information access among women in Uganda. The paper also presents an in-depth
profile of a WOUGNET member with operations based in rural Uganda.
2.0 Situational Overview of Communications in Uganda
Access to accurate and timely information by women in Uganda can result in enhanced economic
activity, e.g., increased food production, better hygiene and disease prevention as well as
increased participation in local economic and social development initiatives. At the national level,
the Government of Uganda recognizes that timely and relevant information is required in order to
implement the long-term development programs such as the Poverty Eradication Action Plan
(PEAP) and the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA).1
However, information is of limited use unless it is appropriately packaged and communicated.
The packaging aspect relates to issues such as local languages, culturally sensitive material,
literacy, etc. The communication aspect, on the other hand, relates to information and
communication technologies that are fast, comprehensive, diverse and cost effective. The range
of ICTs includes radio, telephones, fax, video, print, computers, CD-ROMs, email and the web.
While Uganda’s communication infrastructure has developed significantly during the 1990s, most
of this development has occurred in urban areas benefiting only a small percentage of Ugandans.
For example, the draft ICT policy reveals that while MTN Uganda (one of the two national
telecommunication operators) provides 65% coverage, 93% is urban coverage. In addition, by
February 2002 there were 17 licensed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) but most of them are
based in Kampala. Table 1 presents the Uganda communications sector comparative figures for
the period December 1996 to Dec 2002.2
1
Draft National Information and Communication Technology Policy. July 2002.
Communications Sector Comparative Figures for Period Dec 1996 to Dec 2002. Uganda Communications
Commission. Accessed July 21, 2003, from http://www.ucc.co.ug/marketInfo/about.html
2
22
Table 1: Communications Sector Comparative Figures for 1996 - 2002
Service
Dec 1996
Oct 1998 Dec 1999 Jul 2001
Fixed Telephone Lines
45,145
56,196
58,261
56,149
Mobile Cellular Subscribers
3,000
12,000
72,602
276,034
Internet/Email Subscribers
504
1,308
4,248
5,999
National Telecom. Operators
1
2
2
2
Mobile Cellular Operators
1
2
2
3
VSAT International Data Gateways
2
3
7
8
Internet Service Providers
2
7
9
11
Private FM Radio Stations
14
28
37
112
Private Television Stations
4
8
11
20
Private Radio Comm. Licenses
453
530
688
800
National Postal Operator
1
1
1
1
Courier Service Providers
2
7
11
10
Dec 2002
59,472
505,627
6,500
2
3
8
17
117
22
1,225
1
11
The following subsections highlight key communication policies in Uganda and present the tariffs
for a variety of communication services.
2.1 Communication policies in Uganda
Uganda’s vision for ICT development is “a Uganda where national development, especially
human development and good governance, are sustainably enhanced, promoted and accelerated
by efficient application and use of ICT, including timely access to information.”3 The current status
of ICTs in Uganda is influenced by various policies and regulations, including, the Press and
Journalist Statute 1995, the Electronic Media Statute 1996, the Uganda Communications Act
1997, the Rural Communications Development Policy 2001, and the Draft National ICT Policy
2002.
The primary objective of the Uganda Communications Act is to increase the penetration and level
of telecommunication services in Uganda through private sector investment rather than through
government intervention. The Communications Act provided for two national telephone operators
for a period of five years effective from July 2000. The two national operators are Uganda
Telecom Limited (UTL) and MTN Uganda. UTL was formed in 1995 from the national telecom
provider, Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (UP&TC). In 1996, UTL was
privatized with the government of Uganda retaining 49% shares and 51% shares being held by a
consortium comprising Telecel (Switzerland), Detecon (Germany) and Orascom (Egypt).
The two national operators are licensed to provide a whole range of communications services
including landline, mobile, data and internet services. For example, as a result of the
Communications Act, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) stopped issuing new
International Data Gateway licenses in July 2000. However, there are minor licenses that can be
provided to other operators for services such as paging, store and forward messaging, and
private telecommunications services.
Taking into account both mobile and fixed services lines, Uganda’s teledensity has grown to
about 1 line per 100 people from 0.21 per hundred people at the end of 1996.4 On average,
3
Uganda’s Working Document for the Second Preparatory Meeting for the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), Geneva, Switzerland, February 2003. Accessed July 21, 2003, from
http://www.ucc.co.ug/papers/consultative.html
4
Rural Communications Development Policy for Uganda. Uganda Communications Commission. July
2001.
23
however, communication services are limited to within a 10 km radius from district headquarters
or major towns. In 2001, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) developed the Rural
Communications Development Policy with three general objectives:
(a) to provide access to basic communication services within a reasonable distance to all people
in Uganda,
(b) to ensure effective utilization of the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) to
leverage investment in rural communication development, and
(c) to promote ICT usage in Uganda.
The RCD policy defines basic services as “a package of essential, supported services. The
package shall be defined to initially include voice grade access to public telephony networks and
public access to where stamps can be bought, and where letters can be posted and collected.”
The RCDF is managed and administered by the UCC, and its major sources of funding are UCC
budgetary allocations, donations and grants from development partners, specifically targeted
donations, government inputs and contributions from all service providers.
2.2 Pricing for telecommunication services
As noted earlier, UTL and MTN Uganda have licenses to provide landline, mobile, data and
internet services. A sample of the tariffs for a variety of services is provided in the following tables
based on UTL’s pricing structure.
a) Basic landline service
UTL has two basic landline services - Classic (post-paid) and Telesaver (pre-paid). Table 2
presents UTL landline tariffs for the classic landline.5 An exchange rate of 1 US$ = 2,000 Uganda
Shillings is used in the table.
Table 2: Tariffs in US$ for telephone calls from UTL landline
Classic Landline installation (VAT exclusive)
Connection fee
ISDN monthly rental
Optional telephone set
60
10 (per channel)
32.50 (and above)
Telephone charges per minute (VAT exclusive)
Standard rate
Local calls
0.06
Internet countrywide
0.05
National calls
0.09
Mango (UTL mobile service)
0.09
MTN (Second national operator)
0.14
Celtel (Mobile service provider)
0.16
East Africa, Burundi, Rwanda
0.33
UK, South Africa, North America
0.65
India, United Arab Emirates
0.80
Europe
0.73
Middle East, South/Central
0.90
America, Asia, Australia, New
Zealand, Africa
Special countries (27 countries)
1.50
5
Relax (night) rate
0.04
0.04
0.06
0.06
0.11
0.14
0.30
UTL Classic Landline Tariffs (VAT exclusive). Accessed July 7, 2003, from
http://www.utl.co.ug/landline/tariffs.htm
24
Family Sunday rate
0.03
0.03
0.05
0.05
0.11
0.14
0.30
0.45
0.70
0.50
0.70
1.50
b) Dial-up internet service
Table 3 presents the tariffs for UTL’s dial-up internet service.6 The dial-up connection provides
speeds of at least 14.4 Kbps and all categories include a 10 MB mailbox for each subscriber.
Table 3: Tariffs in US$ for Internet/email dial-up services from UTL
Category
Description of service
Installation fee
Diamond
E-mail and Internet, unlimited
30
Platinum
E-mail and Internet, up to 30 hours/month
30
Gold
E-mail, up to 20 MB
30
Silver
E-mail, up to 10 MB
30
Moonlighters E-mail and Internet, 7:00pm + all day weekends
30
Monthly fee
45
30
20
10
35
While most ISPs are based within Kampala, UTL does provide a national number that can be
used to make “local calls” to connect to an ISP from any part of the country (where UTL has
service). The major ISPs in Uganda include Africa Online (2-3000 subscribers), Infocom (2-4000),
UTL (2,500), Spacenet (500) and One2Net (500). 7
In May 2003, the Uganda Internet Exchange Point (UIXP) was setup and five ISPs are currently
linked to the exchange. It is expected that the UIXP will result in cost savings on international
bandwidth as local traffic stays local. There are two costs for ISPs involved with the UIXP: a
capital cost of US$ 1,500 for a router and an operational monthly cost of US$1,000. The Uganda
Communications Commission (UCC) has been instrumental in the UIXP’s development and the
UK Department for International Development (DFID) provided the initial start-up capital.
c) High-speed data service
UTL has a high-speed data network that uses xDSL technology over copper wires and that has
data nodes in Kampala and 18 towns in Uganda. Within the Kampala area, UTL also provides a
wireless local loop. Table 4 presents the UTL monthly tariffs for leased line (point-to-point)
dedicated bandwidth circuits.8 A one-time installation fee and hardware charges are extra.
Table 4: Monthly tariffs in US$ for dedicated bandwidth circuits (VAT exclusive)
Speed
0-50
51-100
101151201251301351(Kbps)
km
km
150
200
250
300
350
400
64
188
343
499
654
809
964
1,120
1,275
128
273
498
723
948
1,173
1,398
1,623
1,849
256
395
721
1,047
1,373
1,699
2,025
2,351
2,677
512
687
1,254
1,820
2,387
2,953
3,520
4,087
4,653
768
847
1,546
2,244
2,943
3,641
4,340
5,038
5,737
1,024
1,111
2,026
2,942
3,858
4,774
5,690
6,606
7,522
1,536
1,148
2,095
3,042
3,989
4,936
5,883
6,830
7,776
2,048
1,261
2,301
3,341
4,381
5,421
6,461
7,501
8,501
6
Over
400 km
1,430
2,074
3,003
5,220
6,435
8,437
8,723
9,581
UTL Internet Services – Dial-up Tariffs. Accessed July 7, 2003, from
http://www.utl.co.ug/internet/tariffs.htm
7
Uganda’s Internet Exchange Point opens after a long gestation, Balancing Act's News Update 162 (22
June 2003).
8
UTL Data Services Tariffs. Accessed July 7, 2003, from http://www.utl.co.ug/data/tariffs.htm
25
3.0 ICTs as Tools for Information Access Among Women in Uganda
Challenges to ICT use and access in Uganda are many and well documented. ICT access is out
of reach for many; in terms of availability as well as cost of service. Women in Uganda face major
barriers to accessing telecommunication services since 80% of them live in rural areas. Further, a
1998 UNESCO survey on the available sources of information for development in Uganda
revealed that most of the available sources of information are either out of reach of rural women
or fall short of their information needs.9 This is a finding that still holds true today.
However, obstacles should not be perceived as deterrents, and indeed a number of women
organizations have had a long interest in the use of the internet to share news and
announcements, as well as tips on computer and Internet usage. Until 2000, there were no
organizations in Uganda facilitating information exchange from within and abroad. Consultations
with several women organizations led to a consensus that a network should be formed and that
WOUGNET, upon formation, should establish a companion website on which to profile the work
of women organizations as well as an electronic mailing list to facilitate information sharing and
dissemination.
Thus, WOUGNET emerged to fill the need for information sharing and dissemination by
capitalizing on the opportunities available with email and the Internet. Annex 1 presents a current
list of women organizations in Uganda that are WOUGNET members. Today, the WOUGNET
website and mailing lists remain key sources of information about and for women organizations in
Uganda, and are a key resource for members and interested partners. The website was
launched in May 2000 and can be accessed at http://www.wougnet.org.
3.1 Overview of WOUGNET activities
WOUGNET activities can be categorized as email-based, web-based and on-ground. Emailbased activities include administration of the WOUGNET general mailing list as a space for
women and women organizations to exchange and disseminate information. Information posted
has included conferences and workshops being conducted, requests for information (RFIs) on
current developments in various fields such as gender, agriculture, technology, health, etc., as
well as postings by potential volunteers for various activities. As of July 2003, there are over 200
subscribers on the WOUGNET mailing list, up from 50 subscribers at the end of 2000.
WOUGNET also produces a monthly electronic WOUGNET Update Newsletter that provides
details on activities of women organizations in Uganda, upcoming conferences, workshops,
training programs, funding opportunities and tips on computer/internet usage. The newsletter is
sent out to the WOUGNET mailing list, an additional 300 newsletter subscribers, and mailing lists
with an ICT and/or gender focus.
Furthermore, WOUGNET has hosted the following online discussions:
In June 2002, WOUGNET hosted a 3-week email-based conference Information Access for
Rural Women10 to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences on enhancing access to
information for rural women. A report of the online conference was presented during
deliberations on Rural Women and Telecenters at the July 2002 Kampala Know How
9
R. O. Ochieng. Rural Women and Information in Uganda, Presentation at the FAO High Level
Consultation on Rural Women and Information, Rome, Italy, October 4-6, 1999.
10
Information Access for Rural Women. (2002). Accessed July 21, 2003, from
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/iarw.html
26
Conference.11 The Know How Conference is an international conference of specialists in the
collection and dissemination of information relevant to women.
In April 2003, WOUGNET hosted an email-based online forum on An Information Society for
Uganda to facilitate contributions to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
working documents and Uganda’s input.12
The WOUGNET website is the core web-based activity. The website profiles Ugandan women
organizations and their activities. In addition, the website contains practical information and
documentation on topics of interest to women organizations and the general public, and links to
national and international projects. In May 2003, the WOUGNET website was selected as winner
of the 2003 African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards in the International Institute
for Communication and Development (IICD) Local Content Applications category.13 As stated on
the Awards website, “The judges selected the website of the Women of Uganda's Network
(WOUGNET) as a winner for this year's IICD Award on Local Content Applications. The site is a
good source of information, knowledge, best practices and lessons learned on women's issues,
and a variety of socio-economic issues. The collection of information and web resources on ICT
policies, for example, informs the audience of key ICT for development issues, such as open
source and the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Gender Caucus. It also serves as
an entry point and hub for their engagements and participation."
Another web-based activity is the WebDesign program, which was started in April 2001 in
collaboration with InterConnection.org, to develop websites for WOUGNET members.14 To-date,
five members have had websites developed under this program.
WOUGNET’s on-ground activities support and strengthen the online activities. On-ground
activities include:
• sourcing relevant information (from women organizations, newspapers, the Internet, etc.) for
posting on the WOUGNET website and/or mailing list;
• conducting research (online or otherwise) pertinent to WOUGNET staff, members and
partners;
• contacting WOUGNET members for news and reports on their projects to be added to their
profiles on the WOUGNET website; and
• promoting WOUGNET membership to women organizations in Uganda.
While the majority of WOUGNET’s current activities make use of the WOUGNET website and
mailing lists to support information sharing and dissemination, the WorldSpace Satellite Radio
Program (WSRP15) is an example of an activity that is not Internet-based. The WSRP was
initiated in August 2002 to make the WorldSpace radio available to members with difficulties
accessing the Internet. The WorldSpace radios when connected to a computer help users to
access web based information without having to use the usual method of accessing information
from the Internet (e.g., dial-up, wireless or cable connections).
The bulk of WOUGNET’s services are availed to members free-of-cost. For example, for
members to have their information profiled on the WOUGNET website, they simply need to
forward the information to WOUGNET via email or via alternative means such as by post or
11
Kampala Know How Conference 2002: A safari into the cross-cultural world of women’s knowledge
exchange. (2002). Accessed July 21, 2003, from http://www.isis.or.ug/knowhow
12
An Information Society for Uganda. (2003). Accessed July 21, 2003, from
http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/ug/isug.html
13
2003 AISI Media Awards. Accessed July 21, 2003, from
http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaawardWinners.htm
14
WebDesign. Accessed April 26, 2003, from http://www.wougnet.org/Support/webdesign.html
15
WorldSpace Satellite Radio Program (WSRP). Accessed April 26, 2003, from
http://www.wougnet.org/Support/WSprogram.html
27
telephone. The exception to the no-charge policy is with the WorldSpace Satellite Radio Program
for which a nominal charge is levied for equipment maintenance, transport and installation.
WOUGNET relies primarily on volunteer support, resources provided in-kind, and donations from
members and partners. Donor and in-kind support includes:
Low cost web and email hosting provided by Kabissa – Space for Change in Africa.
Collaboration with InterConnection.org who avail virtual volunteers to develop the websites
under the WebDesign program
Virtual volunteers sourced via Netaid.org and Idealist.org who have assisted in organising
WOUGNET online discussions.
Support from the APC Women’s Networking Support Program (WNSP) to conduct an
evaluation of WOUGNET activities using the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) toolkit.
A 2003 grant from the Global Fund for Women (GFW) to strengthen and broaden
WOUGNET's capacity to support networking and information sharing among Ugandan
women and women organizations.
4.0 Challenges in Using ICTs for Communication Among Women in Uganda
Feedback from WOUGNET members reveals that the information shared and exchanged has
been beneficial to their projects and/or research programs. For example, Lungujja Women’s
Association (LWA) responded to an email about Keys to Information Technology and Education
(KITE), a US-based organization providing computer grants, including one-year internet access to
organizations in developing countries.16 LWA became the first international KITE partner
receiving its computer grant in March 2002. With this grant, LWA is able to calculate the interest
payments of its micro-credit scheme electronically, research business strategies online and
network with other organizations. In August 2002, a WOUGNET member was selected as a
finalist for BITSAfrica, a program sponsored by the World Economic Forum Global Leaders for
Tomorrow and the Africa Technology Forum. The purpose of the BITSAfrica initiative is to assist
African technology entrepreneurs in building and growing a sustainable venture that will have an
impact on the society around them. The member learnt of this program via the WOUGNET
mailing list. And another member had this to say: “I thank you for your work. I am beginning to
feel that I have hope after reading your mail showing openings for some of us who would never
know where to source such wealth of information.”
In spite of these success stories, WOUGNET continues to experience challenges in the delivery
of services, including:
• limited outreach due to primarily operating online;
• availability/access to relevant information for members’ development needs;
• creating awareness on the benefits of ICTs as tools for information exchange and
dissemination that produces results;
• training on the usage and application of ICTs; and
• increased need for face-to-face collaboration to complement online networking.
In January 2003, participants at a WOUGNET meeting in Kampala identified the following
challenges in the application of ICTs and in being WOUGNET members17:
i)
Language is a constraint to information access. This is due to the fact that all of
WOUGNET information is in English and not available in local languages.
ii)
Lack of access to ICT equipment and services. A number of women organizations lack
equipment to enable them access information online. Typically, organizations will have a
16
Lungujja Women’s Association. Accessed April 26, 2003, from
http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/lungujja.html
17
Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) Meeting: Information Sharing on the Application of ICTs.
(2003). Accessed April 26, 2003, from http://www.wougnet.org/Events/wougnetmeeting1.html
28
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
single computer that is stationed on the Secretary’s desk, who is responsible for
downloading information. This affects timely response to issues and ends up leaving a
number of women missing out on opportunities.
Lack of ICT skills. WOUGNET information is available through new ICTs like the Internet
as opposed to traditional ICTs such as radio. This tends to marginalize those that lack the
access and skills to use computers.
Technophobia especially among women and girls.
Gender roles also impact effective participation. In some communities, men do not give
women a chance to visit telecenters because they think that women’s roles are only in
the homes.
Information overload and inadequate content. For example, apart from the website,
WOUGNET runs various mailing lists hence leading to large amounts of information. At
times the information given may not be relevant to the needs of a particular group of
women.
A key issue highlighted by the WOUGNET online conference: Information Access for Rural
Women was as one participant put it: ”There is an important aspect in terms of access to
information at the rural level: WHICH information – For WHICH purpose – To serve WHICH
needs? At the urban level these components do not need the same type of control, the space is
larger, the media are broader but at the rural level there is a need to tailor the medium AND the
message with more details”. For rural communities to be active participants in the information
society there needs to be a concerted, multi-sectoral approach to information technology with a
focus on rural populations as communicators and contributors to information and knowledge,
rather than as passive consumers.18 Rather than look at technology and ask “What can we do
with this?” we need to ask the question, “Which technology might help here?” in response to
people’s information needs.
4.1 Information access for rural women
Information and communication are as critical for rural living as they are for urban living, and
indeed there is increasing demand for information and communication equipment and services in
rural areas. It is widely recognized that ICTs offer potential in rural development by opening up
communication channels for the exchange of new and indigenous knowledge and information
with and among rural communities. However, major challenges exist in terms of available means
of information access and dissemination in addition to operating the ICT equipment.
The realization is that the major inequities of access that exist for the disadvantaged
populations—the poor, rural, female and aged—are not all due to high costs alone, but a result of
other well-documented problems. These include: limited resources resulting in poor infrastructure,
lack of basic facilities, poverty, low levels of literacy particularly among women, cultural
perceptions of women’s roles, little or no government support, the urban bias in development
which marginalizes rural communities, lack of ICT skills, lack of electricity in most rural areas, and
war, instability and conflict.
At the national level, Uganda's Telecommunications Policy seeks to increase the penetration and
level of telecommunication services in the country.19 This is to be achieved primarily through
private sector investment rather than government intervention. Also in place is a policy to ensure
that basic communication services of acceptable quality are accessible, at affordable prices, and
at reasonable distances, by all people in Uganda.20
18
SD Dimensions. Special: The first mile of connectivity – Advancing telecommunications for rural
development through participatory communication. Accessed April 3, 2003, from
http://www.fao.org/sd/cddirect/cdre0025.htm
19
The Uganda Communications Act. 1997.
20
The Rural Communications Development Policy. 2001.
29
At the organizational level, while information access by rural women remains a great challenge
for WOUGNET, we believe that it is important that their information needs and access are
addressed – either directly or via intermediaries. A number of WOUGNET members already have
programs addressing information access for rural women. WOUGNET’s services enable these
members to disseminate and exchange information about their programs locally and abroad.
For organizations based in rural areas, radio remains an essential tool for information sharing and
dissemination. Even then, there is still need to pay attention to the role gender plays in the access
and utilization of this medium. For example, in an August 2002 meeting between the Regional
Women Program Officer for AMARC-Africa21, the WOUGNET Coordinator, and women in the
community served by Radio Apac22, the following issues were identified:
Women need to have their own radios since the men travel with theirs whenever they leave
the house.
Women lack transport to travel to the station and participate in radio programs.
There is need for peace and conflict radio programs, given the threat of rebels who abduct
women and children.
There is need for additional women programming addressing topics such as good farming
practices and HIV-AIDS.
There is need for tape recorders so that the women can prepare their own programs to be
aired by the community station.
There is need to address low literacy levels among women in the community by providing
basic reading and writing skills.
The following section is an in-depth profile of a WOUGNET member operating in a rural area in
Uganda.
5.0 ALFA Rural Information and Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC)23
Based in Mpigi District, Abundant Life For All (ALFA) Ministries was established in 2000 as a
practical response to the realization that past successive wars, illiteracy, poverty, diseases (such
as HIV/AIDS) and other calamities had left the rural women and children powerless, orphaned,
destitute and displaced. In order to confront the odds of these rural communities, ALFA Ministries
(in collaboration with six community-based organizations24) initiated the ALFA Information and
Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC).
Community information and communication is an empowering tool for any rural community that is
often ignored or insufficiently catered for by national and commercial radio and television
services. The ALFA-RICC was established in 2000 to facilitate and create awareness on issues
such as the position of women in society play a role in improving literacy and education, and
provide information on health, the environment, agriculture, democracy as well as on issues such
as land inheritance and HIV/AIDS. The centre has a collection of study materials and serves to
improve the quality and effectiveness of training programs in rural communities. The centre
21
AMARC-Africa, World Association of community radio broadcasters – Africa region. Accessed July 21,
2003, from http://africa.amarc.org
22
Radio Apac, a community radio station in northern Uganda, was established in 1999 with support from
the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). Accessed July 21, 2003, from
http://www.interconnection.org/radioapac
23
Profile of ALFA Rural Information and Communication Centre (ALFA-RICC) compiled in collaboration
with Revd. James Ssemakula, Founder member, ALFA Ministries, alfa_u56@hotmail.com.
24
ALFA Women’s Groups. Accessed July 21, 2003, from http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/alfawg.html
30
supports and increases the rural inhabitants’ desire to learn and collectively help each other to
gain more knowledge.
In order to achieve the objective of achieving social change, the Centre applies “Open Flexible
Learning” using the Study Circles Methodology as a democratic forum and means of empowering
the rural communities inhabitants to discuss and influence what happens in their environment.
The ‘Study Circles Methodology’ is used to encourage the rural people to exchange ideas and
knowledge in order to help each other. The ALFA-RICC has become an empowering tool for
these rural communities.
The AFLA-RICC is housed in a permanent building that was built by ALFA Ministries. The
building currently includes the computer centre, a store, an office, activities room, and has
electricity.
