22-05-2013, 12:26 PM
A Road to Universal Broadband Connectivity
A Road to Universal.pdf (Size: 4.76 MB / Downloads: 28)
The Digital Divide
• The goal is clear:
Universal
Connectivity
• But how do we get
there?
• Need technology
roadmap that is:
– Socially appropriate
– Economically
motivating
– Financially staged
– Technologically
scalable
The Wireless Revolution
• Wireless = leapfrogging
opportunities
• But what kind of
wireless?
– Radio links (1-100Mhz)
– Cellular/ WLL
– Satellite/VSAT
– WiFi LAN/WAN
• Insight: Same factors
driving WiFi revolution in
developed world can
drive a revolution in
developing world:
– Low cost for users and
providers
– East of setup, use and
maintenance
– Bandwidth and scalability
– Spectrum delicensing
Vision
• Local entrepreneurs
within developing
countries will use WiFi
to:
– Overcome infrastructure
cost barriers
– Innovate and experiment
with applications and
content
– Stimulate the
development dynamic for
rural first mile
communities
– Grow the infrastructure
according to first mile
needs and demands,
scaling up to universal
broadband connectivity
The Rural ICT Market
• Latent demand for
information and
communication services
• The needs of the “endusers”
come first = the
first mile
• But need low-risk seed
infrastructure to see
what is demanded
– User adoption takes time
– Service adoption also
takes time
Asynchronous Is Sufficient
• ICTs introduced as
shared resource
• But this has
drawbacks for realtime
infrastructures:
– High level of adoption
required to achieve
cost recovery
– “Who am I going to
call?” problem
– Shared
communications
infrastructure tends to
be asynchronous