Experts connect SA's unconnected
2010-08-30 10:20
Cape Town - South African scientists have developed a mobile platform that will create cheaper access to internet services for disadvantaged communities.
"We're looking at the mobile phone as a much cheaper option to access services with low-cost wireless mesh networks," CSIR scientist Marlien Herselman told News24.
"Once you have that, people can create and share content," she added.
Herselman said that the networks would work on a broadband "backbone" and several community nodes placed within line of sight of each other, would allow access to the network.
"The business model would be similar to MXit: Once you're in, you don't pay for content, but we need government support to subsidise the access cost," Herselman said.
Changes
She said that access to broadband services had kick-started changes in communities where they had been implemented.
"We see people from the community starting businesses and maintaining the networks. We provided a fairly intensive SAQA-approved (South African Qualifications Authority) training programme and now they're doing well," said Herselman.
She said that the programme was launched in poor communities in Limpopo and Mpumalanga identified by the department of science and technology, which funded the programme and is set to expand to other parts of the country.
"We are going to expand to the Northern Cape in January and we will deploy in three main areas, with about 19 village operators," she said of the project which will be launched officially on September 17.
It is hoped that the "village operators" will retain the skills in their particular community and be the impetus to kick-start rural economic development in these areas.
Herselman said that a rigorous programme of monitoring and evaluating would ensure that there was minimal vandalism to the equipment and that the programme retained institutional memory with the lessons of implementation.
"We are trying to form an eco-system in the community - connecting the unconnected - but government must get involved," she said.
Efforts
Herselman dismissed suggestions that the programme was duplicating existing efforts, particularly with regard to internet services at schools.
"We don't want to re-invent the wheel; we're trying to dovetail with existing projects and the stability of the platform is our success. We want people to use it. If it doesn't work, no matter how much technology you employ, people won't use it," she said.
While the cost of the project has not been finalised, Herselman said the she guessed the cost to be about R3m.
Herselman will present the project at the third biennial conference of the CSIR this week.
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