5.1 Information needs served by the ALFA-RICC
The social and economic objectives of the rural communities in Mpigi District were the driving
force behind the initiation of the ALFA-RICC. The center’s main goal is to enhance community
participation in democracy, encourage free speech, promote cultural knowledge and assist
communities to work together for their own social and economic well-being. Issues and
information addressed by the centre include:
How to raise healthy children
Basic nutrition facts
Creating balanced meals using local food products
Basic hygiene practices - water purification, safe food handling and preparation, basic
sanitation, etc.
Methods of growing, harvesting and storing food to ensure a sufficient food supply through all
seasons
Methods of attaining self-sufficiency in meat and poultry products to meet the protein needs
of the family
Ideas for income-generating projects such as handicrafts and animal raising
Civic education - active participation in civic/political activity at the village level and beyond;
Women's rights and their role in society
How to legally and traditionally deal with abusive husbands
Ownership of property and money and power sharing in the home
Prior to the establishment of the ALFA-RICC, the channels used to access and share information
included: messenger (word of mouth), letters, music, dance, drama, newspapers, and radio. It is
worth noting that newspapers are very expensive to the rural community, in addition to the
challenge of low levels of literacy. The most prevalent ICT in these rural communities is the radio
– although not every home owns one.
Presently, there are about 1,500 people from six different rural communities who benefit from the
centre. Future plans for the centre include the set up of a community radio station. Once this is
established, the centre’s target group will grow to over 500,000 people. The centre incorporates a
gender-sensitive policy of operation -- 60% of the services are targeted to women and children.
The centre does face a number of challenges in getting more people, in particular women, to use
its services. These challenges include:
The socio-economic dimensions of rural community inhabitants.
Limited resources resulting in poor infrastructure, lack of basic amenities, etc.
Little or no government support.
The problems of political dimensions and administrative structures within the target group.
These include criticisms against initiatives that appear to give visibility to government efforts
in promoting rural development community.
Cultural perceptions of women's roles
31
Low levels of literacy, particularly among women
Heavy workload and the limited time women can set aside for other activities.
Rural husbands do not allow their wives to participate in community development activities.
There is a great challenge in maintaining the centre itself since it is established within rural
communities that are under-developed and lack resources. However, to support the centre’s
operations, the Management Board has devised membership fees, in-kind contributions, service
fees, and other local fund-raising activities. In order to become self-sustaining, the centre is
currently seeking donor funding.
5.2 ALFA-RICC: The technology
Prior to establishing the ALFA-RICC, research indicated that many issues related to managing
the growth of the ICT infrastructure needed to be addressed. In selecting the center’s technology
and infrastructure, the rural area’s background played an important role. The prevailing situation
in the community was of no running water, no land telephone lines, no reliable mobile phone
access, and frequent electricity blackouts. Following is a description of six key technologies in
use at the ALFA-RICC.
WorldSpace satellite radio system
Since August 2002, when the WorldSpace satellite radio system was first connected under the
WOUGNET WSRP program, the centre has been able to make use of the Africa Learning
Channel audio and data program. The centre found the system to be very beneficial in availing
educational material and has now acquired its own WorldSpace system. The Africa Learning
Channel program provides access to both local and international FM radio stations with news and
educational/developmental related material about health, education, agriculture and animal
husbandry. Information from the ALC is downloaded, printed out and translated into the local
language to benefit the communities served by the centre.
Computer Lab
At present, the ALFA-RICC has thirteen computers, four printers, one photocopier, and one digital
camera. The computers include two Pentium III, ten Pentium II, one Macintosh. The Pentium II
computers were obtained as low-cost computer grant from Computers For Africa (CFA25). The
computers, printers and photocopier have helped the centre write, print and duplicate educational
material that is distributed to clients and is also available to the centre’s visitors. In addition, the
centre’s clients have the opportunity to gain computer literacy.
Educational videos
The ALFA-RICC has one television. Educational videos are presented to the community to create
awareness on various issues such as HIV/AIDS. The videos are purchased locally in Uganda,
and are available in the local language.
Internet access
Email is used to correspond with donors and partner organizations. Via email, members at the
centre were also able to participate in the WOUGNET online conference “Information Access for
Rural Women” hosted in June 2002. MTN Uganda is the centre’s internet service provider (ISP),
25
Computers for Africa. Accessed July 20, 2003, from http://www.computers4africa.org
32
and the centre accesses the internet via a mobile phone. However, this option is very expensive
and hence not available for use by the public without permission. ALFA-RICC spends US$23 per
month on internet access charges, in addition to the US$0.175 per minute for the mobile call to
access the ISP (exchange rate 1US$ = 2,000 Uganda Shillings).
Currently, the centre is only subscribed for email service. However, funding is currently being
sought in order to acquire full internet access via the “iWay Ku-band VSAT Solution” supplied by
Afsat Communications Ltd. The costs for this service are US$4,000 for the start-up equipment
and thereafter US$300 per month for internet access.
Public telephone access
The center has three mobile phones and a public telephone booth that are connected to the MTN
Uganda cellular network.
Power supplies
Due to the frequent electricity blackouts in the community, the centre is seeking a generator to
provide power backup for the centre. Currently, the centre’s operations depend on the availability
of electricity as there is no backup power supply in place.
5.2.1 Management of the ICT infrastructure
Now that the centre has been established, management of the ICT infrastructure is an ongoing
process. Some of the key issues to be addressed on a regular basis are:
Investigating and anticipating developments in the appropriate technology to be applied.
Investigating and anticipating developments in software and hardware.
Constantly monitoring the security aspects of the ICT infrastructure, including both physical
equipment and virus protection.
Balancing ICT infrastructure maintenance and development with content and professional
development requirements for the range of technicians, teachers and others that access the
centre.
Budgeting for equipment upgrades to cater for the increased demand on resources as the
technology becomes more ubiquitous in the centre.
Technical support for the center’s users.
In addition, experience obtained so far shows that the level of awareness of the rural
communities for the potential of ICTs is an important consideration in successful
establishment of collective access to ICTs. As rural people who are both poor and
illiterate, there are some ICTs that they dare not approach for fear of their capability to
learn how to use them. There are young people who use the centre and are very quick in
learning; these also proved an obstacle to the older ones to come forward and try to learn
to use them.
Nevertheless, with the help of ICTs, the ALFA-RICC has provided a means for cultural exchange
and expression, community discussion, and debate. It has supplied news and information
relevant to rural communities and facilitated political engagement between men and women in the
rural communities.
33
5.3 Planning for information demand within the community
Tomorrow’s rural society should also be described as a society of knowledge. Hence, appropriate
information and communication technology will be of growing importance in such a society, as
also emphasized by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). With the ICTs
available at the ALFA-RICC, more rural people are eager to learn how to use these technologies
and acquire knowledge from different parts of the world for the purpose of using and
disseminating it to others.
Indeed, it is expected that future information and communication demands in the rural
communities of Mpigi district will increase greatly due to the presence of the ALFA-RICC. The
centre attempts to influence public opinion, create awareness and consensus, strengthen
democracy and above all, create a tangible sense of community. The centre is available to
community residents so that they can participate, express their needs and wants or discuss
issues of interest to their own community. It allows people to exercise their right to communicate
through a non-discriminatory and participatory manner. It is also accessible so that all community
members can easily participate and benefit from it through the utilization of local languages.
The ALFA-RICC is acceptable to the rural communities as a cultural medium and tool for
development. It responds to the rural communities’ expressed needs and priorities and is an
integral part of the communities that it serves. Furthermore, the centre is accountable to the rural
communities it serves, through an ongoing process of interaction and consultation. It is about
communities doing something for themselves by owning and controlling their own means of
communication. The centre is affordable to the rural communities it serves and is not for profit.
Within the next 2-3 years, the ALFA-RICC expects to start a broadcasting service in order to meet
the information demand already shown by the clients. This will save rural people from travelling
long distances (say to the city) to place radio announcements. And, as most people are nonliterate, the broadcasting of messages via radio will be of great advantage.
In general, ALFA-RICC makes a number of recommendations on how the information demand
within rural communities should be addressed and planned for:
Sensitise rural community development co-workers about the importance of information
access for rural communities.
Encourage the establishment of Rural Information and Communication Centres that aim at
using appropriate ICTs.
Governments should make electricity available and affordable to rural households.
Governments should establish a conducive policy environment, such as regulations of tax
and tariffs on electricity, energy and telecommunications such as satellite, phone, fax, etc.
Obtain support from local government officials to utilise and strengthen local infrastructure
(radio broadcasting, buildings, etc.).
Government should facilitate improved literacy in all rural communities.
Stakeholders should be committed. Stakeholders include policy makers, researchers,
information providers, community members, NGOs, women groups, etc.
Promote dialogue among information professionals and researchers in search of ways to
systematically produce knowledge, with due consideration of the social context of the local
community.
Obtain support from leadership of women and men committed to the cause of enhancing
information access for rural women.
Strengthen the element of information dissemination in community development projects in
general. These projects, if successfully implemented and arouse local community's interests
around the communication initiatives, can serve as a catalyst for RIC-related initiatives.
Establish community radio stations for maximum outreach within rural communities.
Donor organizations should partner with efforts such as ALFA-RICC by providing grants to
facilitate increased outreach within the target communities.
34
In conclusion, the opportunity to make ICTs available in a collective fashion by the ALFA-RICC
has enabled many within the target rural communities to reap the benefits of using ICTs. The
communities that have access to the ALFA-RICC have started getting enlightened through
exposure to information accessed through the variety of ICTs at the centre.
6.0 Concluding Remarks
As defined by Michiels et al., the local appropriation of ICTs is about “communities and groups
selecting and adopting communication tools according to the different information and
communication needs identified by them and then adapting the technologies so that they become
rooted in their own social, economic and cultural processes.”26 Furthermore, local appropriation of
ICTs is important because it can:
• Contribute to reducing the digital divide (as well as rural-urban, wealth and gender divides) at
individual, group and community levels.
• Give a voice to the voiceless (at household, community, national, regional and global levels).
For example, communication processes can give rural women a voice to advocate changes
in policies, attitudes and social behavior or customs that negatively affect them.
• Foster and facilitate community decision-making and action and empower them to take
control of local development processes.
• Advance community ownership of ICTs for development, empowering communities to take
charge of all aspects of ICT initiatives, including deciding priority applications, content,
training, technical management and even financing.
• Ensure that ICTs serve the purposes of local communities. Through appropriation,
communities select and transform the technologies and content to fit their needs, rather than
reflect the interests of external groups.
This discussion paper has presented the operations of WOUGNET and WOUGNET member,
ALFA Ministries, as examples of local initiatives enabling low-cost access to ICTs by their target
communities. In both cases, the ICT infrastructure was established in response to the information
needs of their target communities.
26
Sabine I. Michiels and L. Van Crowder. Discovering the “Magic Box”: Local appropriation of
information and communication technologies (ICTs). Accessed on April 3, 2003, from
http://www.fao.org/sd/2001/KN0602a_en.html
35
List of Acronyms
AISI
ALFA
AMARC
APC
DFID
GEM
GFW
ICT
IICD
ISP
KITE
LWA
MTN
NGO
PEAP
PMA
RCDF
RICC
UCC
UIXP
UPTC
UTL
WNSP
WOUGNET
WSIS
WSRP
xDSL
African Information Society Initiative
Abundant Life for All Ministries
World Association of community radio broadcasters
Association for Progressive Communications
Department for International Development
Gender Evaluation Methodology
Global Fund for Women
Information and Communication Technology
International Institute for Communication and Development
Internet Service Provider
Keys to Information Technology and Education
Lungujja Women’s Association
Mobile Telephone Networks
Non-governmental organization
Poverty Eradication Action Plan
Plan for Modernization of Agriculture
Rural Communications Development Fund
Rural Information Communication Centre
Uganda Communications Commission
Uganda Internet Exchange Point
Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation
Uganda Telecom Limited
Women’s Networking Support Program
Women of Uganda Network
World Summit on the Information Society
WorldSpace Satellite Radio Program
Digital Subscriber Line protocol
36
ANNEX I: WOUGNET Organization Members (As of July 2003)
(Member profiles accessible at http://www.wougnet.org/wo_dir.html)
Akina Mama wa Afrika-Uganda (AMwA-U)
ALFA Women's Groups
Association of Uganda Women Lawyers (FIDA (U))
Association of Uganda Women Medical Doctors (AUWMD)
Coalition on Violence Against Women (CVAW)
Council for Economic Empowerment for Women in Africa - Uganda (CEEWA-UGANDA)
Crisis Pregnancy & Counseling Center (CPCC)
Disabled Women in Development (DIWODE)
Eastern African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI)
Forum for African Women Educationalists - Uganda (FAWEU)
Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)
Gender Advisory Board - Africa Region Secretariat
Hope After Rape (HAR)
Isis-Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE)
Kassanda Development Initiative
Kyakabadiima Women's Group
Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda (LAW-U)
Lungujja Women's Association (L.W.A)
The Mifumi Project
Nakaseke Women Development Association (NAWODA)
Nakazadde Ward Women Development Association (NAWDA)
Namalemba Bugweri Association (NABA)
National Association of Women Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU)
National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda (NACWOLA)
Ntulume Village Women's Development Association (NVIWODA)
Pan African Women Liberation Organization (PAWLO)
Rurama Women's Handicraft Society (RWHS)
Safe Motherhood Initiative in Uganda (SMIU)
Slum Aid Project (SAP)
Uganda Gender Resource Center (UGRC)
Uganda Media Women's Association (UMWA)
Uganda Muslim Women’s Vision (UMWV)
Uganda Private Midwives Association (UPMA)
Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association (UWEAL)
Uganda Women's Network (UWONET)
Uganda Women Tree Planting Movement (UWTPM)
Uganda Women Writers Association (FEMRITE)
Women and Children's Crisis Center (WCC)
Women Engineers, Technicians and Scientists in Uganda (WETSU)
Women in Law and Development in Africa - Uganda Chapter (WiLDAF - U)
Women's Organization for Development and Conflict Resolution (WODREC)
37
CONNECTIVITY AND ACCESS IN INDIA
By: Vickram Crishna and Arun Mehta
Table of Contents
1.0
Introduction
2.0
Access and penetration of telecommunications
3.0
Audio: the first Step
4.0
Using audio effectively: low power FM
5.0
Demonstration and proof of concept
6.0
Design and development of suitable technology
6.1 Construction Cost
6.2 Production Cost
6.3 User Cost
7.0
Legal issues
7.1 Some pertinent excerpts
8.0
Access for the disabled
9.0
e-Locutor: The Hawking Project
10.0 Wireless data access - the next step
11.0 Models of deployment
11.1 Community Networking
12.0 Conclusion
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C
38
1.0 Introduction
While technophiles and advanced economy consumers around the world buy into the wonders of
gadgetry with advanced features (at cunningly attractive prices!), ordinary people in the Third
World find ways to leverage older technologies at affordable costs. For instance, a newspaper
1
articlei reports how daily wage carpenters and masons rely on the humble telephone (POTS ) to
get them business in Mumbai.
Yet, for most of India, access to even simple telecommunications is a distant and unattainable
concept with very little hope of fulfillment.
This paper seeks to provide an overview of the telecom situation in India, the problems in bringing
its benefits to the disenfranchised, and how innovative solutions can be used to address the
needs of two large sections that are particularly hard to reach – the poor illiterate, and the
physically challenged. We also attempt to look a little into the future, in particular at the benefits of
2
using WiFi in bringing connectivity to India’s villages.
Although there has been a long and furious debate about the real cost of wireline POTS and the
3
wireless alternatives currently being commercially implemented in India (GSM based cellular
4
5
telephony and CDMA based WiLL ), it seems clear that the per capita rate of growth of
telecommunication networks is, to all intents and purposes, so low as to be meaningless in the
social context of transforming the lives of rural and poverty stricken Indians.
There are different categories of services now defined by the regulatory authorities, depending on
the technology applied. They have different license fees and different rules regarding the rental
and call charges applicable. There are also rules regarding the fees which may be levied on
interconnect between the local and trunk services.
All this is apparently in an attempt to overcome the legacy of the technology related regime
imposed when liberalization of services first began in the mid-'90s. It is hoped that there will be
consumer rates harmonization, so that they can make their choices freely, based on the basket of
services made available.
As of this writing, the situation is very much in flux, with new rates being sought and applied, the
legacy of a shortsighted technology based pricing policy being sloughed off. This is in turn the
legacy of a centralized system of technology management imposed in colonial years, one that
sixty years of democratic independence has not yet overcome.
1
Plain Old Telephone Service, meaning a circuit switched physical, usually copper pair, line
WiFi is the popular term for the IEEE 802.11x set of standards for wireless data exchange, fast gaining popularity
worldwide
3
Groupe Service Mobile, a digital cellular telephone technology
4
Code Division Multiple Access, a newer digital wireless telephone technology
5
Wireless in Local Loop, a term that implies wireless substitution for wireline circuits. With improvements in technology,
CDMA now has features close to those of more expensive cellular services.
2
39
2.0 Access and Penetration of Telecommunications
The wireline services were initially favored over cellular connectivity, and this resulted in high
costs and very slow growth through the previous decade. At the end of this period, wireless in
local loop technology based services were also permitted, and this led immediately to a domain
quarrel, since it appeared that the new wireless services were being allowed to compete with
cellular, though the costs (particularly the license fees) were not comparable.
By May 2003, almost all consumer-facing costs have been drastically reduced, for any kind of
telephony service. It is too early to say whether this policy will result in rapid growth in telecom
penetration.
However, if one looks at the actual figures more closely, it is clear that the bulk of this change is
taking place only in the richer urban sector. There were a total of 10,480,430 GSM phones
accumulatively installed across the country until Apr '03 by private license holders. The much
older infrastructure of the government till Apr '02, before the private basic service operators
began introducing services, totaled 33,218,000.
We do not have reported government figures for the year ending Apr '03, but the private
operators added 2,122,006 circuits by Mar '03. A simple linear progression, based on the roughly
22 percent annual growth from 1999 to 2001 (2002 had an abrupt falloff, to just 2 percent)
indicates that the total installed base of government service operators should have touched
40,526,000 in Apr '03. This assumes that the private service installations were stimulating growth
of the total market and not just cannibalizing consumers from the government services (an oftvoiced suspicion).
The percentage of rural phones in this equation, however, has remained abysmally low. Again,
figures for the government sector are not available, but it is not unreasonable to believe that the
pattern for basic (defined as a combination of wireline and CDMA) services is not much better
than it is for cellular wireless.
For cellular wireless, rural consumption (defined in reporting systems as 'C' circle, where 'A' and
'B' circles cover the largest cities and most economically forward states) is just 3 percent of the
total, till April 2003. Given an estimated total of less than 54 million installed phones in April 2003,
this amounts to only 1.6 million phones serving rural India (a population of 500 million people).
This achievement deplorably fails to realize the potential value of communications for social and
economic development. Furthermore, the government completely failed to exploit the technology
of shared telephone access, known colloquially as the ‘party-line’ system in the US, where it
originated. It is now permitted, but banned in urban areas where it could still benefit the urban
poor.
As long as this remains the case, the developmental benefits of access, for rural people and for
the poverty-stricken, shall be, for the larger part, unattainable. Unless there is a movement to
spur demand, it is hard to see traditional business models apply, resulting in increased
investment and penetration. Why should demand for access remain so low?
We (the authors, who have also promoted and run a privately funded company in India,
Radiophony, to further the objectives enshrined in the concept of universal access) believe that it
is for a very large part due to the historical lack of access to information for the average Indian,
and more so for the rural Indian. Most developing economies suffer from a historically feudal
attitude to learning and information dissemination.
The situation has improved in the last couple of years, aidedii in part by burgeoning privatization
of the telecom sector and reprioritizing of investments and revenues. In the context of rural
40
telecommunications, nothing much has changed since 1999, when one of the authors put
together an appreciation of the telecom scene in the South Asian region.iii There is still a long way
to go.
How can people find out for themselves that they can access information? In most parts of the
world, and historically, conventional wisdom says that literacy spawns the desire for knowledge.
Unfortunately, in India (except in a few regions), widespread literacy is about as rare as telecom
penetration, which does tend to beg the question.
To accept the fact of information accessibility, it helps to have a pervasive media presence. In
India, this is usually taken to mean a healthy, widely available and widely accessed print media.
Without literacy, however, print media can only be only accessed by a small fraction of the local
population, who therefore control access for the others. When there is excessive control,
invariably the desire for firsthand information slackens.
Thus, despite the apparent success of print in India, which has many thousands of publications
(the fourth largest in the world), and for which the level of central control is relatively minor, very
few are privileged to get firsthand information.
The authors have been working to open up a different, older, media form in order to help
transform this situation. As we see it, the end-user device in the communications chain is the
most important link. Clearly, this must be affordable by the poor, and easy for illiterate people to
use, not just for consumption of information, but also for the production and dissemination.
3.0 Audio: The First Step
We approached this problem from first principles. India is a heterogeneous country with 14 legally
recognized indigenous languages, plus English, which is not only a legally constituted language,
but indeed serves as a lingua franca across different regions. In actual fact, there are many
hundreds of independent languages more, but it is not possible to accord them all legal
recognition, and in a significant number of cases, these languages lack an independent script. In
some cases, they also share common roots with languages that have a wider user base, and thus
may be considered dialects, although it is quite often difficult for speakers of one language to
understand or communicate with those of another.
This leads most interventions to confusion between the conflicting needs of communication and
literacy. Our focus is on creating effective forms of communication, since literacy follows
communication flow as a process.
We therefore have a focus on audio communication. Now intercommunication of any kind has
four basic forms: one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many. Verbal
communication, without electronic enhancement, tends to be restricted to the first form. We
concede that it is possible for one person to address communication to a gathering of people, but
it is necessary for that gathering to be very small in size if the communication is to be clearly
audible. It is also necessary for this to be organized in advance, as it is difficult to get people to
gather spontaneously when something needs to be communicated.
The first form is classically enabled electronically with half duplex citizen’s band radio technology,
freely licensed for use in the 27 MHz band. This technology is scarcely known in India, since it is
very expensive to buy and use. The second form is broadcast radio, extremely familiar to most
Indians, very cheap for users, but hugely capital intensive for producers.
Low power radio is a composite solution, delivering the benefits of low production costs with
existing cost-effective user-side technology. It blends ownership between producers and
41
consumers, thus synthesizing a content production and management system that is potentially a
very powerful media transformation.
4.0 Using Audio Effectively: Low Power FM
We are developing FM (frequency modulated public broadcasting) as a medium to kick start local
accessible forms of telecommunications. Radio, which till the early ‘80s was phenomenally
popular in India, has been hard hitiv by the introduction of satellite television and commercial FM
broadcasting, yet it retains some significant values. FM is a stable and, appropriately deployed,
extremely inexpensive technology. We have found that it is possible to approach the information
needs of a typical small, poor community (poor in the sense that it does not transact with the cash
economy) at costs that are affordable (see Appendix A).
There is an international model for doing this: it is called community radio. The accepted definition
for this form of broadcasting is a community owned and supported broadcast service aimed
principally at and for the community itself. Unfortunately, this form of radio is not legally provided
for in many of the world's developing (and largely but not only) post-colonial socio-economic
entities. Specifically, in India there is no provision for community radio, as the term is generally
understood (see Appendix B).
Aside from community radio, which has an implicit political element, in that it has to be community
owned and driven, low power radio is so cheap that it needs to be freed up in order to develop the
medium to efficiently utilize the airwaves in spectrum-starved areas.
Low power FM also lends itself excellently to frequency reuse, in areas where spectrum is badly
or completely underutilized. Most of India falls into this category.
A circle of 10 km diameter has an area of about 78.5 sq km. India has an area of about 2,973,190
6
sq km of usable land : the result gives about 38,000 circles. Each one has about 100 channels at
a separation of 200 KHz per channel, which gives a clear capacity of 3,800,000 channels
available for use. Discount this by ten per cent to account for the existing and future urban
commercial radio channels, including knocking off another area of 5 x 14,100, or 70,500 sq km, to
avoid any of our land borders with neighboring countries. This leaves spectrum for about
3,400,000 channels available for local use, free from the specter of international border security
concerns.
If a station has a reach of around 5 km radius, it will need a transmission output (with an efficient
antenna) of about 1 watt. Such a transmitter will cost less than Rs 10,000 (around $200) if
assembled in India, see below for the cost of other essential inputs. At such low setup costs,
there is plenty of scope for both community-owned and small entrepreneurship commercial
businesses to be established in the country. Inevitably, at some point there will be problems
arising from cross-channel interference.
Today, by maintaining a central authority for spectrum, the government seeks to deal with this. In
actual fact, there are still around 20 to 30 different central agencies whose permission needs to
be taken before allocated spectrum becomes usable. Most of these agencies are unequipped to
correctly assess local issues in rural India. Change in this regime is necessary, so that a truly
local environment for empowerment can be created.
The advantage of FM broadcasting, as we see it, is that it is a totally verbal medium, calling for
skills that are very easy to develop and most importantly, do not demand literacy as a necessity
6
This calculation takes into account all the measured waterways, deducting their area from the area of the landmass
42
for entry. As we have found, the creation, recording, editing and archiving of audio materials are
tasks that can be undertaken by people with a minimal level of training. Managing program
schedules and transforming audio content into a desirable art form as well as inducing demand
for it, is a skill that can be learned far more easily when the audience is nearby to give feedback
rapidly and thus provide opportunities for improvement.
The medium is therefore supportive of the democratic form of society, which seeks to empower
all people with broadly equal opportunities. Most importantly, these opportunities are based on
people possessing just one skill: verbal ability. Verbal skills are natural: we know how to speak
before we know how to read and write.
They are flexible: we can speak about five times faster than we can type and at least 10 times
faster than we can write. Low power FM broadcasting reaches small audiences (less than 5,000
to 10,000 people) for an extremely low cost. From the audience point of view, it works in an
extremely suitable manner. This is because the content can be locally relevant in both language
and context, and the broadcasters themselves are likely to be locally familiar.
An opportunity has also emerged for the sharing of audio materials using cheap public data file
transfer systems based on Internet technologies. While this may not yet be pervasive, it has
enormous potential in India in the future.
What is needed now is wireless infrastructure through which people everywhere will gain
effortless access to the Internet, using everyday tools such as telephony and radio. Such
infrastructure cannot come to pass unless there is an internal demand for it. The skewed balance
of urban-rural development ensures that such a demand does not exist at present. Although the
government has, through its Universal Service Obligation terms and conditions of telephony
licensing (both cellular and basic services) attempted to ensure this situation is remedied, in
reality the return on investment in rural telephony falls far below affordable levels.
Around the world, community radio is normally taken to mean a self-owned and operated station,
serving a community. The community may be rural or urban or indeed global, if one takes Internet
radio into account.
For rural India, there is an important qualification: such a station needs to have an extremely low
entry point in terms of cost, otherwise local ownership is not possible. This can be achieved with
low power FM transmission, far more pragmatically than with any other technology currently
being considered within the ICT agenda.
Since the top-down approach has so far failed miserably, despite over five decades of public and
private investment, we see the need for a bottom-up approach. In this we believe that involving
participants at the lowest economic and social levels is needed.
5.0 Demonstration and Proof of Concept
To demonstrate this, we set up a low power FM radio station in a small village in southern India.
Oravakal is located about 20 km from Kurnool, a district headquarter town in Andhra Pradesh.
The population of about 5,000 is mainly involved in agriculture. The town is drought-stricken most
seasons, and the area is rocky, typical of this part of India.
There is an existing social self-help movement, led by women and supported by donations from a
World Bank funded project. It has been running for the past seven years, and has built up
strengths in education and micro banking. We worked with them to devise an appropriate
technical solution for the radio station, examining the possibilities for leaky cable radio (i.e. using
43
a television cable distribution system to carry the FM radio signal: this acts both as a wireline, and
7
for short distances, wireless solution ) before deciding to use a traditional free-to-air broadcast.
The solution as implemented consisted of a transmitter with recording and editing facilities,
capable of being received throughout the village. The output power was restricted to less than 50
mW, just enough to broadcast to the immediate village area with the help of a folded dipole
antenna mounted on a mast made of cast-off materials. The antenna was located at a height of
roughly 5 meters.
We optimized the solution to 50mW output for two reasons:
5.1 This level of power is used by all sorts of consumer devices sold openly in India,
including wireless microphones and remote door locks, and
5.2 We were assured, off the record, that in the absence of a clear policy on the use of
public spectrum (between 87.5 and 108 MHz), there would be little objection to such an
application.
6.0 Design and Development of Suitable Technology
The actual technology was developed indigenously, with parts sourced from the local market to
our design. This included the frequency synthesizer, the transmitter, the mast and the antenna.
For the recording and production facilities, we used the optical minidisk, a very sturdy and handy
commercial technology that, being digital, is also very easy to use for editing.
We designed a simple 50mW transmitter circuit, which combines an audio preamplifier and RF
output block with the RF modulation section, using ordinary freely available electronic
components. http://www.radiophony.com/html_files/images/freq_circuit.jpg is the URL for the
circuit, while instructions on assembly are published at
http://www.radiophony.com/html_files/frequency.html.
6.1 Construction Cost: The actual cost of building the circuit is about Rs 100 (under
US$2 at current exchange rates), including a sturdy metal box to shield it from outside
interference. It can be used with different types of antenna, depending on the type of
coverage needed. If this is roughly longitudinal (ie, the reception area is oval rather than
circular), as was the case in the actual village where the technology was demonstrated, a
simple folded dipole antenna can be made from ordinary television antenna cable. This
has the advantage of being manufactured to the standard needed for a dipole, while
being extremely cheap - Rs 30 to Rs 50, depending on how much cable is needed to
connect to the top of the mast.
The mast can be made from bamboo or steel pipe, materials that can be found at any
construction site in India. The section where the dipole is supported needs to be made of some
non-conducting (high dielectric) material, while the upright part needs to be firmly braced. Ideally,
the mast needs to be as tall as possible, without swaying in the wind.
Program production can vary upwards from practically free, depending on how many hours per
day of broadcasting is taking place. The very cheapest is of course verbatim broadcasting, where
the broadcaster speaks directly into a microphone connected to the transmitter. However, this
presents the biggest challenge in terms of human resources, as the broadcaster needs to be
7
See http:/www.tenet.res.in/commsphere/s7.3.pdf
44
highly skilled to maintain the interest of the listeners. In India, microphones cost from Rs 125
upwards.
Deciding on recording, archiving and production facilities is not a big challenge. As with most
things, there is a trade-off between features and costs. There are two types of recorders - tape
(linear) and digital (disk or solid-state, non-linear). As the name implies, linear recording types
record sound in a linear fashion, and this determines the method of editing (production). Material
selected for inclusion in the final version needs to be physically located in the tape (by
listening/review). This takes time, and it is necessary to have two machines, one to transfer the
desired audio content from the source tape.
It is also possible to physically cut unwanted material from a recording, but this is tedious, timeconsuming, and an exacting job. In traditional high cost studios, using special editing tables
where, during playback, the tape is clamped between rollers, eases this task. With this, unwanted
material can be physically cut, and the open ends of the tape physically rejoined with adhesive
tape.
In digital machines, this is not a limitation, as the recording and therefore editing is not linear. The
minidisk standard incorporates a means of 'marking' sections of audio material, which can be
done on the fly while recording. This methodology is sometimes followed in solid-state recorders
also. The minidisk recorders usually have an edit function, where sections of audio content can
be reassembled in the desired sequence for playback. This is done without physically
manipulating the actual recording medium in any way.
6.2 Production Cost: Cassette tape recorders cost from Rs 250 upwards in India (for a
locally made twin drive machine), while minidisk recorders (which are not made in India
at all) cost around Rs 14,000 upwards. Cassette tapes cost around Rs 12-15 upwards,
while minidisks can be bought for around Rs 125. A single cassette will hold 90 minutes
of audio (using both sides) while a minidisk can be set to record up to 4.5 hours (mono
recording, giving best results for voice quality).
We use the paradigm of physical movement to describe the real cost of setting up an affordable
radio station in India. Users can choose between walking (no station at all) to a bicycle (a
transmitter, a simple pair of tape recorders, no dedicated studio), to a car (a transmitter, a
dedicated studio, a digital recorder) to a truck (a transmitter, a dedicated studio, several digital
recorders, a computer for accessing the Internet and exchanging audio files between companion
stations) to a jet plane (full-fledged digital recording studio, with sophisticated transmitter and live
mixing facilities and so on). Any of these methods will work.
Using sophisticated transmitters is necessary when there are a number of radio stations
transmitting in the same physical area. This is because they are prone to electromagnetic
interference with each other, causing a nuisance to listeners. In India, this situation only exists
currently in a very few scattered urban areas. High power transmitters can also interfere with
signals from weaker stations, but again, in India, this is a phenomenon that can only occur in a
very few regions.
6.3 User Cost: For radio listening, all that is needed is an FM receiver. This can cost as
low as Rs 60 (US$2.50) in India, with more expensive sets costing around Rs 250
(US$5.50). Such sets normally also incorporate a cassette player, and thus constitute a
home entertainment center rather than just an audio receiver. At these prices, most sets
have the alternative of direct electric operation or battery power, and thus are potentially
free from the risk of utility failure, which is commonplace in rural India.
As against the incredibly low setup cost possible in FM radio, with a potential audience of up to 5
or 6 thousand people, it would cost at least twice as much to get ready to print a newspaper. The
running cost of the newspaper will also be much higher, since there is an ongoing cost of
45
newsprint. From both the points of production and access, illiterate people cannot directly enjoy
the benefits of the print media, whereas this is simply not an issue for audio FM broadcast.
7.0 Legal Issues
The pilot station in Andhra Pradesh started operations in October 2002, and ran successfully until
March 2003. Although we had been verbally told that running a localized station at such low
power would not create a fuss, this turned out not to be the case, and the station was arbitrarily
shut down as soon as the central government learned of its existence. This situation continues
until the writing of this paper (see Appendix C - a newspaper report).
We have now adopted a more proactive stance to persuade the government not to throttle this
medium, which has such a potential for positive change. We filed an appeal in writing with the
minister of telecommunications in April, 2003. Finding that our nominally democratic government
has no formal channel for encouraging disadvantaged people to develop independence and selfempowerment, we work on lobbying and persuasion to bring about positive change (see
Appendix D - letter to the minister of telecommunications, April 2003).
7.1 Some pertinent excerpts from our appeal (letter to the minister of
telecommunications, April 2003): "We seek your intervention in a matter of serious
concern for the hundreds of millions of poor people in this country. An action by some
bureaucrats in your ministry has nipped in the bud a highly promising experiment in
bringing the benefits of the Internet to people who cannot afford a phone line or a
computer.
...
"While recognizing the importance of FM radio in bringing poor people into public debate,
we were, of course, determined to keep within the bounds of what the government
permits in this area. We were pleased to note that the government allowed the
unlicensed use of cordless FM microphones, which … radiate a power of about 50mW,
as do the remote car door openers that luxury cars routinely provide.
...
We adapted the design of a cordless microphone, using parts that are commonly
available in small towns, wherever radios and TVs are repaired. We designed an
efficient, low-cost antenna using the flat cable used to connect TV antennae, so that just
50mW of power would carry the signal about 400 meters. We also made a provision for
attachment of an audio recorder. This system allows villages to set up community radio
stations at a cost of only a few hundred rupees.
...
"Our request is simple: could we please participate in a discussion of a wireless policy
that allows frivolous uses such as opening car doors and wireless microphones (used
mostly for Karaoke), while denying poor people their only available access to modern
telecommunications [and] the Ministry sees fit to send a senior bureaucrat to the remote
village of Oravakal, to terrorize some poor women trying to convince others to join their
micro-finance system?
...
"Our software industry has acknowledgedly achieved sterling success, and so can the
hardware industry, but not if shackled in this way.
…
46
We would be happy, at your convenience, to demonstrate our system to you, and discuss
with you the promising possibilities of such technologies in achieving universal access..."
During its existence, the station produced and broadcast programs using local resources entirely.
This is a demonstration of the viability of our concept, that given the tools, uneducated and
illiterate people can produce audio content independently, to be heard by the local community,
using local languages and local themes.
We also obtained a modern laptop computer for the village station, which expecting we could
connect it through dialup to the Internet. As it turned out, it was not possible to get a reliable
telephone line running for this purpose, although the village was nominally part of the district
network. The purpose of the computer was to give the station the ability to run Q&A programs
based on accessing information from anywhere.
The experiments at Radio Kothmale in Sri Lanka (http://www.kothmale.net/) and elsewhere allow
illiterate people to access the Internet in a limited fashion, using their own mother-tongue
languages. People send their questions to the radio station via a post card or a phone call. At the
station, English-literate staffers search the Net or encyclopedias for the answer, and broadcast it
in the local language via the radio station, a concept known by the term "radio-browsing".
This part of the solution was not successfully implemented before the station itself was shut
down.
8.0 Access for the Disabled
Apart from illiterate people, there are a significant number of people excluded from participating in
the economy because of one form or another of disability. In percentages, such people constitute
perhaps 4 per cent of the total population. In absolute numbers, that is a staggering 240 million. If
just the Third World is considered, it is still 200 million persons. Yet this is not the total: many of
these people need the help of at least one other person to cope with the burdens of their
disabilities. The additional number thus disabled could be as many as 100 million people. The
percentage of people affected in
India by disease and accident may be a little higher, due to a combination of social factors.
Some of the directly affected people have severe disabilities that prevent them from exercising
full motor control of their muscles. Such people, while otherwise fully capable, are cut off from the
world by the inability to communicate independently.
We have addressed one problem within this space: assisting such severe disabled people to
access computers. General-purpose computers are relatively inexpensive and useful devices that
can be programmed to deliver information rapidly. They can also be connected to and used to
control other devices, thus enabling the person to gain a degree of independence not possible in
any other way.
As it happens, the development of modern personal computers has emphasized the use of
certain standard interface peripherals. These computers normally consist of monitor screens and
audio speakers for visual and aural output, and mouse and keyboard for data entry and command
control.
The combination of visual and aural display of output enables people with sensory disabilities,
including those with visual and aural disabilities, to make use of computers, but the keyboard and
mouse controls are partly or completely useless for people with motor disabilities.
47
We have been working on developing an easy-to-learn interface that will use the rapid processing
capabilities of modern personal computers to interpret the input signals of users to deliver
complex command capabilities.
In plain terms, it enables users to use a single click device (a switch) to navigate through a series
of choices and produce complete and original sentences. The aim is to produce a complete
sentence in just about the same time and with the same effort that would be needed to complete
the task with a mouse and keyboard.
9.0 e-Locutor: The Hawking Project
We started this project in early 2001, following a meeting with the physicist Prof Stephen
Hawking. He is well known, for his science and for his own medical problem, a nerve disorder
known as motor neuron disease. This interferes with the transmission of commands between the
brain and muscles, leading to a condition similar to paralysis.
Prof Hawking has been using computer-aided tools for communication and control of his electric
wheelchair for many years now. However, the software is no longer supported and he is unable to
find a suitable substitute. We offered to help develop something better suited to his needs. He is
capable of a small measure of movement in one hand, which he uses to press and hold a special
switch.
9.1 The solution: We have developed a solution, eLocutor, which is available for testing
at http://www.holisticit.com/elocutor/elocutorv2.htm. Links from this page also display
dynamic images of the software in use, hence it is not necessary to install the software in
order to get a flavor of the process of using it. Prof Hawking and his assistants are
currently evaluating the software.
One key feature of the solution is that it is independent of the language used. It has no inbuilt
grammar rules, instead relying upon actual usage. By substituting the database content, a
completely different language can easily be put in place.
It is our intention to promote the software for use by disabled people in Third World countries,
enabling them to consider entering active life once more.
We found while working on this solution that it is essential to have the cooperation and assistance
of people with similar difficulties, in order to arrive at optimal solutions. We are working on setting
up a research and development institute where we can work with disabled people to create new
software and hardware solutions aimed at overcoming the problems created for people like them
by their physical condition.
We believe that developing high-end solutions and designs will give our colleagues the
experience and confidence to independently take up high-end projects subsequently, whether or
not these are disability related. All too often such people are relegated to menial jobs as data
entry operators, even after they have proved their qualifications and ability.
10.0 Wireless Data Access - The Next Step
The investment stage for fibre optic in India is ongoing. Rail, power and communication
companies are all investing in laying down fibre optic cable. This is happening not only in the
major cities but across huge swathes of land, criss-crossing the country. The "last mile
48
connection", however, remains a major problem. The low density of users across larger
geographic areas deters investment in expensive switches and copper line to each household.
However, completely unsung, following the grapevine of the Internet, a new communications
paradigm has taken hold. It wasn't even properly christened. Much too late, marketing came up
with Wi-Fi, but long before then, engineers had cheerfully been using the IEEE standard number
that defined the standard - 802.11. There is a family of standards within this definition, denoted by
an alphabet after the digits, two of which, 802.11b and 802.11g, are already commercialized to
off-the-shelf status.
Wi-Fi costs less than a hundred dollars a node to deploy, routinely carries traffic in excess of half
a megabit per second, traverses kilometers with line of sight, and uses off-the-shelf hardware and
software. It simply transports TCP/IP and the Internet into the air, so it doesn't need a central
server. This makes for a major cost and management saving.
In the event of a disaster, the surviving nodes automatically reconnect, unlike conventional
telecommunications networks, which have consistently let us down in natural disasters such as
Latur, Bhuj and Orissa (three major natural disasters - two earthquakes and a typhoon - that hit
India in the last ten years, killing tens of thousands of people and destroying property worth
hundreds of millions of dollars).
In 802.11, the individual invests once in the networking hardware, which depending on distance
and the presence of other 802.11 nodes, costs between $40 and $1000. Networks as small as 2
nodes are commonplace. Often these are within a room, for the economies of scale that
Bluetooth didn't find, 802.11 reached by simply extending the wired Ethernet LAN into the air.
It also, significantly, allowed cost-effective broadband connectivity over distances. Single hops in
the range of several kilometers are easily attainable, with multiple hops extending the range
without limit. Through this ability, 802.11 delivers today what 3G promises in a few years.
http://nocat.net/faq.txt is an excellent beginners' guide to 802.11b, the first of the family to reach
ordinary consumer product status. 802.11g standard devices have now joined it, offering higher
bandwidth at greater distances, together with compatibility to the earlier standard.
Rapid deployment of telecom is a high priority in India. Much optic fibre has been deployed, but of
these rivers of bandwidth, very little reaches even the large end-user. We now have a tried and
tested technical solution to this problem. Funding agencies will find it much more attractive to
fund low, one-time costs, than the high running expenses the current model entails. The
emergence of a standard allows us to focus our meager resources in capital and training.
11.0 Models of Deployment
One way of analyzing the ways in which 802.11b has been deployed around the world, is to
divide them into Intranet and Internet models. In the Intranet model, a hospital, hotel, school,
airport might use it as a means of providing connectivity to its clients or employees. Multiple
nearby offices of a large organization may use it to cut down interconnection charges, or share a
fat pipe to the Internet.
11.1 Community Networking: There is, however, the far more exciting community
model, as demonstrated by consume.net in London and environs
(www.consume.net/consume-generalfaq.html). Other examples abound, such as
www.freenetworks.org and www.wirelessanarchy.com, in which anyone in a given
geographical area can share communication bandwidth by simply procuring and installing
a little networking hardware.
49
This model is ideally suited to interconnecting villages. While at the time of writing, 802.11b
devices seem to be more economical, and available in greater variety, 802.11g is making rapid
strides, and because of its higher bandwidth, may be considered instead, at the time of purchase.
802.11a is the most powerful variant in terms of reach and bandwidth, but it has not been as
popular, and does not interconnect to 802.11b and 802.11g networks or nodes, hence may never
be more than an engineering powerhouse.
In India, bandwidth at 2.4 GHz, as used by 802.11b and 802.11g, has been made free from
licensing for indoor use. In reality, this recent policy announcement is a little mendacious, as any
indoor use of wireless at public frequencies was always permitted.
Clearly, Wi-Fi can be used to extend high bandwidth out from fibre optic termination points over
the last mile. However, for this to become meaningful in rural India, it will be necessary to see
widespread dissemination of computers first, as 802.11 products are used as peripherals for
computers.
12.0 Conclusion
It is possible to push telecommunications growth in rural India by inciting demand. Traditional
wireline technologies cannot hope to do this. In wireless, using technologies free from expensive
central switching are the best way to bring costs down to affordable levels.
We have demonstrated that it is feasible to use low power FM radio broadcasting to spur local
interest in communications. There is still some work to be done in this area, as present
government policy does not favor villagers from owning or having locally managed broadcast
radio stations. As long as this remains the case, the option for use of leaky cable is viable.
Going ahead from here, we see enormous potential in addressing the other aspects of data
access: computer interfaces and connectivity. Interfaces need to be in local languages. With our
interface for severely disabled people, the future goal is an interface that speaks the local tongue.
While long distance connectivity shortfalls are being addressed with investments in fibre optic
across the country, we see the last mile solution for rural areas lies in wireless, especially
promising technologies such as Wi-Fi, based on established standards, with a steadily growing
consumer market internationally to ensure that costs remain low.
i
i. Times of India, 1st Nov 2002
ii iSource (www.isourceupdates.com)
iii Economic and Political Weekly, November 20-26, 1999
iv Satellites Over South Asia: Broadcasting, Culture and the Public Interest. (D Page and M Crawley)
Sage Publications, 2000
50
Appendix A
Community Radio in India
Until the early 1990s, there was no provision for any form of private involvement in the broadcast
media in India. This government policy relaxed with the burgeoning of satellite and cable
television, as independent producers began up linking local content to satellites with an Indian
footprint. Cable television operators quickly found that there was a huge market for such local
content. In the mid-'90s, the government began to actively carve out a policy for governance of
this medium. This is an ongoing process, and it has been facilitated by the introduction of rules
and regulations to manage local up linking, use of Indian owned satellites, and very recently,
governance of the terms and conditions under which cable operators provide services.
In the 1990s, the government also began an exit policy from many of the services once
considered its exclusive province. In radio, this took the form of focusing on revenue collection
from commercial services, which ultimately led to the licensing of private radio stations.
Radio, therefore, did not get the same level of attention as television. Following the introduction of
color broadcasting in the 1980s, the commercial market focus switched from radio to television.
Unlike other media, television did not merely complement radio, it took over. It is very likely that
independent content played a major role in this phenomenon, as much as, or more than, the
potential attractiveness of simultaneous moving pictures and sound. The government also
decided to switch local broadcasting from medium wave to FM in the 1990s. However, this has
not been a success, since consumers could not afford to replace their existing sets with those
capable of receiving FM.
Content has always been a serious concern. The entertainment factor (or lack of it) meant that
most radio programs had a low listenership. It can be argued that this pointed more to niche
listener interest, rather than poor quality per se. However, centralized production meant that there
was always major potential for disconnect between listeners and those producing and presenting
the content.
This point has not been well understood at the policy level. In the early days of radio, when there
were very limited resources for investment, the emphasis was on long range broadcasting, with
centralized production and transmission. This mindset continued long after the need for it was
over, and it still exists.
As is often the case with policy shifts, what was once a government monopoly came to be
perceived as a source of revenue, to the extent that licensing of private radio stations was carried
out in a manner that ensured only the largest of media companies could consider entry to this
business.
One commercial channel has already closed down and many of the licensees have not yet
started operations. Operators claim to be losing money at a far higher rate than anticipated, and
blame the lack of sufficient radio stations as a significant factor in the slow growth of radio
listening habits. The small size of the market has also meant that they have adopted a 'one-sizefits-all' approach to content, which is mostly pop music in Hindi and English. There is no local
language radio station in any of the cities where commercial radio has started.
The government decided to broaden the scope of public radio broadcasting by licensing the Indira
Gandhi National Open University to start 40 radio stations under the Gyan Vani (Knowledge
Broadcast) banner.
So far, about 7 have been started in different cities, but the response has been lukewarm. IGNOU
is an organization that has no campus but maintains a presence in many cities, and undertakes
education of people who are excluded from the traditional college streams by various factors. It
conducts courses mainly using distance learning techniques.
51
Very recently, in January 2003, after intense lobbying (including some by the authors), a policy for
non-commercial 'community radio' broadcasting was announced, but once again, this policy has
been shaped in a singular fashion, to restrict broadcasting rights to 'recognized' educational
institutions only. Such institutions exist mainly in large cities, and none have begun services to
date. This policy is also directly against the interests of the IGNOU policy announced earlier, and
this may be a contributory factor.
One university, an agricultural college, has been leased a disused medium wave transmitter by
the government, and has begun broadcasting agri-centric educational programs for farmers.
The terms and conditions of community radio as currently defined by the Indian government
places a number of restrictions on the content. It is intended to ensure that they focus on matters
of social relevance.
http://mib.nic.in/information&b/CODES/licenradio.htm
Guidelines for Applying: Licenses for Setting Up Community Radio Station Preamble
The Union Government has decided to grant Community Broadcasting licenses to wellestablished educational institutions/organizations recognized by the Central Government or the
State Government. These will include the Universities and Institutes of Technology/Management
and residential school.
The salient features of eligibility criteria, basic conditions/obligations and procedures for obtaining
license to set up and operate Community Radio service are briefly described below:- For further
details reference may be made to Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
2. Technical parameters:
2.1 License will be granted for FM transmitters for power of 50 Watts or less.
2.2 License will be issued in the shared frequency band from 87.5 to 100 Mhz. However, in the
event of frequency not being available in this band, the exclusive broadcast band of 104 to 108
Mhz may also be considered, as in case of private FM broadcasters. The frequency band from
100 to 104 Mhz. earmarked exclusively for the use of AIR, Prasar Bharati will not be disturbed.
3. Procedure to be followed: Application:3.1 Any eligible institution/organization desirous of setting up of Community Radio broadcasting
service may make an application to the Ministry of I&B in the prescribed proforma. (Download
application form)
3.2 The Ministry of I&B immediately on receipt of an application will consult the Wireless Advisor
in WPC wing of Ministry of Communications and also Prasar Bharati to determine the availability
of frequency at the place requested by the applicant.
3.3 The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting will refer the eligible applicant case to the
Ministries of Home Affairs, Defense, Human Resources Development and External Affairs and
letter of intent and/or license will be issued only after getting the requisite clearances from these
Ministries. The licensee will be required to sign a license agreement after allotment of frequency
by WPC. The license agreement shall specify detailed terms and conditions under which the
license is to be operated.
3.4 Within one year from the date of signing of license agreement, the applicant will complete all
necessary formalities such as obtaining SACFA clearance etc., set up the necessary broadcast
facilities and obtain a Wireless Operating License from the Wireless Advisor in the WPC Wing of
the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
52
3.5 In the event of more than one claimant for a single frequency at a given place, the licensee
will be selected by a Committee constituted by the Ministry of L&B on the basis of standing,
commitment, objectives and resources of the applicant organization.
3.6 Licensee will be charged only the spectrum usage fee as determined by the WPC. The
Ministry of I&B will not levy any other license fee.
4. Terms and Conditions
4.1 The basic objective of the Community Radio broadcasting would be to serve the cause of the
community in the service area of the licensee by involving members of the community in the
broadcast of their programs. For this purpose community would mean people living in the
coverage zone of the broadcasting service of the licensee.
4.2 The license shall be for a period of three (3) years.
4.3 The license shall not be transferable.
4.4 An applicant will not be permitted more than one license.
4.5 The licensee shall provide its services on free to air basis.
4.6 The licensee shall not use its channel/broadcast services in whole or part for commercial
purposes.
4.7 The programs on the community radio service will focus on issues relating to education,
health, environment, agriculture rural and community development. The content must be confined
to social, cultural and local issues and the format, subject, presentation and language must reflect
and exude the local flavor and fragrance.
4.8 The licensee shall not be permitted to broadcast any news and current affairs programs and
shall not air election and political broadcasts.
4.9 The licensee shall not air any advertisement or sponsored programs.
4.10 The licensee shall ensure that nothing is included in the program of the licensee which :
a. Offends against good taste or decency;
b. Contains criticism of friendly countries;
c. Contains attack on religions or communities or visuals or words contemptuous of religious
groups or which promote communal attitudes;
d. Contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half
truths;
e. Is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and
order or which promote-anti-national attitudes;
f. Contains anything amounting to contempt of court;
g. Contains aspersions against the integrity of the President and Judiciary;
h. Contains anything affecting the integrity of the Nation;
i. Criticizes, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social,
public and moral life of the country;
j. Encourages superstition or blind belief;
k. Denigrates women;
l. Denigrates children.
m. May present/depict/suggest as desirable the misuse of drugs including alcohol, narcotics and
tobacco or which may stereotype, incite, vilify or perpetuate hatred against or attempt to demean
53
any person or group on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual preference,
religion, age or physical or mental disability.
4.11 The licensee shall ensure that due care is taken with respect to religious programs with a
view to avoiding a) Improper exploitation of religious susceptibilities; and
b) Offence to the religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion or religious
denomination.
4.12 That the licensee shall ensure that due emphasis is given in the programs to promote values
of national integration, religious harmony, scientific temper and Indian culture.
4.13 The licensee shall follow the Program Code of All India Radio.
4.14 The licensee shall pay spectrum usage fee as determined by the Wireless Advisor in WPC
Wing.
4.15 Though the licensees will operate the service under the Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting, Govt. of India, the licensing will be subject to the condition that as and when any
regulatory authority to regulate and monitor the broadcast services in the country is constituted,
the licensees will have to adhere to the norms, rules and regulations prescribed by such authority.
4.16 The licensee shall provide such information to the Government on such intervals as may be
required. In this connection, the licensee is required to preserve tapes of programs broadcast
during the last six months failing which the Government will be at liberty to revoke the license.
4.17 The Government or its authorized representative shall have the right to inspect the
broadcast facilities of the licensees and collect such information as considered necessary in
public and community interests.
4.18 The Government reserves the right to take over the entire services and networks of the
licensee or revoke/terminate/suspend the license in the interest of national security or in the event
of national emergency/ war or low intensity conflict or similar type of situations.
4.19 All foreign personnel likely to be deployed by way of appointment, contract, consultancy, etc.
by the licensee for installation, maintenance and operation of the licensee’s services shall be
required to obtain security clearance from the Government of India.
4.20 The Government reserves the right to modify at any time the terms and conditions if it is
necessary to do so in the interest of the general public or for the proper conduct of broadcasting
or for security considerations.
4.21 Government may revoke the license at any time in public interest or for breach of any terms
and conditions of the license by giving a notice of 15 days.
4.22 Notwithstanding anything contained anywhere else in the license the
Government’s decision shall be final and conclusive.
4.23 The licensees shall furnish a bank guarantee for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty
thousand) only to ensure timely performance of the license agreement.
4.24 If the licensee fails to commission services within the stipulated period, he shall forfeit the
amount of bank guarantee to the Government and the Government would be free to cancel the
license awarded to the licensee.
4.25 A license will be subject to such other conditions as may be determined by the Government.
54
Appendix B
News item: India's first community radio broadcast center shut by government
Copyright, 1999 The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd., 75, M.G. Road, Post Box No 5331, Bangalore
- 560001 Tel: +91 (80) 5880000 Fax No. +91 (80) 5880523
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Centre ends AP's community broadcasting From R Akhileshwari, DH News Service,
HYDERABAD, Feb 12 A much-publicized World Bank-funded, government-supported program in
Andhra Pradesh has been scuttled by the Central Government for violating the law.
An official of the Department of Telecom (DoT) seized the transmitter set up by the Society for
Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) in Orvakal village in Kurnool district for not possessing a
license to broadcast programs, thus putting an end to the experiment of community broadcasting
called 'Mana Radio' or 'Our Radio'. The program was launched in October last as part of
spreading awareness among the community.
A handful of the village's men and women were involved in recording programs and broadcasting
them once a week. The one-hour program every Monday included songs, discussions and even
news about the community and its concerns. According to the official who seized the transmitter
on Tuesday, he received an advisory from the DoT's monitoring agency to seize the transmitter
since it had not been licensed by the Wireless Planning Coordination wing as required under the
law.
While senior SERP officials were reluctant to comment on the development, some put up a brave
face saying that they would apply for the licenses soon and the radio would start working once
again within a few days time.
However, media experts here are skeptical since they point out that as per the revised norms of
the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, licenses would be granted to set up FM radio
stations only to 'well-established' educational institutions.
"There is no law at present under which a group of people or a government-supported institution
can broadcast programs by using air waves," said Mr Vinod Pavarala of the University of
Hyderabad. According to a 1985 law, even owning transmission equipment is illegal, he pointed
out.
The 'radio station' comprises a low-powered transmitter that has been installed atop a house in
Orvakal village with a reach of one km, effectively covering the entire village. It has two digital
tape recorders which double up as editing equipment. The programs were heard by the
community in about 50 radio sets that were distributed free of cost as part of the program. Media
analysts here told Deccan Herald that right from the beginning the SERP was 'fudging‘ on the
issue of license, suggesting that they were capitalizing on a loophole in the licensing law.
They were so confident that they publicized Mana Radio as the first community radio of the
country and it was covered extensively by the press and TV channels. Evidently, the confidence
was inspired by the Telugu Desam Party's close ties with the Centre and that the program was
backed by World Bank the analysts said.
55
Appendix C
Letter to the Cabinet Minister protesting shutting down of Mana radio station
April 16, 2003
Mr. Arun Shourie
Minister of Telecommunications and IT
New Delhi
Subject: Low-power FM radio policy
Sir,
We seek your intervention in a matter of serious concern for the hundreds of millions of poor
people in this country. An action by some bureaucrats in your ministry has nipped in the bud a
highly promising experiment in bringing the benefits of the Internet to people who cannot afford a
phone line or a computer.
At Radiophony, we decided early on, that, unlike most other communications companies, we did
not wish to focus our interest on that very small fraction of India that has access to such facilities,
and knows English well enough to use the Internet. As we saw it, there is only one
telecommunications device that the poor person can afford to own, indeed might already
possess: the simple AM/FM radio. Any strategy that seeks to bring the benefits of modern
communications to poor people cannot bypass this.
You are undoubtedly aware of the experiments at Radio Kothmale in Sri Lanka
(http://www.kothmale.net/) and elsewhere, which allow illiterate people to access the Internet in a
limited fashion, using their own mother-tongues. People send their questions to the radio station
via a post card or a phone call. At the station, English literate staff search the Net or
encyclopedias for the answer, and broadcast it in the local language via the radio station, a
concept known by the term "radio-browsing" . At Radiophony, we have detailed ideas on how this
might be extended to allow low-cost simultaneous translation, which would save considerable
time at national conferences, as well as affordable multi-location conferencing. We would be
happy to elaborate on these.
While recognizing the importance of FM radio in bringing poor people into public debate, we
were, of course, determined to keep within the bounds of what the government permits in this
area. We were pleased to note that the government allowed the unlicensed use of cordless FM
microphones, which are used on almost every public platform now, and Chinese-made models
are indeed easily available in every electronics market for a little over Rs. 100. These
microphones radiate a power of about 50mW, as do the remote car door openers that luxury cars
routinely provide.
We adapted the design of a cordless microphone, using parts that are commonly available in
small towns, wherever radios and TVs are repaired. We designed an efficient, low-cost antenna
using the flat cable used to connect TV antennae, so that just 50mW of power would carry the
signal about 400 meters. We also made a provision for attachment of an audio recorder. This
system allows villages to set up community radio stations at a cost of only a few hundred rupees.
As partners for the pilot project, we were lucky to find the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty
in Hyderabad, which was seeking to promote development in regions of extreme poverty, and
was looking for an affordable means of communication for the members of their micro-finance
self-help groups. Effectively, what we gave them is an ecologically-friendly public address
system. The range is roughly the same as that of a blaring loudspeaker, however, our system
allows multiple voices to co-exist (for instance, at the time of elections, each political party can set
up its own, independent transmitter). Unlike in the case of the conventional PA system, the
listener can choose, which source to tune her radio to if her kids are studying, she can also switch
56
all of them off. By effectively replacing a small number of large loudspeakers with a large
distributed set of small, switchable ones, we not only save power, but also drastically reduce
noise pollution. At the same time, the quality of sound reception improves, and the last house
within range hears the sound almost as clearly as the nearest one.
Information about the pilot project, including detailed circuit diagram and parts list, have been
made available at http://radiophony.com/html_files/oravakal.html.
Of course, when using such little power, even at this range, indoor reception is not available: the
listener must attach a wire to the radio and suspend it within line of sight of the transmitting
antenna.
The occasion for bringing this to your notice, is that, as we have been told, Mr. Sharad Chauhan
of your Hyderabad Wireless Monitoring Unit, at the request of his Delhi-based superior, Mr. TP
Narayanan, and the complaint of Mr. Ashok Kumar of Wireless Planning and Coordination, went
to Oravakal, and seized the equipment (without any written warrant). For your reference,
Oravakal is located in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, being a tiny village about 20 km
from Kurnool town, about 4-5 hours drive from Hyderabad.
Our request is simple: could we please participate in a discussion of a wireless policy that allows
frivolous uses such as opening car doors and wireless microphones (used mostly for Karaoke),
while denying poor people their only available access to modern telecommunications? If a
transmitter of 50mW is illegal, how is it that no raids are conducted at the myriad shops in Palika
Bazaar, Lajpat Rai market, and thousands of electronics shops around the country, which sell
cordless microphones, while the
Ministry sees fit to send a senior bureaucrat to the remote village of Oravakal, to terrorize some
poor women trying to convince others to join their micro-finance system?
Surely the government isn't arguing that the FM spectrum in Oravakal is crowded, or is going to
be in the foreseeable future: at the moment, only one FM station can be received at the village,
and we are unaware of any plan to significantly increase that number. As we all know, the FM
band can accommodate dozens of such stations. Internationally accepted standards of
broadcasting allow for about 100 stations to broadcast in the public band between 87.5 and 108
MHz, to an audience listening in the same geographical area.
The government seems to have no problem allowing Chinese made equipment to sell openly in
the country, while Indian organizations (with far more laudable objectives), making equivalent
equipment, are harassed. Is it then any wonder, that there is such little electronic innovation in the
country? Our software industry has acknowledgedly achieved sterling success, and so can the
hardware industry, but not if shackled in this way.
And talking of innovation in electronics, is it not ironic that FM radio, a technology we are only
now allowing to any serious degree, is over sixty years old? Shouldn't the experts in your ministry
seek to encourage some innovation in this area, instead of trampling it underfoot?
We would be happy, at your convenience, to demonstrate our system to you, and discuss with
you the promising possibilities of such technologies in achieving universal access.
Thanking you for your consideration,
Yours truly,
Arun Mehta
(CTO, Radiophony)
57
LOW COST ACCESS AND CONNECTIVITY FOR LAOS
By: Vorasone DENGKAYAPHICHITH
Table of Contents
1.0
Introduction
1.1 The Lao People’s Democratic Republic
2.0
Current IT and Communications in Laos
2.1 Government, Business, and Personal Computers
2.2 Landline Infrastructure
2.3 Fibre Optic Infrastructure
2.4 Internet in Laos
2.5 Customer Demand
2.6 The Wireless Revolution
2.7 A Local Solution
3.0 802.11 “Cantennas”
3.1 History of the Cantenna
3.2 Required Parts
3.3 Required Equipment
3.4 Performance
3.5 Costs
4.0 Creating Local Wireless Networks in Laos
4.1 Sustainability
4.2 Training Required
5.0 Obstacles
6.0 Opportunities
References
Appendix A: Performance Data for Various “Cantennas”
58
1.0 Introduction
Laos lacks access to the low cost and sustainable
technologies we take for granted. In a developing
country where water pipes are still rare, opening the “fat
pipes” of the IT revolution is a difficult, but important task.
Fortunately, with the lack of precedence comes the ability
to innovate, to “leapfrog” over outdated technologies, and
adopt the best the world has to offer today. New
technologies, particularly low cost 802.11 “wi-fi”, give us
the potential to “un-wire” a country where wires might
never penetrate into remote jungle hamlets, but radio
waves will. This paper will present some of the
opportunities Laos presents for providing low-cost access
and connectivity.
1.1 The Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Laos is the only landlocked South East Asian country, a natural land hub interconnecting
China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Laos has an area of 236,800 square
kilometers and a population of 5,777,180 (July 2002 est.), with 16.5% illiteracy rate
(government's figure). The Lao People Democratic Republic was proclaimed in December
1975, with the change of political balance in South East Asia (Vietnam War). The gross
National product (or GDP) is estimated to be $1,630.00 per capita (2001 figure, inflation rate
at 10%)1.
Mainly a subsistence economy, its natural resources remain mostly unexploited and
untapped. Laos is a poor and isolated developing country, which had suffered much from the
misfortune of war and neglect. Remote and removed from the world, the existing technology
infrastructure is only now becoming known to outsiders.
The country's recent history and political structure further compound problems of poverty and
underdevelopment. Like many other communist bloc countries, Laos has long been isolated
from the international arena, with limited ties to the rest of the world. This is gradually
changing as the country is undertaking economic reforms and slowly opening its doors to the
outside world; especially in the IT arena- the Internet included.
Source: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/la.html
1
World Factbook 2002- URL : http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/la.html
59
2.0 Current IT and Communications in Laos
According to Phonpasit Phitsamay, Director of Information Technology Center, Science
Technology and Environment Agency, Prime Minister’s Office2:
The Ministry of Communication Transport Post and Construction has set a target of
teledensity of three by 2005, but again there is no clear mechanism of how this will be
reached. It is interesting to note that according to official reports over 8,897 people in
Vientiane only were on the waiting list for a fixed telephone line at the end of 2000. The
connection charge for the fixed telephone network is just Kip 400,000 (US$40). This
amount is equivalent to roughly 13 per cent of household yearly consumption
expenditure. Though this seems large, it is a one-time investment to get connected to the
network and is far below the actual cost of providing service. After that, monthly
expenditures for phone service seem manageable for wealthier households. For example
the monthly telephone fee plus 100 minutes of local telephone calls (Kip 15,000 + 4,500
= 19,500) is equal to 10.3 percent of average monthly household consumption.
An AMPS analogue cellular network was launched in 1993 serving Vientiane and a year later a
GSM 900 network was introduced (December 1994). The AMPS network has since been shut
down. The GSM network is now available in nine of the country’s eighteen provinces. As
coverage is usually available only in the largest town of the province and does not fully extend
down the nation’s main highway, it is estimated that less than ten percent of the population is
covered by a mobile signal. Despite eight years of mobile cellular implementation, Lao PDR has
not yet experienced a wireless boom to the same extent as other developing nations. At
September 2001, mobile subscribers accounted for one third of the total telephone subscribers in
Lao PDR and mobile density was a mere 0.25 per cent. There are several possible explanations.
Lao PDR was the last country in the region to introduce competition in the mobile sector. It also
only recently launched prepaid service in 2000. Some argue that the country’s economic and
geographic situation work against wide mobile penetration. Incomes are low, the vast majority of
inhabitants are rural and much of the terrain is mountainous. The number of subscribers grew by
75 per cent between January and September 2001; significantly above the annual average
growth of 44 percent a year between 1997-2000. One factor has been the start of the M-Phone
prepaid service. Launched in 2000, there were 5,402 prepaid subscribers at September 2001,
accounting for 21 percent of all mobile cellular subscribers.
2.1 Government, Business, and Personal Computers
There are probably less than fifteen thousand computers in Laos. Although there is a very high
level of interest in personal and business computing, and the Internet, costs for PCs and access
to the Internet are still too high for common use.
Computing remains an activity mostly reserved for the workplace in the Lao PDR, though
wealthier households in the major cities, especially Vientiane, are now buying computers for their
children.
2
Seminar on Information Technology management, Under common program of CLMV initiatives and
JICA-ASEAN. October 8-10, 2002, Vientiane, Lao PDR. “IT policies and E-development in Lao PDR”
60
According to Phitsamay:
There is a 5% tariff on all imported hardware. There is also a 10% turnover tax applicable
to all computer retailers. These two taxes are passed on directly to customers, along with
an additional 20%-50% mark-up profits.
Most retailers (mainly the big companies) rely heavily on sales to international
organizations, projects and the government; these sales, on average, account for 85% of
all their computer sales. Private businesses are the next largest customers, accounting
for 13% of total sales. Sales for personal computing only accounts for 2% of total sales.
Small shops usually target the low-end computer market, providing cheap computers to
customers with tight budgets.
2.2 Landline Infrastructure
The International Telecommunication Union estimates “that fewer than four percents of Laotian
households currently have a telephone” and that “less than half of Laos’ districts (58 out of 142)
have fixed telephone services and only urban areas in half the provinces are covered by a mobile
cellular signal: 3
2.3 Fibre Optic Infrastructure
•
Regional: In the area of telecommunications infrastructure, Entreprise des
Telecommunications Lao (ETL) has plans for a fibre optic backbone that will link all
provinces. The China South-East Asia Cable (Vientiane to Laksao), which ETL considers
to be Phase One of its fibre optic project, has already been installed. There are nine
additional phases: Road 9 (2000-2003), 13 South (2001-2003), 13 North (2001-2003),
Northern Provinces (2004-2006), Southern Provinces (2006-2008), Lao-China (20042006), Lao-Thai (2001-2003), Lao-Vietnam (2001-2003), and Lao-Cambodia (20062009). LaoTel has their own high speed connections via Shinnawat’s telco backbone.
•
National and International: The planned transmission rate for this fibre optic network is
2 Gbps. The plan for the Lao-Vietnam connection includes a line that extends to the east
coast of central Vietnam, near Quang Tri. This line will then connect to Hong Kong via
submarine cable. All other international connections will be terrestrial connections: 3
lines to Vietnam, 1 line to China, 1 line to Myanmar, 4 lines to Thailand, and 1 line to
Cambodia.
2.4 Internet in Laos
ISPs
Recently the number of Internet users registered with all Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
has dramatically increased, numbering between 3500-4000. There are only three ISPs
currently operating in the Lao PDR; the largest market share holder being LaoTel, the
country’s only telecommunications provider –
LaoTel services almost 80% of all Internet subscriptions. LaoTel is 51% owned by the Lao
Government and 49% owned by Lao Shinawatra International.
3
Internet on the Mekong: Lao PDR Case Study. ITU March 2002.
61
Internet Cafes
An alternative, and less expensive, means of Internet access are Internet cafes, which
requires no investment in a personal computer or costly monthly charges. The estimated
number of Internet cafes in the Lao PDR is under one hundred; however, this figure is
growing at a very rapid rate. The growth of Internet cafes is indicative of the increasing
interest in accessing the Internet.
Full-time access, via an ISP, by local citizens accounts for about 40% of all ISP accounts.
However, Lao people make up the majority of Internet café users, which was initially
comprised of international tourists.
2.5 Customer Demand
The Lao people are no different from people in other parts of the world. They want to
communicate with others.
Most Lao people are unfamiliar with computers. They are unlikely to use any system that is
complicated or presented in a language not their own. To this end, there have been efforts to
create and standardize Lao fonts for use within text processing applications. In addition, the
Lao version of Linux, (Laonux) has integrated Lao into the entire KDE graphical user
interface. Thus, some of the pieces are already in place to dramatically increase the use of
computers in Laos.
A working used computer, (P-133 - Win95 with monitor, keyboard, mouse, modem) now
costs around two hundred dollars in Laos. While this is a large sum for any single family
outside the capital, spread between the residents of a village, it becomes affordable. Most
villages do not have regular electricity supplies. Still, even the poorest places have at least
one television, usually powered by a generator. Where a village already has a television,
acquiring a computer is not an unreasonable expectation.
The primary obstacle remains the lack of telephone landlines. As elsewhere, it’s “the last
mile” that thwarted efforts toward connectivity.
Currently, about 4% of the population has landline access to telephony. Only the major
urban areas have mobile phone coverage. It is unlikely this will improve rapidly. Current
demand for voice communications is very high, as can be seen with the explosive growth of
mobile phone subscriptions.
Presumably then, the primary purpose of the first computers used rurally will be for Voice
Over IP services which allow the users to make and receive low cost phone calls. The
government, except where a special permit has been issued for VoIP, currently prohibits this.
Still, enforcement of this law seems lax as most Internet cafes openly advertise the
availability of VoIP for their customers.
While adult literacy is rising, Laos remains far behind at only 47%. The number of Internet
users who are also literate in another language will be but a fraction of that. Thus, surfing the
mostly English language web is not currently a primary goal of users.
Text based messaging, such as email, SMS, and IM is currently the primary activity online for
Lao people. This is why the development of Lao fonts and user interfaces remains critical for
extending the use of the Internet. As more Lao language sites are created, they should be
popular destinations.
62
No Lao bank currently offers credit card services. Without the ability to shop online, ecommerce is unlikely to be feasible when marketed to Lao users. The economy is mostly
agricultural, exporting food and raw materials. Some businesses may use the Internet to
improve pricing and market data or logistics.
It is almost impossible to quantify demand, as there are few surveys of this nature and
access to the rural population is difficult. What remains certain is that serving the rural user is
unlikely to be affordable or sustainable using typical landline technologies given the
geography and economics of Laos.
2.6 The Wireless Revolution
If people are unwilling to wait for telephone lines, yet still have the strong desire to connect to
the Internet, they might take matters into their own hands. Some mobile subscribers have
erected base stations near their rural homes at their own expense.
Could Lao Internet enthusiasts and entrepreneurs be able to create their own WLANs,
especially if the technology is made affordable?
A few companies have already sprung up in Laos offering 802.11b service to business
customers. All these efforts are within the capital Vientiane and are very costly. Imported
hardware and technical expertise is required to make the WLAN work, and the internet
gateway must be paid for whether it is through LaoTel or a satellite uplink provider.
The huge advantage of using 802.11 isn’t speed. That will always be limited by the gateway
to an Internet backbone.
Rather, it’s the very troublesome geography that can be overcome with wireless. All that is
required is line of sight between antennas. With relays on top of buildings, trees, and
mountain peaks, the whole country could be connected to both local wireless LANs in their
own language, but also to the Internet itself.
If all the equipment is installed using state of the art commercial antennas with a qualified
staff of trained technicians, it will fail. The installation cost is too high, and the maintenance is
almost impossible. Further, the equipment is subject to vandalism, theft, and frequent
weather-related failure.
2.7 A local solution
However, if the Lao people themselves make their own low cost antennas, mount and
maintain them locally, and create the network themselves, there is a very real potential to
connect the countryside without much money and with no requirement for outside
maintenance.
The following section details how this can be done using “cantennas”.
63
3.0 802.11 “Cantennas”
Note: Except where otherwise noted, the following section has liberally borrowed, abstracted,
and copied information from http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html.
It is believed that all the information below is accurate and in the public domain as the result of
many generous enthusiasts posting their experiences on the Internet. Any mistakes herein are
the responsibility of the authors of this report, who wish to thank the enthusiasts for acting in the
true spirit of the web.
802.11b
Description: A physical layer standard for WLANs in the 2.4GHz radio band. It specifies three
available radio channels. Maximum link rate of 11-Mbps per channel, but maximum user
throughput will be approximately half of this because the throughput is shared by all users of the
same radio channel. The data rate decreases as the distance between the user and the radio
access point increases.4
3.1 History of the Cantenna
In July 2001, Rob Flickenger wrote an article5 for
Oreillynet.com describing Andrew S. Clapp’s success in
converting an ordinary Pringles can into an 802.11b antenna.
On Clapp’s website he says,
I looked at this cool Seattle Wireless page with wonderful
pictures of a manufactured directional yagi antenna and then
I did some math and built one as much like it as I could
afford. When I was done, I had the basic model for the
antenna, but 36" long. Both are similar in construction and
materials, and identical in theory. I just scaled down the
materials and made a smaller one, and the potato crisp can
just happened to be about the right size and it worked out.6
Since that time, thousands of enthusiasts have built
“cantennas”, using cans of all shapes and sizes. Dozens of
Figure 1: An early cantenna
websites give detailed instructions on how to build these
cans. For an averagely skilled person with some mechanical
aptitude, building a cantenna takes about one hour the first
time, and fifteen minutes thereafter.
4
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2857227-2,00.html
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448
6
http://www.netscum.com/~clapp/wireless.html
5
64
3.2 Required Parts
(See footnote7)
The Connector
Each antenna requires an N type Female Chassis-mount connector. One side is Nfemale for connecting the cable from your wireless equipment, and the other side has a
small brass stub for soldering on wire. These can be found at electronics stores internet
suppliers for $3-$5.
Nuts & Bolts
The bolts must be long enough to go through the connector and the can. You may use
#6x1/4" stainless. If the N-connector is a screw on type, then there is no need for the nuts
and bolts.
Wire
Each antenna requires about 1.25" of 12 gauge copper wire. This wire will stick into the
brass stub in the N-connector.
A Can
Any can between about 3" and 3 2/3" in diameter. The size doesn't have to be exact.
Users have experimented with a wide variety of shapes and sizes with various results,
and almost any can will work. Discarded empty cans commonly found in Laos will
certainly be suitable.
3.3 Required Equipment
•
•
7
A drill or other tool for making a hole in a can.
A soldering tool
Adapted from http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
65
•
•
A measure
A way of calculating the location of the hole.
See the exact details on the amateur manufacture of a cantenna at
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html
3.4 Performance
As shown in Appendix A, cantennas perform as well as commercially available
802.11b antennas, which currently cost hundreds of dollars.
Mounted anywhere with line of sight to another antenna, attached to a computer
with a coax cable and wireless card, these antennas can achieve line of sight
ranges of at least 15 kilometres.
This means that wireless local area networks, wireless peer to peer networks,
wireless hub and spoke networks, and just about any other configuration can be
readily achieved without worries about whether these low cost cantennas are
sufficiently powerful.
3.5 Costs
Assuming a soldering tool and drill is already available, the cost for creating each
cantenna is under five dollars. Even minimal effort to scale up such
manufacturing would lower those costs dramatically. A shop floor, garage,
storefront, backyard, or just about any other reasonable workspace is sufficient to
manufacture cantennas in quantity. Personnel require no background in welding
or electronics to build a cantenna.
The coaxial connector to the PC or other wireless device cost will vary by
manufacturer. They can be found online for as little as twenty dollars. It is
strongly suspected that these cables can also be locally manufactured.
The most expensive piece of equipment for now is the wireless card for a laptop,
PC, or other wireless device such as a Pocket PC or Palm Pilot. These range
from $40 to $150, although their price continues to fall.
So for each computer using a cantenna to connect to the wireless LAN, the
equipment cost will initially range between $65 and $200.
If the cables, N-Type connectors, and even the wireless cards can be
manufactured locally, the price could drop to a fraction of this.
66
4.0 Creating Local Wireless Networks in Laos
From the above, it should be clear that the equipment for networking is no longer the obstacle it
was just a few years ago. Lao people can make the equipment themselves cheaply and easily
with little training.
The next step, assuming computers are available, is mounting antennas (with the shortest length
of wire possible, since it degrades signal strength). Bamboo poles, strapped to a building, can be
used to elevate the cantennas. They can also be installed in trees, rooftops, towers, or any other
place that provides a line of sight to another cantenna. The only limit is power and proximity to a
computer.
It is important to remember that not all computers must be using cantennas. If a remote school
has ten computers, only one requires a cantenna. The rest can connect to each other using
standard CAT5 cables. If two computers in such a local network are also connected to
cantennas, then the school becomes a relay point, further extending the network at very low cost.
Since the bottleneck for throughput is the final connection to the Internet itself, it is unlikely that
the typical cantenna network will ever utilize its full potential. Speeds of between 14Kbs and
11Mbs are available, but actual Internet connection performance will be slow. Speeds between
the computers in the local network should be quite high though, since there is no bottleneck other
than the distance between antennas and atmospheric conditions.
There is no requirement that the antennas be fixed in only one position. They are quite portable
and can be rotated and adjusted to gain signal strength or point to a different wireless antenna.
There is also no requirement that a PC or Laptop be the device connected to the network. Other
wireless capable devices, such as Pocket PCs, work just as well. For remote relays, a handheld
device, equipped with two wireless cards connecting to two cantennas may require little enough
power to operate for several days between battery recharges.
Similarly, Lao people may find it more intuitive to use a stylus for writing the Lao script than a
standard English language based keyboard modified for the Lao font.
As these portable devices drop in price and rise in capabilities, they may become the heart of a
fluid wireless network that is imminently suited for the rural countryside.
Users may shift between ad hoc networks, Internet connectivity, and other types of LAN at will
simply by shifting their cantennas.
The flatter the geography, the better for wireless networks, but the mountainous terrain also
provides advantages for locating relay stations on promontories.
67
4.1 Sustainability
The weather and geography of Laos will degrade any kind of equipment. So using locally made
replacement parts is a large reason why this approach is more sustainable than buying antennas
from commercial vendors. The very simple design and obvious user interface (point your can at
another can to get a connection) means that no literacy or special training is required to use and
maintain the cantennas.
If a typhoon knocks over the equipment, or it is stolen, it can be replaced within a matter of days
by the local people at a (likely) lower cost than when they first installed it. Since they are made or
ordinary familiar cans, they do not intimidate the novice. Rather, she is interested to see how
something so common can be so useful and may want to learn more.
There is nothing inherent in either this design or computers generally that prevents females from
creating, installing, and maintaining wireless networks. In fact, they may be better suited to the
task than men, and more likely to responsibly use the networks for economically beneficial
activities. Wherever possible, women should be encouraged to operate these networks.
4.2 Training Required
Detailed illustrated instructions in print and/or video must be produced in the local language.
Printed handbooks can be sold or distributed for free at appropriate events. The video may be
broadcast on television, or distributed through DVDs or VHS.
Ideally, the information on how to create and use a cantenna and wireless networks is spread
virally.
Selected groups of students, the press, donors, and interested computer professionals can be
given demonstrations to introduce the concept of low cost high quality wireless networking.
Establishing organizations like “cantenna clubs” to share and experiment with the technology is a
good bet for spreading the word and driving further innovation and localization.
Demonstrations can be repeated in the provinces and at schools and universities.
ISPs, satellite uplink providers, and other gatekeepers to the Internet can be encouraged to
provide shared gateways for Internet access. With encryption and prepaid cards, ISPs could find
a lucrative new market in allowing entrepreneurs to setup wireless internet cafes or hubs which
serve as resellers of access to the Internet.
68
5.0 Obstacles
• Geography and Weather: Laos is mountainous, and inundated with rain for half the year.
The roads, while improving, remain treacherous. The cost of installing wires and other
traditional infrastructure in remote areas is very high. Half the year Laos is drenched in
monsoon rains, which requires weatherising of most electrical equipment, and potentially
reduces signal strength for out of doors wireless networks.
• Lack of Coordination: Unsurprisingly, many governmental agencies are intensely
interested in the path IT modernization follows in this country. While this is laudable, it
can also create conflicts and redundancies within the agencies. This slows the process
considerably. It is difficult to know just who may authorize installation and operation of IT
systems, and projects can be thwarted through the frustration this causes.
• Lack of Standards: There are virtually no IT standards in Laos. Both private and public
sectors use several conventions to integrate IT into their current organization structure
(Character sets & software and hardware for LAN, WAN and Intranet). In addition, the
government may take steps to block independent communications networks, or systems
that provide VoIP without permission.
• Lack of IT Knowledge: The government has a lack of expertise in areas relating to
formulation, implementation, and maintenance of National IT strategies and policies. The
educational institutions have a lack of resources and the knowledge base for the
integration and promotion of IT. In rural areas, lack of IT knowledge is nearly universal.
Special efforts must be made to promote rural technical learning.
• Infrastructure: The current telecommunication infrastructure does not support
technologies for high-speed information access. The poor power supply suffers from
frequent failures, plus unstable voltage and frequency8 To support wireless access in
rural areas, generators would be needed.
• ISP Customer Service: Price fluctuation, poor technical support, and service disruptions,
make dialup connections unreliable and slow.
• Costs: Where the per capita GDP is about $1,600 annually, it is not surprising that the
overwhelming majority of Laotians cannot afford a computer, much less Internet access.
The Lao government is also unable to spend as much as it would like on IT equipment.
Currently, much of the equipment comes from international donors.
• Lao Language Support: Laotian fonts are available for Windows and Macintosh
computers, so Lao websites and documents can be created and shared. The “Laonux”
project is a Lao version of the Linux operating system, which will provide the user
interface entirely in Lao. But without sufficient documentation of such systems and
software in both English and Lao, progress will continue to be slow. Online publishing
and training cannot proceed without additional technology teaching materials.
8
Seminar on Information Technology management. Under common program of CLMV initiatives and
JICA-ASEAN. October 8-10, 2002, Vientiane, Lao PDR
69
6.0 Opportunities
Laos provides an excellent showcase for promoting IT in a rural developing economy. Simply
put, if the technology can work here, it can probably work anywhere. The weather and geography
will always present difficulties, but many of the other obstacles can be removed.
•
Laos can “leapfrog” over existing obsolete technologies to new, better, and more
sustainable technologies at lower cost.
•
Encourage more coordination between the various governmental agencies that
oversee IT. Consolidate the authority to authorize projects, and discourage
lower-level interference with pre-approved projects. Encourage wider adoption of
IT by easing restrictive regulations in telecommunications that would prevent
802.11 networking.
•
Train Lao people in creating, administering, and managing IT systems.
•
Encourage the formal adoption of national standards in IT, taking advantage of
work already completed by ISO, IEEE, W3, and other international standards
setting bodies
•
Increase the use of IT in education and training in non-technical areas, and train
educators in how to use online resources to improve instruction.
•
Spread IT more widely outside the capitol to include provinces, universities,
hospitals and other institutions.
•
Use low-cost wireless networking to expand access to the Internet in areas of the
country where wireline installation is impractical.
•
Train Lao people in the construction, operation, and administration of wireless
networks.
•
Encourage the use of “cantennas” and similar “do it yourself” low cost
alternatives to importing expensive IT equipment into the country.
Practically speaking, the installation of antennas using the 802.11 standard is neither technically
difficult, nor expensive. The primary difficulty lies in identifying power sources for relay stations
and end users, and in getting the ISPs to cooperate and provide access to Internet backbones.
There are at least four potential candidates for installing this infrastructure: the government,
private companies, international donors, and private citizens. If standards are adhered to, the
interconnectivity of any of these networks would be assured. Since the government and private
citizens don’t have the financial resources to install this infrastructure without help, private
companies and international donors are likely to play a large roll in the creation of a countrywide
grid.
The Jhai Foundation (www.jhai.org) has already demonstrated how the installation and use of
802.11 antennas can provide Internet access to remote rural villages. This type of international
donor funded project should continue to be encouraged.
70
Now, with cantennas practical and available to build locally, with a small amount of assistance
and knowledge transfer, the people of Laos could be provided the opportunity to build their very
own network themselves.
Affordable and sustainable wireless LANs built with cantennas are certainly only one of many
ways forward, but in countries such as Laos they may prove to be the most practical to introduce
today.
71
References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Michael Minges and Vannessa Gray- ITU’s Internet on the Mekong: Lao Case Study
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs -2003
Madanmohan Rao- The Internet in Laos: A Rough Guide. ITU’s Internet Country Case
Studies http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs -2000
Internet Cafés, ISPs, STEA, UNICEF, US. Embassy surveyed by the NUoL students from
May to July 2003
Phonpasit PHITSAMAY Director of Information Technology Center-IT policies and Edevelopment in Lao PDR. JICA-ASEAN October 8-10, 2002, Vientiane, Lao PDR
Internet on the Mekong: Lao PDR Case Study. ITU March 2002
ITU Internet Country Case Studies - Letters from the Field - Lao The Internet in Laos: A
Rough Guide by Madanmohan Rao (madanr@microland.net) Vientiane, Laos;
September 15, 2000
Fred Williams, et al. The concept of using cantennas for rural low-cost sustainable
networking is not new, but the specific suggestions for SE Asia and 802.11 cantennas
herein are the work of Fred who may be reached via: fred@williamsprojects.com.
72
Appendix A:
Performance Data for Various “Cantennas”
Note: The following was posted by the 802.11b Homebrew Computer Club on their website.
Others have posted similar results. See the entire website at:
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html
As you can see from the data below, cantennas can meet or exceed the performance of
commercial long range 802.11b antennas.
802.11b Homebrew Antenna Shootout - 2/14/2
modified 2/16/2:
posted noise measurements in response to slashdot comment.
Test Methodology
The Linksys WAP11 access point was 1120' from the test antennas.
Performance Measurements
All numbers are in dBm as reported by the Orinoco Client Manager software's Site Monitor.
Lower numbers are better. Power doubles for every 3 dBm increase.
Built in Orinoco Card Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-90
-96
5
none
none
11
none
none
Lucent/Agere/Orinoco "Range Extender" Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-83
-99
5
-86
-98
11
-85
-96
Average -85
-98
Flickenger Style Pringles Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-83
-97
5
-88
-98
11
-86
-98
Average -86
-98
73
Rehm Modified Pringles Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-85
-98
5
-86
-99
11
-86
-99
Average -86
-99
Flickenger Coffee Can Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-80
-98
5
-85
-98
11
-85
-98
Average -83
-98
Rehm Modifed Coffee Can Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-78
-98
5
-80
-98
11
-84
-98
Average -81
-98
Hunt's Pasta Sauce Can Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-79
-98
5
-80
-98
11
-81
-98
Average -80
-98
Nalley "Big Chunk" Beef Stew Can Antenna
Channel
Signal in Noise in
dBm
dBm
1
-77
-98
5
-80
-98
11
-78
-98
Average -79
-98
74
THE LONG ROAD TO UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN MOZAMBIQUE
By: Americo Muchanga and Björn Pehrson
(americo@it.kth.se),
(bjorn@it.kth.se)
KTH, Royal Institute of Technology
Department of Microelectronics and Information Technology
Telecommunications System Laboratory (TSLab)
Stockholm, Sweden
Table of Contents
1.0
Introduction
2.0 The Present State of Informatics in Mozambique
2.1 Telecommunications
2.2 Internet Status in Mozambique
3.0 Challenges for Deploying ICTs in a Developing Country
4.0 Country ICT Strategy
5.0 Hardware Infrastructure and Ubiquitous Network Access
5.1 Access to computer devices
5.2 Internet Access
5.3 Vertical vs. horizontal competition
5.4 The Open.net Concept as a model of access and organization
5.5 Wired vs. wireless technologies and deregulation
5.6 Satellite services
5.7 Fibre optics technology
5.8 Providing IT service beyond the power network grid
6.0 Human Resource challenges
7.0 Software infrastructure challenges
8.0 Saving Bandwidth and Enabling E-commerce
9.0 Regulatory bodies for ICT
10.0 Sustainability challenges
11.0 Conclusions
Bibliography, References and Acronyms
75
1.0 Introduction
The world is being profoundly affected by the ICT revolution. The Global Information Society,
manifested by the Internet, allows information and knowledge to circulate at an unprecedented
speed, changing all aspects of life and economic, political and socio-cultural activity.
In this Information era, it is the ability to use information and communication technologies
effectively and efficiently that increasingly determines the relevance and competitiveness of a
country in the global economy. This fact makes ICT part of the infrastructure of a country and a
concern of the public administration. Information processing resources and communication
networks should be regarded as utilities, together with roads, electrical power, water
management, etc. From the public administration point of view, these utilities should be treated as
enablers rather than as businesses themselves.
Our basic assumption is thus that the purpose for public involvement in the deployment of
information technologies in a developing country is as an enabler for development and
empowerment of the people in order to develop democracy, efficiency in organizations and
independence and quality of life of individuals.
Information technology tools are the same in developed and developing countries. However, the
environment in which they are deployed in developing countries make them unique in terms of
the challenges that are involved in the process of planning, acquisition, deployment, exploitation
and maintenance. The best approach to support the developing countries to meet these
challenges is not to donate outmoded equipment and old literature. Rather, it is to use the best
technologies and front line research results and to support capacity building via education and
training.
We will discuss six key challenges that need to be addressed when deploying Information
Technology in a developing country. For each challenge, a strategy is proposed and experiences
from its implementation are discussed. We do not argue that there is only one set of strategies
and solutions that will work for every country, but we present them as a proposal for a country like
Mozambique.
Our general argument is that there is a need to change the way in which data and
telecommunication networks are owned, deployed and managed today, if universality and
ubiquitous access is to be achieved in developing countries in the near future. Such change has
to be accompanied by a very pragmatic policy that contributes to the extension of the network as
well as of the number of the devices that are required to access Internet resources. The main
bottleneck is access.
76
2.0 The Present State of Informatics in Mozambique
The First National Inquiry into the Informatics Capacity of the Country, undertaken in 2000,
revealed that Mozambique is gradually entering the Global Information Society, though it also
showed that more than 50 percent of the informatics equipment is concentrated in the national
capital.
The following data shows the starting point from which the country is beginning its program of
transformation in informatics.
Basic data on the country
Geographical position: Southern Africa
Neighboring countries: Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland,
and South Africa
Land area: 799,380 square kilometers
Population statistics (1997)
Total: 16,917,000
Population growth rate: 2.72%
Males per 100 females: 92
Population density: 21 persons per square kilometer
Where the people live
In cities: 29%
In the countryside: 71%
Illiteracy rate (1997)
Total: 60.5%
Urban: 33%
Rural: 72%
Life expectancy at birth
Average: 42 years
Males: 41 years
Females: 44 years
Gross National Product: 2.4 billion US dollars (1997)
Human Development Index: 0.341 (UNDP 1997)
Ranking in HDI: 169th in 174 countries (UNDP 1997)
Sources: 1997 Census (CD-ROM of the National Institute of Statistics, 1999)
and Human Development Report (UNDP 1998)
77
Mozambique is a large country with an area of approximately 800,000 km2 and with a population
of 17.3 million is a sparsely populated country. More than two thirds of the population live in the
country’s vast and isolated rural areas, where infrastructure and communications are scarce.
Only 3.2 percent of rural population has a public telephone in their own village, while the post
office is available only to 2.7 percent of rural population.
2.1 Telecommunications: Telephone service provision in Mozambique is inadequate and
unevenly distributed. Mozambique's teledensity of 0.5 main fixed lines per 100 inhabitants (2000)
is not only well below that of developed countries, but it is also low when compared to other
African countries with comparable geographic and economic conditions. This illustrates the
difficulty of the public incumbent in keeping up with market demand and population growth. In the
end of 2000, the fixed network had a switching capacity of about 128,000 lines from which 86,000
were in service. Although the number is growing quickly there are still few public phones,
however the network is fully digitalized, which means that the exchanges can provide good
quality of service if the network is in good condition.
The following table shows specific data in the area of telecommunications.
Item
2000
2001
2002
Mainlines total switching capacity
121.754
127.902
138.482
Total transmission Capacity
20.457
27.150
29.070
Total Primary Network capacity (pair)
147.359
150.129
151.510
Total Secondary Network capacity (pair)
197.231
198.259
199.309
Total installed lines during the year
7.642
3.774
-5.749
Total connected lines
85.714
89.488
83. 739
Cellular mobile telephone subscribers
51.065
152.652
254.759
Source: Audited accounting Report of The Telecommunications of Mozambique (TDM) of 2001 and
2002
During the period 2000 to 2002 the number of fixed telephone lines declined from 89,488 in 2001
to 83,739 in 2002, while cell phones subscriptions grew from 51,065 to 254,759. This shows
considerable growth in the sector: 492% for cell phones. The decline in the fixed telephony
service should be regarded as a concern because fixed infrastructure is essential for data
communication services. However such decline is visible in urban areas that today enjoy a good
coverage of mobile telephony while in the rural areas the network has been extended.
The country has recently awarded a license to a new mobile operator, Vodacom Mozambique, as
part of the effort of the government to increase telephony density.
However, a look at the national coverage reveals that with a teledensity (telephones per hundred
inhabitants) of only 0.46, the country has one of the lowest telephonic coverage indices in the
region.
2.2 Internet Status in Mozambique: Use of the Internet started in Mozambique back in 1992
through the Center for Informatics of Eduardo Mondlane University (CIUEM). This was done
initially in a form of dialup connection to Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. It was
only later in 1993 that the first permanent connection providing full Internet access was
established.
Currently there are 10 operational Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Mozambique, all of which
run their main operations in Maputo. In terms of Internet access - today considered to be one of
the more obvious indicators of whether a country belongs to the Global Information Society Mozambique has risen from being a country with only one Internet Service Provider (ISP) and
less than a few hundred users in 1995 to ten ISPs and around 10,000 users in 1999, which gives
78
an average of one user to every 1,700 inhabitants (better than the African average of one in
5,000, but much less than, for example, the South African average of one in 65, not to speak of
the European and North American averages of one in 4).
Taking into account that subscriptions to the Internet are frequently shared amongst several
people, and also assuming that some of the accounts are connection to networks belonging to
institutions or companies or cyber cafes, the real number of persons with access to the Internet in
Mozambique could be considerably higher than 10,000. In fact that number is today estimated to
be around 60,000.
The main limitations are said to be economic - the relatively high costs of computers, telephone
lines and ISP fees. It is likely that at least 80% of all users are in Maputo. Even if reliable
telecommunication facilities and ISP POPs now exist in all provincial capitals and some districtal
cities, unreliable electricity, high costs of Internet and lack of computers and skills limit the use
outside of the capital.
The major ISPs are: CIUEM, Teledata, Tropical and Virconn. CFMNet is owned by the Railways
company CFM, Teledata is 50% owned by TDM, whereas Tropical, Virconn, Intra, EMIL,
Dataserv are fully privately owned. There are some Internet Cafés in Maputo, and several of the
better hotels in Maputo offer free Internet access to their guests. Teledata operates four Internet
cafés in Maputo, Beira, Nampula and Quelimane. The telecommunication company, TDM, has
been deploying what they call “digital agencies”. A digital agency is basically a cyber café that
also offers telephone service and TDM services such as payment of telephone bills. The plan is
to deploy 36 digital agencies by the end of this year.
The fees when using Internet café facilities are comparable to other capitals in Africa. Internet
cafés in Maputo charge about US$ 3.00 an hour for access, and dial-up subscriptions cost about
US$30 per month. TV Cabo offers Internet access via cable TV in limited residential and business
areas of Maputo. The costs, on top of the minimum TV package of US$ 20/month, are
US$75/month.
Mozambique has two companies that offer satellite services only. These companies are SATCom
and GSTelecom. SatCom do provide Internet services as well to its clients.
These figures above show clearly the long way Mozambique has to travel, as have so many other
developing countries, to accomplish a radical change in its under-developed situation. A very
encouraging sign is that, despite all its financial, infrastructural and technical problems and
limitations, Mozambique is taking a very positive attitude to the adoption and domestication of
ICTs for sustainable national development and for its effective participation in the Global
Information Society.
3.0 Challenges for Deploying ICTs in a Developing Country
The challenges for full deployment and exploitation of Information and communication
technologies in developing countries like Mozambique can be divided into the following main
groups:
-
The need for a national ICT strategy
-
Hardware Infrastructure challenges, including users access to computer devices,
ubiquitous network access and access to electrical power.
-
Human Resources challenges
-
Software infrastructure challenges
-
Regulatory bodies for ICTs
-
Sustainability challenges
79
In the following chapters we are going to expand on the challenges and offer possible alternative
solutions in the Mozambican context.
4.0 Country ICT Strategy
An ICT policy and strategy for implementation of the policy is essential if developing countries
want to have a cohesive mechanism of ICT development in the country. To be effective, the
policy should be formulated and discussed in a process involving all stakeholders. The strategy
should set priorities and call for an alignment of IT policy with other country sector policies that
influence the development of IT. For instance, the development of power networks and
telecommunication networks has an impact in the improvement of ICT use in a country. The cost
of IT devices such as computers and other peripherals is essential for the expansion of Internet
usage in a country and can be influenced, e.g. by reducing the import of tariffs for these types of
goods.
The process of formulating the ICT policy and implementation strategy for Mozambique was an
important moment for the country to assess the situation of ICTs in the country and the impact
they can have in the process of poverty reduction.
This process brought together several stakeholders, from users, policy makers, service providers,
companies, government, NGOs and civil society. It is important to make this process as inclusive
as possible. Regional workshops were carried out to discuss and shape the policy and strategy
document. This process has improved the quality of the output and has also built a sense of
ownership of the policy, while at the same time it provided information for many Mozambicans in
regard to ICTs.
An important lesson learned from this process is that while it is easy to come up with innovative
ideas and projects that create enthusiasm and expectations, the resources for implementation are
limited and scarce. After the brainstorming phase, it is important to discuss priorities, to identify a
small set of core projects that should be given priority and make capacity building a central part of
the development process.
Important areas for which policy objectives are formulated include: education, health, universal
access, e-government, human resource development, infrastructure and protection to the public.
5.0 Hardware Infrastructure and Ubiquitous Network Access
5.1 Access to computer devices
One of the main difficulties in realizing the vision of universal access to ICT in developing
countries in general and in Mozambique in particular is related to the limited hardware computer
infrastructure. Though the cost of a computer has decreased considerably in the recent years,
very few people can afford to buy one. The end result is that even in the few places where it is
possible to get access to the Internet and take advantage of resources and tools available with
the Internet, very few people can have access since they have no computer. So, in fact, the slow
growth of Internet users in developing countries is also related to a weak hardware infrastructure.
Two approaches can be adopted in order to overcome the shortage of computer devices to
access the data communication services including Internet.
5.1.1 Economic subsidies via tax reduction
The first approach is to eliminate the taxes incurred in the process of importing IT goods as well
as create conditions under which computers can be assembled inside the country. This would
lead to situations in which the cost of a computer with acceptable computing power is closer to
the cost of a similar computer in developed nations.
80
This would have the double effect of creating new jobs as well as increasing skills in IT that will
be gained in the process of assembling the IT equipment.
5.1.2 Telecenters
Even with tax reduction, given a per capita income in Mozambique of only US$210, the cost of
equipment will still be higher than what many people can afford. It will be a long time before all
Mozambicans have a home computer, let alone a computer with Internet access. Therefore a
second approach is to build community access IT centers. In Mozambique this type of centre is
called a telecenters. The model of telecenters for community access is the only way to bridge the
digital divide in the near future.
Implementing the telecenters approach, i.e. deploying a computer lab, or cyber café, in each
community such that villagers can have access to ICT resources without being required to buy
their own computer, can solve the problem of the lack of computers.
Mozambique presently has eight telecenters of this type in districts away from many urban
centers and the results achieved are very encouraging. The telecenters offer a range of services
from basic telephony to fax, e-mail and Internet services [8].
5.1.3 Schools
Another way to increase the capacity to access IT infrastructure is to create capacity of IT access
in the schools. Many young Mozambicans spend half of their day at school, so if we can create
access to the Internet in the schools we can increase dramatically the number of citizens with
access to the benefits of the Internet.
The Centre for Informatics of Eduardo Mondlane University (CIUEM) in Mozambique has
pioneered the project called Schoolnet Mozambique, currently being expanded and managed by
the Ministry of Education. Currently this network covers more than 45 schools with an average of
1500 each although not all the schools have Internet access yet. The plan is to cover up to 500
schools in the coming 3 years. This will increase the population percentage that will potentially
have access to IT facilities, to 750,000 students (25%) of the population in both primary and
secondary education. For a country like Mozambique this would be a big achievement.
An additional way of expanding access that has been accomplished is the installation of computer
networks in the student dormitories of Eduardo Mondlane University [7].
5.2 Internet access
One of the main problems faced by developing nations is the huge cost associated with the
development of a communication network infrastructure that can be used both for data collection
and telecommunications. Even in a situation where the data market has been deregulated, the
investment required to put a large data network to cover a citywide area or even a village wide
area is still significant for both the public economies and private companies in a developing
country.
Telecommunication companies, private or publicly owned, have to be profit-oriented and need to
prioritize network development in areas where there is a clear indication that the return of
investment (ROI) will be achieved in a short or medium term run. Most rural areas do not justify
the huge investment that is required to deploy a suitable network infrastructure.
Thus, the vision of universal service cannot be realized via the standard business plans of the
traditional telecommunication operators. Even in developed countries, much of the national
backbone and regional distribution networks are subsidized via public funds with long term
depreciation plans, very much like roads and other parts of the infrastructure.
5.3 Vertical vs. horizontal competition
An often-discussed alternative approach to the traditional operator model is deregulation to allow
the creation of a new value chain for communication networks based on horizontal rather than
81
vertical integration of resources. This means that the actors deploying the infrastructure and
operating the links are separate from those providing Internet and application services.
Using this approach, the communication infrastructure is developed in a manner similar to road
infrastructure. The public and regional administrations take a larger responsibility for the
information highways and distribution networks while local actors take responsibility for the local
access networks. In rural areas, the local user communities could form network associations,
building their own access networks connecting to the nearest point-of-presence of the service
operators. In the road system, the services and applications are provided by public and private
transport companies, private cars, etc.
Since a network without services has little value, and vice versa, the necessary vertical
integration will come via a natural cooperation in a value chain including infrastructure owners,
low level operators in different segment of the network, service providers and end-users.
Such local access networks could be based on local economic opportunities and could use
technologies adapted to local conditions. The approach stimulates entrepreneurship by providing
opportunities for small private companies and individuals to extend part of the network and to
provide services to the closest community. It reduces the cost required of a single company to
provide ubiquitous access to telecommunication services and bring economical resources that
traditionally cannot be exploited by telecom operators into the communication market.
5.4 The Open.net Concept as a model of access and organization
The Open.net concept is one approach that can be used to stimulate new actors to provide
access. It facilitates deployment of independent, shared access networks [5,7].
This concept is based on the notion that (subject to rules necessary to guarantee availability,
security and service-level agreements between service providers and users) a shared access
network backbone is available for:
-
Any user community or user agent to connect access points
-
Any service provider to connect their service network, and
- Anyone to extend the backbone into new local areas.
Once you access such a network, you have the freedom to choose where to get the services you
require. An open access network can be thought of as a network where you can meet several
service providers. The providers could be the standard Internet service providers, cable TV
companies, Video on Demand companies, Radio companies or it could be the government
network, research and education networks.
In this spirit, municipalities, districts and cities should be encouraged to establish access
networks that are open for everyone to access the service provider of their choice. A network
based on this concept has been established at UEM within student dormitories. Such a network
can potentially allow the students to select a service provider of their choice.
5.5 Wired vs. wireless technologies and deregulation
The new network can be built using a combination of different wired and wireless technologies to
carry the Internet Protocol (IP) based packet service that constitutes the essence of the Internet.
IP-packets can be transported over any link and can be used to implement any communication
service and application, including web and mail services, Voice-over IP, and IPTV and video.
When deploying new networks, fibre is preferred rather than copper. Long distance trunks, even
transatlantic, based on 10Gbit/s Ethernet technology are now becoming standard. The
performance of the copper network can be extended using xDSL technology, where there is a
good electricity distribution network without telephone network, and power line communication
(PLC) could be used to provide data communication services. There are a few examples today of
such use but Mozambique does not yet have one.
82
Networks in places beyond the public telephone network grid could be established using wireless
radio technology. Today there are systems that allow one to deploy one antenna and be able to
reach anyone in a radius of 50 km. The speeds can range from 5 Mbps to 15 Mbps in such a
network. The investment required set-up such a system is low and the prices for client equipment
are also low.
The fact that cellular subscribers grew by nearly 500%, while in the same period fixed telephony
declined by -6% is a clear indication of the power of wireless technology and of deregulation. Our
argument is that voice telephony universality will be achieved in Mozambique through mobile
services, and if we allow such a network to be extended by everyone then universality could be
reached even sooner.
As an example, The Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) is located at several sites in different
parts of the Maputo city. Because the local telecommunication network could not provide a
reliable and efficient data communication network, UEM decided to deploy a large wide area
network based on wireless point-to-point links. This network today is comprised of 32 wireless
point-to-point links connecting every building of the UEM located outside of the two main
campuses that have fibre rings. This network is based on IEEE 802.11b links that run at 11 Mbps.
Though this network was built for the purpose of serving the University, it could well be used by
anyone to access common services.
This also shows that wireless technology is powerful and that it can be easily deployed at lower
costs than other technologies. However, this was possible only because Mozambique has a
favorable regulatory policy toward wireless technologies.
Most cellular companies in developing countries, including the existing and operational company
in Mozambique, are providing mobile services over a second-generation cellular infrastructure.
This is good enough for voice services, but do not provide large bandwidth for data services.
While this infrastructure is acceptable in developed nations where there is equivalent fixed
infrastructure to cater to data purposes, it still leaves communities in developing countries without
access to data services.
Because the cellular network is expanding more quickly than fixed telephone infrastructure, we
suggest that cellular companies should be deploying networks today that are based on 3G
technologies, to enable them to offer data communication services.
On the other hand, data companies should be allowed to sell both voice services as well as data
services. This would require deregulation and a strong regulator. We will address this issue later.
5.6 Satellite services
In Mozambique, access to the Internet is accomplished through satellite links. Most of the
National telecommunication links are still operated over satellite links. Satellite links have high
latency and the equipment that is required for large bandwidth is expensive. The services are
also very expensive and do not offer the bandwidth required for multimedia applications. The new
DVB-RCS standard may bring some improvement in the price/performance ratio of VSAT
communication.
5.7 Fibre optics technology
Fibre optics is the technology of choice to provide bulk capacity. Such capacity can be used for all
kinds of services, such as voice, data, video, television and radio services. This might be an
expensive network to deploy but the benefit and the aggregate cost of providing the same
services over satellite links justify this investment.
As a country with a vast ocean coast, Mozambique has an opportunity to link several provinces
through sea fibre. In fact, part of that has been achieved already, but more investment is required
to connect the remaining provinces as well as connect the surrounding provinces. A joint effort
together with the Electricity Company is necessary to extend the network for surrounding
provinces.
83
Also there is a need to provide a link to the Internet through fibre Optics. Unfortunately the East
coast of Africa does not have fibre that attaches to the Internet backbone. There is a plan to build
a fibre link that will go from Durban in South Africa to Djibouti. Mozambique should link its sea
fibre to this one. By doing this, Mozambique can realize the vision of providing its citizens with
access to Internet with the same quality as the one that of developed countries.
5.8 Providing IT service beyond the power network grid
As initially stated, a power network is essential for the development of IT in a country.
Mozambique has a poor distribution network. The challenge is even bigger if we assume that
more than 70% of the population lives in rural areas, which normally do not have access to
electricity. This is valid for schools and hospitals located in these areas. The solution to this
situation is the use of solar power to power the network equipment. Solar energy is high in
Mozambique, with days of approximately 12 hours both in summer and winter. CIUEM is using
solar power to feed a computer lab in a teachers' training college in Montepuez located in the
northern province of Cabo-Delgado.
6.0 Human Resource challenges
As in many other areas, human resources are necessary and are the key for procurement,
deployment, exploitation and maintenance of Information and communication technology
infrastructure and software. Many IT projects fail because they lack the human capacity to
acquire the Technology and manage the implementation process, to exploit the infrastructure in
order to improve the processes or services that are offered through ICTS, and to maintain the
infrastructure that has been deployed.
Another important issue related to human resources is the language problem. Much of the
Internet content and computer software is only available in a few well-known languages such as
English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Chinese. However, in many countries like
Mozambique these languages cannot be understood by a large fraction of the country’s
population. For instance, Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique, but it is spoken by
less than 40% of the people, let alone English which is spoken by less than 10% of the
population. Therefore, for countries like Mozambique content development in languages and
format that is appropriate for local consumption is essential.
If developing countries are to take advantage of ICT, any investment in this area has to be
accompanied by an equivalent human resource development program.
Human resource issues can be met with adequate training. This may require certified IT institutes
to train personnel. The Internet driving license, Cisco networking academy programs, combined
with local academic or professional training institutions can create the necessary know-how to
use and manage ICT resources as well as improve the capacity of the regulator to define and
enforce appropriate policies conducive to the development of IT in the country.
Professional training will create skills to solve easy well-known practical problems. There is a
need to run academic training programs in the field of IT, such as the International
Internetworking Masters provided by KTH [9] and offered in cooperation with universities from
developing countries, such as Mozambique. This enables universities such as the Eduardo
Mondlane University (UEM) to be a partner in a global learning space, with partners all over the
world, learning by solving real problems together with user communities, operators, system
manufacturers and regulators as external problem owners. In the next phase, this is an excellent
source of challenging research issues that can attract funding for research and PhD-education in
the area of communication.
Another initiative in Mozambique that is spearheaded by UEM and aims at solving the shortage of
human resources is the Mozambique Information and Communication Institute (MICTI). Through
MICTI, Mozambique wants to create academic and professional training in the field of IT, create a
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science park as well as incubate start-ups in the field of IT that will lead to innovation and new
services in the field of IT.
7.0 Software infrastructure challenges
Computers and computer networks should be regarded merely as means to improve the
processes required to provide services to companies, governments and to the society. Therefore
they are not the end objective, but a tool to provide a service to the society. Many developing
countries require software infrastructures to run on top of the hardware infrastructure. Some of
the main management software that would bring an impact and could accelerate the economic
development of countries is as follows:
-
Management Information Systems
-
Registers of Population (civil identification systems, passport, driving licenses, electoral,
tax services, etc)
-
Registers of Companies
-
Library Databases
-
Geographical Databases (GIS)
-
Legal Databases
-
Statistical Databases
- Document & Electronic Publishing databases
This is just a limited set, but it gives an indication of systems that can enable companies or the
government to efficiently and with efficacy offer better services to citizens.
Mozambique does not yet have large information systems, especially in the government. Some
institutions such as Universities, banks, and larger utility companies such as telecommunication
companies, electricity and water supply do already have management information systems.
However in most of them the IS are only for internal use and do not yet have interfaces that allow
citizens to obtain services through the Internet. For instance to pay water, electricity, and
telephone services in most of the cases you still need to walk to a shop manned by the company.
With previous arrangement it's possible to pay the services at the bank, in some cases through
ATMs, but much still remains to be done in order to allow the users access to services, to enquire
about them, and to do full business through the Internet.
8.0 Saving Bandwidth and Enabling E-commerce
One common situation that results in wasted bandwidth and delays the development of local
content and e-commerce is the fact that many developing countries peer externally (i.e. local
ISPs exchange data through their upstream service providers that are normally located in
countries in Europe or North America).
This has the net effect that two users are attached to different ISPs, and when communicating to
each other their traffic will go through the International link-- often the expensive and high latency
satellite link.
This is too expensive for the ISP and degrades the quality of service (QoS) experienced by the
local users when accessing local content. A local bank in Mozambique trying to offer Internet
banking services saw its success hampered because of this situation.
85
The way to solve this problem is through the establishment of Internet Exchange Points (IXP).
Mozambique has established an IXP called MozIX. This was made possible through funding by
Sida/SAREC and DFID. Five students, two from Eduardo Mondlane University and three from
KTH implemented MozIX in a course project in the communication systems design course that is
provided by KTH [7].
With this IXP, the round trip delay between users connected to two different local ISPs went from
an average of 1200 ms to 3 ms, i.e. 400 times faster than before. This has dramatically changed
the type of content that is hosted today in local servers belonging to ISPs. In fact, browsing local
content today is faster unless if you belong to, or you are trying to access, Teledata, the only ISP
that is still not connected to the IXP.
The next step should be the connection of this exchange to exchanges in other countries with
which Mozambique exchanges a lot of traffic. This will speed up the traffic exchange between
users in these countries. For this Mozambique is an active member of the project called Regional
Virtual Exchange (RVX) that aims at connecting exchanges in Mozambique, South Africa,
Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria.
9.0 Regulatory Bodies for ICT
Several areas and aspects of ICTs require new regulation and legislation and a strong and
knowledgeable body to enforce proper rules required for a rapid and integrated ICT development
environment. Countries like Mozambique, coming from a monopoly in the fixed
telecommunication services, have a weak regulator. This is mainly due to the fact that the
monopoly telecom was also the regulator of communications. Though, in many countries,
regulators today are independent from telecommunication companies, they still lack the human
capacity required to actually establish good policies as well as enforce the established
regulations.
Regulating the Internet environment remains fraught with difficulty, as many applications and
technologies are emerging. These applications and technologies are, in many cases, challenging
the existing policies, services, and technologies. For instance, many countries have no clear
policy about the use of VoIP, the use of ISM-bands WLAN technologies, such as Wifi and Wimax,
etc.
Mozambique has, in many aspects, a very favorable policy in regard to ICTs. For instance, a
license is not required to operate as an ISP, just authorization. Data communication services are
open for competition, so anyone can deploy whatever equipment is needed to provide data
services including deploying VSAT links that is not possible in many African countries.
Wireless services are also allowed, although a regulation for this area is still under development.
In fact many companies have already been granted permission to operate even commercial
services under the ISM band. The few institutions with fairly large networks include UEM,
Tropicalnet - a local ISP, Intra – a local ISP providing services using WLAN similar to the one
provided by Telia homerun in Sweden, and point to point wireless, EDM –the electricity company
of Mozambique.
Unfortunately, the voice market, especially fixed telephony, is still a monopoly of the state owned
company (TDM), although a bill has been approved in 1999 opening up the road map for
privatization of TDM. The voice market for mobile services is already deregulated and full
competition through license is possible. As a result a second operator will start providing services
in December 2003.
This situation and ambiguity prevailing in the law regarding the definition of data and voice has
led to a situation where it is not clear if one can provide VoIP services. Many ISP engineers will
agree that VoIP is data, but some Telco managers prefer to say that VoIP is equivalent to fixed
voice. Nevertheless, the law allows voice services if they are provided within the institution. This
86
has enabled some companies to run VoIP for their internal use, even though they might be
connecting sites that are located in different regions of the country.
Our argument is that VoIP should be considered as data and, as such, even under the current
law provision, any ISP could provide services to its clients and, through the peering in the IXP,
exchange traffic with other ISPs.
10.0 Sustainability challenges
Investing in ICT infrastructure leads in many case to an equivalent increase in running costs.
Many developing countries cannot afford the running costs required to sustain the operation of
ICTs as well as to cater for equipment depreciation.
Many computer infrastructures are left un-operational due to lack of small things such as disks,
power supplies, and monitors. This is because organizations can afford to buy the computer or
might even be donating computers or funds to buy computers, but they do not have the
operational budget required to buy spare parts. In addition, they cannot afford to retain qualified
technicians to run the ICT resources.
No matter how good the ICT infrastructure and resources that are deployed, if they cannot be
maintained, there is no hope that it will improve economic development or the life of the citizens.
11.0 Conclusions
There are a lot of challenges in order to realize the vision of information societies in developing
countries. Many of them are caused by lack of hardware infrastructure in areas such as electricity
and telephone networks.
There are technologies that can meet some of the challenges; however a national vision in terms
of ICT is essential. Apart from hardware and software infrastructure, it is necessary to take into
consideration the need for human resources, sustainability and regulatory issues.
Mozambique has a long road to become a computerized nation; however it has succeeded in
developing a national ICT policy and an implementation strategy. Success will come from
creating a regulatory environment that is flexible and favorable to the deployment of new
technologies without the barriers that are often encountered in outdated telecommunication laws.
Implementing the telecenters approach, i.e. deploying a computer lab or cyber café in each
community, such that villagers can have access to ICT resources without being required to buy
their own computer, can solve the lack of computers. Mozambique is already running telecenters
in districts away from urban centers, and the results achieved are very encouraging. Experience
shows that solar panels are cost-effective to power a relatively small number of computers.
In order to extend the network as fast as possible, a vision of a network that is open for extension
and can be used by anyone to access services independently of those who actually own the
transport network is required. The Open.net concept is one approach that could stimulate new
actors to provide access as it facilitates the deployment of independent, neutral and shared
access networks.
Fibre optics networks are preferred as a transport network for all services. Cellular networks that
are being deployed today should be enabled to provide acceptable data communication services,
as they constitute the viable form of realizing the universal access vision.
Education and collaboration with academic institutions located in developing and developed
countries is required as a way to share knowledge and enable a quicker development of qualified
staff that will lead the country into the information society.
87
Bibliography, References and Acronyms
[1] Mozambique ICT Policy, CPInfo, December 2000, Maputo Mozambique
[2] Mozambique ICT Policy Implementation Strategy, June 2002, Maputo Mozambique
[3] Wireless IP for Rural Connectivity, ITU Doc FG7-TF DOC 4, June 2002,Geneva
[4] Américo Muchanga, Mozambique ICT Country Profile, Maputo, October 1999
[5] Björn Pehrson, Open Communication, 2nd ASEM Conference, IKED, Malmö, March 2003 and
1st Int Workshop on Open Access, UN ICT TF, Sida and KTH, Stockholm, June 2003.
[6] Country ICT survey for Mozambique, Final Report prepared for Sida, Miller Esselaar and
Associates, November 2001.
[7] Mozambique e-Ready? (draft), Magda Ismail, Harvard Center for International Development,
May 2001.
[8] Audited accounting Report for 2001 of The Telecommunications of Mozambique (TDM),
TDM, 2002.
[9] Audited accounting Report for 2002 of The Telecommunications of Mozambique (TDM), TDM,
2003.
[10] South African Telecommunications Sector Performance Review(2003), Alison Gillwald &
Sean Kane, LINK Center for Public Policy Research, August 2003.
[11] Mozambique 1997 Census (CD-ROM of the Mozambique National Institute of Statistics,
1999) and Human Development Report (UNDP 1998)
[12] Mozambique Internet Exchange and Open Access Project documentation is available at
http://csd.ssvl.kth.se/, KTH, Stockholm, May 2001.
[13] Telecenters Project in Mozambique, http://www.telecentros.org.mz/
[14] International Master program in Internetworking, http://www.it.kth.se/intms/
Acronyms:
CIUEM – Center for Informatics of Eduardo Mondlane University
DFID – Department for International Development of United Kingdom
EDM – Electricity of Mozambique
GIS – Geographic Information System
ICT – Information and Communication Technology
ISP – Internet Service Provider
IT – Information Technology
IXP – Internet Exchange Points
KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
RVX – Regional Virtual Exchange
Sida – Swedish International Development Agency
TDM – Telecommunication of Mozambique
UEM – Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo
88
Quelles technologies, quelles actions et quels bénéficiaires pour
mettre les NTIC au service du développement au Nord du Bénin?
Thomas Baboni et Javier Simó
Borgounet
89
Introduction
Le projet BorgouNET œuvre depuis trois ans dans le sens du renforcement des activités
de développement, de la promotion humaine et de l’intégrité de l’environnement au Nord de la
République du Bénin par le biais des NTIC. Dans les lignes qui suivent, nous partagerons avec
vous les actions concrètes ainsi que les réflexions que nous tirons de notre expérience, sachant
que les projets de NTIC, comme tous autres projets, dépendent beaucoup des personnes et du
contexte. Tout au long de notre intervention où nous exposerons notre expérience et les raisons
qui expliquent nos choix, nous n’avons pas la prétention de donner des consignes universelles
mais de faire un humble partage.
Contexte
Le Bénin est un pays qui connaît une disparité
notoire du niveau de développement entre le Sud et le
Nord. La majorité des infrastructures socio-économiques
sont concentrées dans les villes côtières comme Cotonou et
Porto-Novo. Ainsi, le Nord a besoin des
actions de développement à plusieurs
niveaux en vue d'un équilibre national. Dans
les départements du Borgou et de l'Alibori des
actions concrètes ne manquent pas, car il y a
beaucoup de structures aussi bien nationales
qu’internationales engagées dans des programmes de
développement.
Malheureusement,
le
manque
d'infrastructures et de moyens empêche souvent la bonne
exécution des projets.
Dans le domaine de la communication télématique,
c’est encore le Nord qui est pénalisé avec toutes sortes de
problèmes de communication. L'Office des Postes et Télécommunications (OPT) et le Ministère
de la Communication et de la Promotion des Technologies Nouvelles (MCPTN) ont fait des
efforts louables au cours des dernières années pour améliorer la situation. Les résultats sont la
numérisation de la téléphonie à Parakou, principale ville du Nord, et la communication
interurbaine Cotonou - Parakou par la fibre optique. Malgré ces efforts, les conditions générales
pour l'utilisation des communications télématiques et de l'accès à l'Internet en particulier sont
encore difficiles car toutes les ressources spécifiques sont centralisées à Cotonou. Cette difficulté
d'accessibilité aux NTIC freine encore les efforts et les bonnes volontés des uns et des autres
pour sortir le septentrion de sa situation d’enclavement.
BorgouNET
BorgouNET est un service de communications télématiques que l’Archevêché de
Parakou fournit aux agents de développement et de promotion humaine au Nord du Bénin. La
réalité catastrophique des communications dans cette région au début de l’an 2000 fût à l’origine
de la décision de créer ce service. Les projets de développement dépensaient d’énorme somme
d’argent et gaspillaient leur temps à faire des essais d’échange de messages électroniques avec
les fournisseurs de service installés au Sud, mais très souvent sans succès.
BorgouNET est né le 1er mars 2000 et commença à fonctionner le 1er septembre 2000,
après une phase d’étude de 6 mois, comme une passerelle de courrier électronique pour les
organisations travaillant pour le développement du Bénin dans le Borgou et l’Alibori en tant que
service à but non lucratif. L'esprit de BorgouNET est de jouer le rôle de canal d'appui efficace
pour propulser ou renforcer les actions de développement, de la promotion humaine et de
90
l’intégrité de l’environnement dans le Borgou et l'Alibori à travers les NTIC. A la création, il n’y
avait qu’une personne, un ordinateur et deux lignes téléphoniques pour atteindre ces objectifs.
Deux ans et demi plus tard, BorgouNET a considérablement évolué :
Nous fournissons l’accès à Internet, le courrier électronique, un support technique en
informatique et télématique et des services d’information aux projets de développement.
L’équipe humaine est désormais constituée d’un directeur exécutif, de trois ingénieurs, d’un
gestionnaire, d’une Secrétaire et de trois stagiaires.
Les services de connexion sont pourvus sur place aussi bien sur RTC que sur un réseau
métropolitain sans fil et sur un réseau rural VHF (en cours de configuration).
Un service d’information est mis sur pied afin de faciliter aux projets de développement le partage
des informations et une collaboration plus efficace à travers un portail.
La communication
BorgouNET n’est pas l’aboutissement d’un projet bien élaboré au préalable, il est plutôt
né de fait sans une grande perspective. Un besoin urgent se posait aux agents de
développement (la communication télématique avec Internet, surtout le courrier électronique),
une personne ayant des compétences en télécommunication a assuré pouvoir mettre en route un
système pour améliorer la situation : en voici la genèse.
Au cours de ces trois dernières années nous nous sommes posé plusieurs questions
allant dans le sens de notre devise à savoir « renforcer les actions de développement, de la
promotion humaine et de l’intégrité de l’environnement au Nord du Bénin à travers les NTIC ».
Notamment, quelles technologies sont les plus appropriées, quels bénéficiaires cibles et
prioritaires choisir pour favoriser le développement, quelles actions entreprendre... ?
Dans cette communication nous essayerons de restituer ce processus, les questions que
nous nous sommes posées et les réponses que nous croyons avoir trouvées puis pour finir nous
ferons une évaluation des résultats.
1. Les technologies appropriées
Dans le cadre du développement en général, on a souvent parlé de technologies
appropriées, c’est-à-dire technologies adaptées à la réalité locale du lieu où elles seront utilisées,
celles pour lesquelles l’apprentissage, la maintenance et l’utilisation sont possibles localement
sans créer une dépendance de l’extérieur. Malheureusement, pour les NTIC, on voit que souvent
les technologies sont utilisées sans aucune adaptation. Voyons quelques exemples:
Pour avoir une liaison spécialisée sur Internet à 64 kbps, le raccordement au back-bone
Internet de l’OPT se fait exclusivement par liaison sans fils selon la technologie IEEE 802.11b
(WiFi), alors que la paire à cuivre de tous les abonnés téléphoniques est aussi valable pour la
même finalité ; elle est beaucoup moins chère et plus facile à maintenir. Pourtant, les grandes
villes du Bénin commencent à ressembler à des véritables forêts de pylônes pour supporter les
antennes de grille. Il faut aussi reconnaître que la technologie WiFi permet aux fournisseurs
privés de proposer des services d’interconnexion plus intéressants à leurs clients que la liaison
téléphonique malgré le manque d’alternatives offertes par l’OPT.
Les fournisseurs d’accès à Internet offrent leurs services sur RTC (et les liaisons sans fil
ci-dessus mentionnées) en utilisant le protocole PPP pour réaliser la connexion. Cela fait que les
utilisateurs potentiels des zones rurales ou urbaines où la téléphonie est encore analogique et de
mauvaise qualité ne peuvent pas se connecter à Internet parce que ces connexions sont souvent
interrompues et que les messages de courrier électronique n’arrivent jamais. Personne ne fournit
un service UUCP ou avec d’autres protocoles plus adaptés.
Malgré le manque de lignes téléphoniques sur la plupart du territoire national, personne
ne fournit des services NTIC sur radio HF/VHF/UHF. Il y a des technologies radio-paquet AX25
91
qui pourraient être utilisées au moins pour rendre possible l’échange de courrier électronique,
mais personne ne les utilise.
Par rapport aux logiciels, nous avons constaté avec surprise que les logiciels libres sont
à peine utilisés. Or, c’est justement eux qui offrent des solutions souvent gratuites et toujours
flexibles pour mettre en place tous genres de systèmes télématiques sur des architectures PC.
Les habitudes locales courantes sont l’utilisation des produits Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco. Les
organisations et les entreprises doivent se rendre à l’évidence que les techniciens à leur
disposition ne connaissent que les produits commerciaux.
Dans la mesure de nos possibilités, nous voulons y réfléchir à BorgouNET. Au lieu de
reproduire automatiquement les mêmes services et les mêmes technologies que les fournisseurs
de service au Nord, nous essayons de penser chaque fois aux technologies qui s’adaptent le
mieux à la réalité locale. En ce sens nous voudrions donner quelques exemples qui
correspondent aux points signalés ci-dessus.
Plusieurs fournisseurs d’accès Internet privés ont adopté la technologie WiFi pour fournir
des liaisons permanentes à Internet dans des localités où l’OPT n’offre pas de services de
télécommunication pour le faire. C’est bien notre cas !
BorgouNET démarra ses activités comme passerelle de courrier électronique lorsque les
communications avec l’extérieur n’étaient pas encore numérisées. L’échange de messages avec
l’Internet était presque impossible ; les communications n’étant pas stables, la ligne se coupait
sans arrêt . L’utilisation des protocoles UUCP avec une configuration appropriée des dispositifs
d’interconnexion a rendu possible cet échange qui a bénéficié aux ONG de tout le Nord du Bénin.
Cette adaptation des technologies télématiques aux mauvaises conditions des réseaux de
télécommunication n’est pas nouvelle ; plusieurs projets ont fait la même chose depuis les
années 1980, notamment ceux qui constituaient le réseau APC. Malheureusement cette
expérience semble être oubliée ou ignorée. Nous avons constaté que le besoin existe.
Maintenant que nous bénéficions d’un réseau RTC numérique (Parakou est la seule ville au Nord
du Bénin qui en ait), nous pouvons toujours utiliser la même technologie pour fournir nos services
à ceux qui sont dans les autres villes et villages au Nord du Bénin avec accès au réseau RTC
analogique.
L’utilisation des liaisons radio sur les fréquences HF/VHF/UHF permet de mettre en
relation des systèmes informatiques enclavés. Là où le réseau téléphonique n’est pas disponible,
la radio l’est. Prenons l’exemple sur le projet EHAS sur trois pays de l’Amérique Latine (voir
http://www.ehas.org) pour échanger le courrier électronique sur des liaisons radio VHF. Nous en
sommes encore à la phase d’expérimentation mais, malgré les nombreuses difficultés, nous
tenons à faire marcher ce projet comme modèle pour d’autres initiatives.
Les logiciels libres nous ont permis de configurer plusieurs serveurs et de fournir tous les
services nécessaires pour nous et pour nos utilisateurs. Nous avons pu construire un routeur
pour relier notre réseau à l’Internet et développer un système d’information avec des pages web
dynamiques et des bases de données relationnelles, etc. Tout cela est possible grâce à la
disponibilité gratuite et à la flexibilité des logiciels libres. Compte tenu du manque des techniciens
formés pour maîtriser Linux et les logiciels libres que nous utilisons, nous avons dû faire un effort
du point de vue formation et encadrement mais cela vaut la peine.
2. Les bénéficiaires
Ce qui est courant de nos jours pour beaucoup d’organismes internationaux de
coopération au développement, c’est de donner la priorité aux projets NTIC dont les bénéficiaires
directs sont des paysans. Notre réflexion et notre expérience montrent que cela paraît un peu
artificiel : les NTIC pourraient être bénéfiques pour tout le monde (nous sommes certains qu’il en
sera ainsi dans le futur) mais elles ne constituent pas la priorité pour tous actuellement. Pour
certains collectifs, comme les ONG, qui ont de nombreux partenaires avec qui communiquer et
partager des informations, c’est une bonne solution, pour d’autres, c’est une solution qui tombe
du ciel pour un problème qui ne s’était jamais posé auparavant.
Il n’y a pas non plus une coïncidence entre les acteurs importants pour le développement
et ceux qui demandent les NTIC. Par exemple, les écoles et centres d’éducation sont à notre avis
92
prioritaires pour le développement mais rares sont les lycées ou collèges qui demandent de tels
services. Le problème de la sensibilisation se pose.
A notre avis, les bénéficiaires prioritaires pour un projet NTIC qui vise le développement
au Bénin devraient être les suivants :
Les écoles, collèges et lycées : les jeunes constituent la frange montante de la société
avec pour mission de bâtir l’avenir, il faut mettre à leur disposition tout ce qui est utile pour y
réussir, entre autres les NTIC. Ce n’est pas toujours facile, les enseignants ne sont pas toujours
motivés et une approche sérieuse à l’introduction des NTIC dans les écoles passe par la création
des infrastructures dans ces écoles, ce qui revient cher. Mais malgré ces difficultés cela vaut la
peine d’y parvenir.
Les ONG, associations, projets et tous ceux qui interviennent dans le développement
humain qu’on pourrait appeler « la société civile organisée », sont les principaux acteurs à qui
fournir des outils de communication et d’accès à l’information, ce qui aura une répercussion sur
toute la société.
Si l’administration aussi bien locale que centrale est imprégnée des NTIC, cela aura pour
conséquence la transparence, les échanges avec la société civile et la bonne gouvernance.
Les sociétés commerciales sont intéressées par les NTIC pour les mêmes raisons que
celles de toutes les sociétés commerciales à travers le monde.
Les citoyens Béninois font un usage varié des NTIC selon leurs niveaux d’éducation,
leurs capacités économiques et leur tranche d’âge, mais l’expérience nous montre que rares sont
les individus qui s’y intéressent et qui n’appartiennent pas aux collectifs de la liste précédente.
Aussi croyons- nous que le meilleur développement se fait lorsque le moteur est le propre
dynamisme de la société locale.
Il est important de promouvoir la présence des cybercafés, ce sont aussi des éléments
de rapprochement des NTIC de la population de base. Nous ne voulons ni ne pouvons jouer le
rôle d’un cybercafé mais nous sommes heureux du nombre croissant de cybercafés dans nos
villes. Nous saluons l’initiative du Ministère de la Communication et de la Promotion des
Technologies Nouvelles pour la création de plusieurs cybercentres communautaires dans
plusieurs villes de notre pays.
Nous devons ajouter que le PNUD a bâti un énorme projet avec le SDNP au Bénin pour
la création d’une culture des NTIC dans les ministères et organismes de décision de ce pays.
Compte tenu des initiatives déjà entreprises par d’autres projets, nous avons choisi de
travailler davantage pour les agents de développement, de promotion humaine et de l’intégrité de
l’environnement, ainsi que pour les centres d’éducation.
3. Les actions
3.1. La communication et l’information
Nous avons essayé d’analyser les expériences des initiatives semblables à la notre
autour de la planète, surtout celles des membres d’APC (Association for Progressive
Communications). Notre conclusion est que les NTIC arrivent toujours suivant le même ordre :
certains services sont essentiels à un moment donné puis quelques années plus tard ce sont
d’autres qui ont leur importance :
Dans un premier temps c’est l’arrivée de l’outil informatique détaché des
télécommunications: les ordinateurs pour les applications bureautiques puis le téléphone et le fax
pour la communication avec l’extérieur.
Peu après le besoin du courrier électronique se présente, parfois accompagné des
forums de discussion et des listes de diffusion pour supporter le travail de collaboration avec
plusieurs interlocuteurs à la fois.
Après cela, l’utilisateur vise l’accès complet à l’Internet, ce qui comporte surtout la
navigation sur le web.
93
Avec le web, la communication est de plus en plus le support d’informations, les
organisations ont besoin d’une aide systématique pour l’accès à l’information pertinente et pour
fournir à leur tour de l’information sur l’Internet.
Tout au long de ce parcours, le mode d’échange d’informations entre les acteurs de
développement a évolué : échange de fax, échange de messages e-mail simples, échange de
documents en fichier attaché, puis partage de documents et bases de données sur des sites
accessibles sur Internet.
Un projet comme le nôtre, qui vise à se mettre au service des acteurs de développement,
doit être prêt à faire ce même parcours : en commençant par l’entretien des ordinateurs, les
services de courrier électronique, les services Internet... pour finir comme fournisseur de
systèmes d’information et consultant.
Ainsi nous considérons que les services de communication nous permettent d’obtenir les
revenus pour faire tourner notre projet de manière autosuffisante et le rendre soutenable à long
terme, tandis que les services d’information risquent d’être gratuits.
3.2. La formation
Le transfert de compétences doit être fait à deux niveaux pour que les NTIC imprègnent
la société et deviennent un véritable moteur du développement : le niveau des utilisateurs et celui
des techniciens.
Les techniciens médiocres ne peuvent que répéter les actions et les solutions qu’ils
connaissent par cœur et quand de nouveaux problèmes se présentent à eux, ils en trouvent
difficilement la solution. Les utilisateurs non formés ne tirent pas tous les bénéfices possibles des
NTIC et ne peuvent pas réagir correctement dès que les problèmes techniques apparaissent. La
formation devient essentielle si nous voulons que les NTIC produisent du développement.
Pour ce qui concerne les utilisateurs, il faut tout d’abord qu’ils sachent comment utiliser
les services auxquels ils s’intéressent. Mais c’est aussi important de leur montrer les services et
les possibilités qu’ils ne demandent pas parce qu’ils ne les connaissent pas. L’utilisateur ne
connaît pas tout ce que les NTIC peuvent lui offrir, tandis que le fournisseur ne connaît pas tous
les besoins des utilisateurs. Il faut travailler avec les organisations dans un esprit de partenariat,
avec beaucoup de communication, pour identifier leurs besoins de formation.
Les techniciens doivent être capables de faire tout ce que nous sommes en train de dire :
adapter les technologies à la réalité, trouver des solutions pour les problèmes des utilisateurs,
gérer les technologies utilisées sans dépendre de l’aide extérieure, former les utilisateurs... Pour
y parvenir, il leur faut une bonne formation. Nous ne pouvons pas penser seulement au présent
et à nous : si nous formons les techniciens dont nous avons besoin aujourd’hui, le jour arrivera où
ils partiront et le projet aura échoué. Il faut créer une « masse critique » de techniciens formés
capables de penser de manière créative et dynamique, utiliser les technologies appropriées, et
surtout d’être autodidactes pour les nouveaux besoins de chaque moment.
Actuellement, nous formons plusieurs ingénieurs et informaticiens en administration
réseaux, administration systèmes et gestion de systèmes d’information.
3.3. Le support informatique
« Ce matin, lorsque je suis arrivé au boulot, l’ordinateur ne démarrait pas bien. J’ai
cherché en vain un technicien compétent pour me dépanner. Depuis quelques jours plusieurs
messieurs sont venus déclarer qu’ils pouvaient résoudre le problème, ils l’ont fouillé, a mon avis
sans trop savoir ce qu’ils cherchaient, et cela n’a abouti a rien. Finalement j’ai été obligé de
prendre mon ordinateur et de voyager sur 450 km jusqu’à Cotonou pour trouver un technicien
capable de résoudre le problème ».
« Mon ordinateur a un virus depuis quelques semaines. Je suis bloqué dans mon travail
et personne ne sait me dépanner ».
De tels propos étaient habituels lorsque BorgouNET a été créé. Ils nous ont fait prendre
conscience du besoin du support informatique pour les organisations. Même dans une ville de
150.000 habitants comme Parakou, les organisations faisaient venir un maintenancier de
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Cotonou (à 450 km) ou bien ils étaient obligés d’emporter leurs ordinateurs dans cette capitale
pour se dépanner.
4. Les résultats
La présence de BorgouNET à Parakou comme passerelle de cour-rier électronique à sa
naissance et actuellement comme FAI est incontestablement un appui efficace aux actions de
développement. Nous en voulons pour preuve les multiples témoignages des
bénéficiaires : « Sans BorgouNET mon travail d’appui au développement n’aurait jamais été
possible, les connexions étant impossibles avec Cotonou !», «Vous ne pouvez pas vous imaginer
combien vous nous êtes utiles, tant nous dépendons de nos partenaires pour un travail en temps
réel »…
Le réseau métropolitain sans fil Wifi de BorgouNET est tout à fait fonctionnel depuis le
début de cette année, il permettra aux utilisateurs qui ont besoin d’une connexion à Internet à
haute et permanente disponibilité, de mener convenablement leurs opérations de connectivités à
un coût supportable.
Avec la technologie WiFi les télécentres communautaires de Parakou, l'Université ainsi
que plusieurs ONG et centres d'enseignement envisagent une solution définitive pour leurs
problèmes de connectivité dans des localités dépourvues de téléphone.
Les échanges de courriers électroniques ont été possibles du temps où la téléphonie
était analogique à Parakou avec Cotonou en utilisant les protocoles UUCP. Nous avions un
serveur de courrier qui se connectait avec un autre hébergé chez notre FAI à 450 km de
Parakou.
Le fait d'avoir utilisé les technologies appropriées et adaptées au milieu nous a permis,
avec du matériel presque insignifiant, de rendre possible l'accès à ce service qui est basique
mais essentiel pour la société civile. Une cinquantaine d'organisations non gouvernementales et
structures de développement ont bénéficié de ce service au cours des deux dernières années, ce
qui leur a permis de bien avancer dans leur travail sur le terrain, les témoignages dans ce sens
ne manquent pas.
La maintenance des ordinateurs, le service d'assistance en ligne et la possibilité de nous
consulter pour l’acquisition du matériel informatique sont des services très simples mais très
appréciés par nos utilisateurs. Ils peuvent se concentrer sur leur tâche au lieu de se préoccuper
des infrastructures informatiques et des communications. Avec de tels services, aussi simples
qu’ils soient, les NTIC deviennent un outil à leur service plutôt qu'une difficulté supplémentaire.
Les services d'information par contre ont été un petit échec pour nous jusqu'à
maintenant. Les organisations ne s’intéressent pas assez au partage de l'information et à la mise
en ligne des documents, pages web, bases de données... malgré la gratuité de ces services chez
nous. Nous ne sommes pas parvenus à savoir si cet échec est dû à une mauvaise politique de
sensibilisation, à un manque de formation ou bien seulement à une question de temps. A en
croire certains, les choses gratuites échouent bien souvent!
Conclusion
De tout ce qui précède, nous ne pouvons pas dire que BorgouNET, pris dans son état
actuel, joue pleinement son rôle d’appui dans le septentrion, car nombreuses sont les zones qui
ont des difficultés de connexion avec BorgouNET. En effet, comme nous le disions plus haut,
seule la ville de Parakou jouit d’une téléphonie numérisée dans cette région du pays.
Nous avons voulu résoudre ce problème avec des systèmes radio VHF mais, malgré nos
efforts, nous n'avons pas trouvé une solution technologique acceptable (les solutions satellitaires
s’offrent, mais elles sont chères) pour connecter à Internet tous ceux qui sont au-delà de 50 km
et sans téléphone. Nous allons continuer à chercher des solutions créatives pour rapprocher le
monde rural béninois des NTIC, mais notre conclusion est qu’il importe d’élargir l'accès à un bon
réseau téléphonique numérique sur tout le territoire, ce qui devrait être un service basique assuré
par l'Etat qu’aucune initiative privée ne peut remplacer.
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Stratégies d’intégration du Cameroun à la société
de l’information et de la communication
Jean Lucien Ewangue
Journaliste Principal (en stage à l’ENA)
Chercheur à la Fondation Paul Ango Ela
pour la promotion de la géopolitique en Afrique centrale (FPAE)
-Cameroun13, rue de l’Université – 75007 Paris
Ewangue@ena.fr
Port. 06.76.80.05.58
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La révolution dans les domaines de l’informatique, de l’information, de la communication et des
télécommunications a donné naissance à la société de l’information et du savoir. Cette nouvelle
société de l’information, en dépit des craintes inhérentes à toute révolution, suscite beaucoup
d’espoirs. Elle est présentée par la plupart des spécialistes comme le moteur du développement
économique et de la croissance des pays du globe, le nouveau capital du monde des affaires.
Les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) en général, et Internet en
particulier accélèrent la cadence de l’implantation d’une « nouvelle économie » à forte valeur
ajoutée et renforcent la mondialisation. Aussi, les pays en développement comme les pays
développés élaborent des plans et des politiques pour se connecter à ce nouveau réseau
mondial du savoir.
Afin de ne pas se tenir à l’écart de ce vaste mouvement planétaire, dont- on dit qu’il sera fatal
pour ceux qui auraient délibérément choisi de se marginaliser, le Cameroun opère depuis
quelques années déjà une rentrée dans la société de l’information.
C’est dans le contexte géopolitique et géoéconomique de la « mondialisation » qu’il convient
d’examiner la démarche camerounaise d’accès à ces nouvelles technologies de l’information et
de la communication. Une analyse des dynamiques d’intégration du Cameroun à la société de
l’information et du savoir devrait aboutir à mettre en exergue les stratégies d’insertion de ce pays
pivot de l’Afrique centrale dans les réseaux de communication interconnectés, en tenant compte
des déséquilibres géopolitiques et géoéconomiques qui limitent l’efficacité et la cohérence de
cette démarche. En effet les efforts de mise en œuvre de la politique du renouveau
communicationnelle du Cameroun par l’appropriation des TIC doit faire face aux « structures de
contrainte » liées aux « discontinuités territoriales et fonctionnelles » caractérisant les « réseaux
physiques ou énergétiques », (transport, électricité) ou les « réseaux techniques ou
médiatiques »(télécommunications, télévision, informatique, radiodiffusion) en matière de
communication.
La géographie spatiale de l’intégration inégale des réseaux techniques de
communication au Cameroun
L’examen de la couverture du territoire camerounais par les différents dispositifs de connexion et
de connectivité montre des grandes inégalités d’implantation technologiques. L’investissement
des espaces et des lieux par les NTIC et Internet s’opère surtout dans les concentrations
urbaines plus ouvertes aux « innovations de l’ère numérique » parce que disposant des meilleurs
moyens d’accès dans la distribution spatiale et territoriale des réseaux physiques et énergétiques
de communication. Or le développement des NTIC est conditionné par cette infrastructure
physique et énergétique dont la qualité détermine l’implantation des différents terminaux.
Le maillage des territoires technologiques.
La consolidation des réseaux de radiodiffusion, de télédiffusion, de l’informatique, de
l’électronique et des télécommunications qui vont s’ouvrir progressivement aux NTIC à travers les
supports technologiques tels que la téléphonie mobile, l’ordinateur portable ou la messagerie
électronique doivent surmonter les « effets de verrouillage » dus à des disparités territoriales qui
freinent le développement des « paradigmes et schémas technologiques » dans les secteurs de
l’information et de la communication au Cameroun. Le maillage territorial et spatial des
technologies des télécommunications comme des réseaux met bien en évidence les asymétries
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dans la géographie des accès en ce qui concerne les réseaux de la téléphonie fixe et mobile au
Cameroun par exemple.
Les territoires technologiques des télécommunications épousent en effet la configuration des
asymétries caractérisant les réseaux physiques et énergétiques. D’un point de vue géopolitique
et géoéconomique les deux grandes villes de Douala et Yaoundé, qui ont chacun plus d’un
million d’habitant, apparaissent comme de véritables « plaques tournantes »de l’activité du
secteur des télécommunications. Ce constat est valable à propos de l’implantation du « dispositif
de communication. » Le Cameroun dispose actuellement de 2 centres de transit nationaux et
régionaux EWSD à Yaoundé et Douala, 2 autocommutateurs numériques pour le transit
international à Yaoundé et Douala, 1 hub pour les systèmes VSAT à Yaoundé, 10 centraux
d’abonnés EWSD à raison d’un dans chaque chef lieu de province, 1 central Alcatel 100 E à
Buéa, 31 centraux de type analogique CP 400 avec commutation locale et rattachement unique
vers le centre régional de transit, 15 centraux locaux numériques à Douala, Yaoundé et Buéa. Un
tel constat reste pertinent à propos des « dispositifs de transmission » : 50.000 km de faisceaux
hertziens analogiques avec 9000 circuits de communication interurbaine ; caractère stratégique
des liaisons numériques entre Douala et Yaoundé avec une liaison Yaoundé-Edéa-Douala de 3 x
34 Mbps ; puissance des intercentraux de Yaoundé et de Douala dotés d’une capacité de 140 et
de 565 Mbps (F.O) et 34 Mbps (F.H), réseau Douala-Buéa doté d’une puissance de 34 Mbps.
L’interconnexion de ces circuits au réseau est assurée par 3 services : le « service mobile » par
le satellite IMMARSAT, le « service fixe » par le satellite INTELSAT (avec 2 stations terriennes à
Yaoundé et à Douala) et le « service de câble sous marin à fibre optique » par le câble
SAT3/WASC/SAFE depuis août 2002.
Le secteur des télécommunications et l’ouverture asymétrique aux NTIC.
Consubstantiel à la faiblesse de son économie, l’état du secteur des télécommunications au
Cameroun est tout simplement alarmant, avec des réalités contrastées. L’introduction des NTIC
au Cameroun est confrontée à la fragilité du tissu infrastructurel et télécommunicationnel. En
1999, la télédensité (nombre de lignes téléphoniques pour 100 habitant) était estimée à 0,54 au
Cameroun, ce qui classait ce pays au 179ème rang sur les 206 pays classés par l’Union
Internationale des Télécommunications (UIT). La structure de la téléphonie s’est modifiée avec
l’introduction de nouveaux supports technologiques permettant l’exploration et l’exploitation du
réseau cellulaire à partir de la norme GSM . Cette dynamique de restructuration a permis d’élargir
l’éventail des abonnés du réseau téléphonique général. Entre le lancement en février 2000 du
réseau MOBILIS par la Société Camerounaise de Mobile (SCM), filiale de France Telecom, et
novembre 2000, soit 9 mois après ouverture, la SCM comptait déjà 62.803 abonnées et couvrait
11 villes camerounaises. Son concurrent Mobil Telephone Network(MTM), opérateur sud-africain,
totalisait à la même période 26 sites d’exploitation dans 3 villes du Cameroun (Douala, Yaoundé,
Bafoussam) et 9.127 abonnés actifs déclarés en octobre 2000. Le maillage général en réseau de
téléphonie fixe et mobile était évalué à environ 250.000 abonnés en février 2001, soit un
doublement des abonnés en 5 ans.
Cette forte progression ne saurait pourtant occulter les disparités exprimées dans la répartition
géographique de cette extension du réseau d'abonnés. En 1998, le parc téléphonique (capacité
des centraux) des provinces du Littoral( 56.000 lignes) et du Centre (43.000) ordonnées
respectivement autour de Douala et de Yaoundé, était supérieur- pour chacun- à celui des 8
autres provinces réunies. Bien plus, le nombre des abonnés dans ces provinces du Littoral
(26.215) et du Centre (21.924) représentait plus de la moitié du total des abonnés du Cameroun
en 1998. A ce sujet, on peut à juste titre parler de « Yaoundé et Douala et le désert
technologique camerounais ». De même, le boom du téléphone cellulaire ne peut faire oublier les
problèmes de la saturation du réseau téléphonique fixe camerounais, le faible taux de pénétration
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du téléphone fixe, surtout dans les zones rurales, l’inexistence d’un backbone national fiable, la
vétusté, voire l’obsolescence de certains de ses équipements. L’opérateur historique de la
téléphonie fixe, la Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel), société d’Etat en voie de
privatisation, a cessé depuis fort longtemps d’attribuer des nouvelles lignes, notamment pour les
cabines téléphoniques.
Douala et Yaoundé occupent une position géostratégique décisive dans l’organisation sociale
des différentes activités nationales, apparaissant à juste titre comme les » foyers régulateurs et
coordinateurs » dans les domaines actionnels et fonctionnels des télécommunications abritant
chacune : 1 centre télex national et international. Le programme CAMPAC (Cameroon Packet
Switching Network) met en place un système de commutation des données par paquets (X25),
sorte de réseau MINITEL faisant appel à une liaison spécialisée satellite à 9.600 bits/s (64 kbps
dans le réseau en cours d’installation) qui se déploie sur le territoire national à a partir de 4
nœuds d’accès localisés à Yaoundé (Centre), Douala ( Littoral), Garoua (Nord), et Bafoussam
(Ouest). Le couple stratégique Douala-Yaoundé occupe une place hégémonique dans le
mouvement de « numérisation » ou de « digitalisation » croissante de l’activité nationale des
télécommunications et dans l’organisation du maillage territorial des différents « générations de
technologies de réseau » au sein de ce secteur. Le secteur camerounais des télécommunications
va progressivement s’ouvrir aux nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication
en général et Internet en particulier.
Les trajectoires spatiales d’une géopolitique asymétrique des accès à la société de
l’information au Cameroun.
Le développement des connexions à Internet va progressivement imposer une évolution des
trajectoires technologiques en matière d’information et de communication au Cameroun en
raison des pressions évolutives crées par l’absorption des « mutations techniques associées à la
révolution numérique. » La connexion du Cameroun au réseau Internet à été amorcée en avril
1997 suite à la réussite du « programme de numérisation », faisant de ce pays le précurseur de
l’adaptation aux innovations de l’ère numérique en Afrique centrale. Le raccordement du
Cameroun à Internet et aux autoroutes de l’information à été rendu possible grâce à
l’assemblage de 2 nœuds d’accès construits à Yaoundé et à Douala par CABLE and WIRELES
et British Telecom entre avril 1997 (pour Yaoundé) et avril 1999 (pour Douala).
Les opérations techniques de connexion à Internet, qui traduisent l’intérêt croissant des
camerounais pour les autoroutes de l’information, ont permis la mise en place de liaisons
privilégiant une fois de plus les villes de Yaoundé (22 liaisons spécialisées) et Douala (10 liaisons
spécialisées) dans la construction de l’architecture technologique interconnectée bâtie autour de
4 serveurs, 8 routeurs et 1 réseau ETHERNET 10 BT. Cette société fait de Douala et Yaoundé
l’axe principal de son dispositif d’accès à Internet par le réseau téléphonique commuté ou par
liaisons spécialisées.
La Camtel ,qui a du mal aujourd’hui à trouver un repreneur privé, a arrêté la plupart de ses
dépenses d’investissement, limitant ainsi ses offres de connectivité aux backones internationaux.
Sur le plan interne, elle utilise la solution médiane des liaisons spécialisées pour les villes de
Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, Garoua ou Ngaoundéré. Cette solution de rechange entraîne de
nombreux problèmes de saturation de trafic. Toutefois l’entreprise espère résoudre au moins en
partie ces différents problèmes grâce à l’arrivée du câble sous-marin à fibre optique à Douala
depuis le 23 août 2002.
La minceur du parc informatique camerounais.
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Le parc informatique camerounais est encore très limité comme l’indique sa densité évaluée à
0,302 ordinateurs pour 100 habitants au Cameroun en 1999. Bien que l’on ne dispose pas
toujours de statistiques fiables, moins d’un dixième des agents de l’Etat utilise l’outil informatique.
Certains ministères fonctionnent avec moins de 100 micro-ordinateurs. Ce faible niveau
d’acquisition des équipements informatiques est en partie lié au coût prohibitif de ces appareils
pour des économies déjà fragilisées et sous ajustement structurel, au nombre restreint des
utilisateurs résidentiels et à la quasi- inexistence de structures académiques de formation en
informatique. Selon l’évaluation faite lors de l’atelier régional Afrique centrale, de l’Est et de
l’Océan Indien sur les « Inforoutes » tenu à Yaoundé en janvier 1997, le parc informatique du
Cameroun était de 10.000 micro-ordinateurs. Si l’on se base sur le taux de croissance annuel en
investissements informatiques estimé à 30,1% , ce parc devrait atteindre aujourd’hui 80.000
micro-ordinateur, c’est -à- dire en deçà de la moyenne africaine. Les équipements et les
instruments informatiques qui constituent le préalable pour l’accès à Internet indiquent un taux
d’acquisition de 13% par an pour les micro-ordinateurs, 4,5% pour les mini-ordinateurs et 5,2%
pour les gros ordinateurs au cours de la période 1987-1999.
En dépit de cette limitation conjoncturelle et structurelle, le parc informatique national a connu
une évolution sensible, en raison d’une situation économique marquée par un début de reprise
de la croissance et du gros effort fait par les pouvoirs publics dans le cadre des opérations du
Comité National de Pilotage de la Transition des Systèmes Informatiques à l’an 2000, entre
1998- 2002. Ces évolutions, encore fragiles, devraient être consolidées car certains signes ne
sont pas très encourageants et appellent à la prudence. Le « Plan national Informatique » publié
en décembre 1999 par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de l’informatique et de la
recherche scientifique n’a pas été suivi. Et le gouvernement camerounais a du mal aujourd’hui à
élaborer une stratégie nationale cohérente de développement des technologies de l’information
et de la communication, dont l’un des axes prioritaires pourrait être l’accroissement de l’œuvre
d’accès.
Les approches stratégiques d’une politique camerounaise d’accès à la société de
l’information et de la communication
On peut situer comme point de départ de la volonté des pouvoirs publics camerounais de
s’investir dans la problématique des nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la
communication les trois interventions politico- médiatiques du président Paul Biya lors du
discours de fin d’année 2000, celui de la présentation des vœux au corps diplomatique en janvier
2001 et celui adressé à la jeunesse le 10 février 2001. Bien qu’ayant bien souligné les enjeux et
les défis de cette nouvelle révolution annoncée, on a encore du mal à identifier qui est le chef de
file de l’élaboration et de la mise en œuvre de la stratégie nationale d’appropriation et de
développement des NTIC. Plusieurs ministères et institutions interviennent dans ce projet de
manière désordonnée. Un Comité ad hoc chargé de l’élaboration d’une stratégie nationale de
développement des NTIC a été créé par le Premier ministre le 26 novembre2001, et n’a toujours
pas rendu son rapport. De même, l’Agence Nationale des technologies de l’Information et de la
Communication (ANTIC), créée par décret présidentiel du 8 avril 2002 pour « promouvoir et
suivre l’action gouvernementale dans le domaine des technologies de l’information et de la
communication » tarde à fonctionner, faute de personnel.
Le ministère de la Recherche scientifique et technique s’est vu confié, par un décret présidentiel
en octobre 2000, la mission d’élaborer un « Programme d’Action Gouvernemental pour la Société
de l’Information et du Savoir » (PAGSIS), tandis que le ministère des Postes et
télécommunications, qui dispose d’un direction des observatoires des NTIC, était chargé par le
Premier ministre de définir une « politique Nationale de Développement de l’Internet et des
Autoroutes de l’Information ». De même, le ministère de la Communication n’entend pas être
exclu de ce domaine et a entrepris une réflexion sur le développement des contenus des sites
Internet camerounais. Le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur a été désigné par une décision
du Premier ministre du 16 novembre 1999 comme point focal dans les démarches d’organisation
et d’orientation des NTIC. D’autres ministères interviennent plus ou moins directement dans ce
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débat de l’élaboration d’une stratégie nationale d’ancrage à la société de l’information. C’est le
cas, par exemple, du ministère de l’Education nationale, celui du Développement industriel et
commercial ; le ministère des Finances et le Centre National de Développement Informatique.
D’autres opérateurs privés qui existent à côté de l’Etat se positionnent aussi comme
« fournisseurs d’accès » et « producteurs de services généralisés ». Ceux-ci sont engagés dans
des relations contractuelles et intercontractuelles avec les partenaires. (GC-NET, ICC-NET,
ADAFNET, DS-NET, etc.). D’autres opérateurs offrent des « accès spécialisés »(SUPTELECOM,
UNITET, CENADI,). Tous ces opérateurs contribuent à l’insertion du Cameroun à la société de
l’information et de la communication.
Le Cameroun bénéficie aussi des projets de coopération internationale dans le domaine des
NTIC et de la maîtrise des technologies innovantes. Dans cette perspective de développement
des moyens d’accès à la « société du savoir » on peut citer le réseau d’ordinateurs existant dans
les Universités et les Grandes Ecoles comme celui de l’université de Yaoundé I initié en août
1997 avec une liaison de 64 kbps ou réseau ETHERNET qui attribue le nom de domaine
« uninet » avec le Centre de Calcul et l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique (ENSP)
comme nœud d’accès de ce réseau en fibres optiques. Un projet d’université virtuelle( Académie
CISCO) est même envisagé. Dans cette perspective, le Cameroun peut bénéficier de projets de
coopération comme le « Réseau Intertropical d’Ordinateurs » (RIO) créé par l’IRD (Institut pour la
Recherche et le Développement) ou le « Réseau Electronique Francophone par l’Education et la
Recherche »(REFER) mis en place par l’Agence Francophone pour l’enseignement et la
Recherche (AUPELF-UREF), ou encore le Point d’Accès aux inforoutes pour les Jeunes(PAJE)
financé par l’Agence intergouvernemental de la Francophonie.
Le développement des capacités de connexion au réseau mondial associe les acteurs
institutionnels et privés, nationaux ou internationaux (administrations, commerces, industries,
intermédiaires financiers ou médias). Les réseaux interconnectés peuvent être consolidées par
une collaboration renforcée avec l’association ISOC-Cameroun (représentant local de l’ONG
américaine « Internet Society ». L’objectif serait alors de diversifier le réseau Internet au
Cameroun encore contrôlé par l’opérateur historique Camtel qui distribue parcimonieusement la
voie satellitaire (V-SAT).
Quelques actions programmatiques d’ancrage du Cameroun à la société du savoir.
Certaines actions sont entreprises par les opérateurs publics et privés pour vulgariser l’usage
d’Internet dans la société camerounaise. Les stratégies camerounaises d’ancrage à la société de
l’information et du savoir semble avoir fait le pari de la jeunesse. Le président Paul Biya et son
épouse ont inauguré le 30 novembre 2001, 2 centres de ressources multimédias dans 2 lycées
de Yaoundé. Ils sont équipés de 30 micro-ordinateurs, 3 imprimantes, 1 scanner, 1 graveur de
CD-Rom, pour le lycée Leclerc et de 72 micro-ordinateurs, 3 serveurs, 11 imprimantes et 2
scanners pour le lycée bilingue. Financé par la présidence de la République, ce projet est appelé
à s’étendre sur l’ensemble des lycées des 10 provinces du Cameroun. L’université de Yaoundé I
s’apprête à abriter le Centre d’excellence en informatique appliquée à l’analyse et à la gestion
des ressources naturelles. Un mémorandum dans ce sens a été signé le 24 décembre 2002
entre le gouvernement camerounais et la représentation des Nations Unies au Cameroun.
L’Institut africain d’informatique (IAI) antenne du Cameroun offre à la fin de chaque année –
depuis 2 ans- gratuitement des cours d’informatique aux meilleurs élèves des établissements
scolaires de Yaoundé.
Le ministère des Finances a décidé de défiscaliser l’importation des entrants informatiques au
Cameroun et le ministère de la Communication a signé le 23 septembre 2002 un arrêté qui
attribue une aide publique aux médias privés y compris la presse « on line ». Celle-ci pourra
bénéficier d’une subvention pour l’acquisition du matériel informatique, la production du contenu
numérique, la prise en charge des frais connexes (télécommunications, transport, hébergement).
Le Salon International des NTIC de Yaoundé (Yaoundé Net COM) s’impose au fil des ans
101
comme le grand rendez-vous des professionnels des NTIC, une plate forme de référence pour la
présentation et le lancement des nouveaux produits et services des technologies innovantes
dans la région Afrique centrale.
Les perspectives de régulation des politiques de développement des NTIC
Les politiques nationales en matière de NTIC doivent être élaborées sur la base de
restructuration du secteur des télécommunications en prenant en compte les approches
régulatrices. En plus du problème de la coordination des différents acteurs intervenant dans les
programmes de développement des nouvelles technologies, le secteur des télécommunications
au Cameroun souffre d’un vide juridique qui entraîne un désordre préjudiciable aux usagers. Le
paysage télécommunicationnelle camerounais est régie par les lois n° 98/014 du 14 juillet 1998
relative aux télécommunications, n°98/197 du 8 septembre 1998 portant création de l’Agence de
Régulation des Télécommunications (ART) et le décret n° 2002/092 du 8 avril portant création,
organisation et fonctionnement de l’Agence Nationale des Technologies de l’Information et de la
Communication (ANTIC).
Dans ce dispositif juridico- réglementaire, l’ART apparaît comme l’autorité de régulation chargé
de mettre de l’ordre dans le secteur, tandis que l’ANTIC devrait « promouvoir et suivre l’action
gouvernementale dans le domaine des technologies de l’information et de la communication ».
Bien qu’ayant déjà quelques faits d’armes à son actif (fixation des tarifs d’interconnexion entre les
3 opérateurs -Camtel, MTM, SCM/Orange, définition d’un plancher de base de tarification à la
minute, attribution de nouveaux blocs de lignes, passage de la numérotation à 7 chiffres), l’ART
souffre de problèmes de jeunesse, en particulier de manque de personnel qualifié pour suivre
l’évolution rapide du secteur des TIC.
Une approche intégrée des problèmes commanderait aujourd’hui de créer une structure centrale
de coordination et de des actions de développement des NTIC et de régulation des
télécommunications. Cette structure administrative indépendante pourrait prendre en charge les
problèmes relatifs à l’adressage et au nommage du domaine Cameroun (.cm), de contrôle
technique et éthique des contenus de sites par l’enregistrement, la certification et
l’authentification en lieu et place de la Camtel en butte à ses problèmes de privatisation. Cette
nouvelle autorité de coordination et de régulation devrait organiser les rapports entre informatique
et libertés, réguler le commerce électronique (e-commerce), et préciser le statut des acteurs
impliqué dans le développement des NTIC. Elle interviendrait aussi dans la sécurisation des
opérations sur Internet (protection des données personnelles, sécurisation des opérations contre
les attaques informatiques ou la cybercriminalité) avec l’appui d’un Observatoire des NTIC.
Perspectives de distribution dans les politiques de développement des NTIC
L’élaboration d’une stratégie nationale de développement des NTIC au Cameroun devrait mettre
l’accent sur la distribution. Les actions prioritaires seraient alors l’accroissement de l’offre des
services Internet à partir de la création d’infrastructures publiques d’accès telles que les cabines
à carte ou « call box », les télécentres ou les cybercentres, les centres d’information
communautaires en zones rurales, la multiplication des sites Internet, etc.). Le Cameroun pourrait
tirer partie des projets ou programmes de coopération internationale comme l’« Africa Network
Initiative » (ANI), fruit de la coopération entre BellaNet, l’UNESCO, le CRDI et l’UIT ; le
programme InfoDev de la Banque mondiale pour la mise en place d’une université africaine
virtuelle ; le Leland Initiative qui fournit une assistance technique au pays souhaitant développer
l’accès au réseau Internet ; le projet Mercure du PNUD utilisant la technologie V SAT pour établir
un réseau de circulation d’information en Afrique ; ou encore les nombreux programmes de l’UIT ,
de l’Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie et de l’OMS.
Le branchement du Cameroun à la fibre optique devrait permettre de porter la capacité globale
du trafic avec l’étranger qui était de 600 circuits à 3.000, avec la possibilité de la multiplier à partir
de la technique de la compression, par 2.000. Grâce à ce câble, les demandes des utilisateurs
102
d’Internet à haut débit pourront être satisfait. De même, les télécommunications avec l’extérieur
vont pouvoir se faire sur un canal autre que le satellite. Sur le plan interne, on peut aussi
commencer à entrevoir un début de solution au problème de la saturation du réseau. La réussite
de l’opération du passage de la numérotation téléphonique à 7 chiffres en 2001 assure au
Cameroun une capacité théorique de création de 8 millions de nouveaux numéros. Mais, pour en
profiter, il faudrait faire de gros investissements, y compris dans la technologie de pointe.
Pour une rationalisation de l’approche stratégique camerounaise d’ancrage à la société de
l’information.
L’élaboration et la mise œuvre d’une stratégie nationale de développement des NTIC passe par
une approche transversale et multisectorielle réduisant la dispersion des intérêts et des actions
des différents acteurs dans ce secteur. Lorsque cela s’avère nécessaire, les pouvoirs publics
doivent désigner un chef de programme chargé d’animer et de coordonner les actions des
différents acteurs.
Une démarche de développement de l’infrastructure nationale de l’information et de la
communication (INIC) doit s’intégrer dans la stratégie nationale de développement économique
et social. Les participants à l’Atelier CEMAC sur les technologies de l’information et de la
communication au service de l’intégration régionale ont bien souligné les principes qui doivent
guider toute réflexion pour la définition d’un plan inforoutier national ( effort particulier sur la
baisse des coûts d’utilisation, stratégies d’investissement et de financement par l’aide à la
création de contenus adaptés aux besoins des populations, mise en place d’une libre
concurrence et d’un cadre réglementaire attrayant, considération du facteur durabilité dans les
choix techniques, mobilisation de toutes les énergies à travers la recherche de synergies entre
les secteurs public et privé et la société civile ).
Les politiques de développement des INIC doivent être mise en compatibilité avec les initiatives
régionales comme le satellite africain des télécommunications de l’Organisation Régionale
Africaine de Communication par satellite (RASCOM) ou l’Initiative Société de l’Information en
Afrique adoptée en mai 1996 par la Commission Economique pour l’Afrique (CEA). Le
développement des NTIC, de l’Internet et inforoutes au Cameroun doit s’inscrire dans la
perspective des efforts des pouvoirs publics pour lutter contre la pauvreté. Les NTIC sont aussi
sollicités dans le vaste programme de réforme administrative destiné à mettre en place une
administration publique performante, transparente et au service des citoyens.
103

Low Cost Access and Connectivity

Transcription

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