Tag Archive for: VOIP

E-agriculture…Let’s look at projects in the Caribbean

Credit: Radio Toco

E-agriculture typifies the shift from struggling industrial economies to a knowledge-based entrepreneurial economic landscape driven by rapid technological innovation.

ICTs, which are increasingly viewed as tools that can enable farmers to work smarter and boost their returns, have functioned as a source of empowerment, boosting and building capacities, through highly efficient knowledge sharing processes.

Here are two ways in which e-agriculture is helping to transform the Caribbean’s agricultural sector.

AgriTalk: An initiative of the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN)

Objective: To facilitate a community of knowledge network of practice for Small Farm Holders and Farm associations and stakeholders across 16 Caribbean Islands by probiding cheap network communications using innovative digital technologies (VOIP) to facilitate timely agriculture related information (market prices, information about fertilizers, crop varieties etc.)

Approach: Partner with Mobile Telecom & VOIP Providers to create a closed user group service at a low cost to members of the network.

Regional-CaFAN- VOIP (ATA Adapters)-Peer Network & Gateway-Pilot

Internet Access- Low cost Edge Service -(Data Cards) Modem and Router – US$20/month

Local Level- CUG with Local Mobile Network -(Digital or C&W) -US$5/month (Free SMS)

VOIP Gateway – At each Network Contact Point (using SMS or code)

Beneficiaries: Nearly 1 million farmers

Benefits to community: Better prices, reliable information, Ease in selling their products etc…

Driving Agency: CaFAN, Farmer Associations

Rural Radio-Radio Toco 106.7FM, in Trinidad and Tobago, South-Eastern Caribbean

Objective: Aimed at serving the community and broadcasting community programs to alleviate poverty through information and ICTs.

Radio Toco came on stream in November 1997, with UNESCO/UNDP assistance within the framework of UNESCO’s special program “Women Speaking to Women”, and has gone from strength to strength since then.

Approach: A radio station and multimedia center, offering training

Beneficiaries: Rural Community

Driving Agency: Toco Foundation with the help of volunteers

Key lessons from these two initiatives

Technology is secondary to preparing and aligning people and processes
Effective community participation is vital
Strong leadership from village up is essential for success of any ICT4D project (e.g Agri-Talk)
Leveraging ICTs is not necessarily about changing lifestyles in rural communities. In many instances, they will introduce new methods of doing the same old activities.
Agricultural information is a complex process (information infrastructure—access and costs)
Knowledge sharing and strategic content development will be vital

Find out more about e-agriculture projects around the globe here.

August 3, 2011/by actualize

Morocco’s attractive broadband network

Morocco has a rather attractive broadband network

Morocco’s growing broadband network and an increase in competition for video has placed the region at the forefront for regional ICT investments.

“Whether it be VOIP providers, broadband Internet repackaging, or pay-TV installers, the smaller companies will be called to duty and therefore present a viable option for investors looking to capture a share of the projected $1.44-billion data segment by 2015, or other promising indicators,” says Majd Hosn, a telecoms analyst for Pyramid.

The North African country’s telecom sector revenue will see a 4.1% annual growth rate over the next five years. The telecommunications projections position the industry at $5.47-billion in 2015.

Moroccan communications ministry official Ibrahim Saeed told ITNewsAfrica that he is hopeful that these projections will maintain excellent prospects.

“We have worked hard to build a strong IT and telecom sector and hopefully Pyramid’s report will turn out true,” says Saeed.

“The leadership changes and popular uprisings that have spread in North Africa will take their toll on the stability and growth of Morocco,” adds Pyramid.

“However, (the country will) maintain a strong position compared to other Middle Eastern and North African communications markets.”

Jonathan Terry

July 18, 2011/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Closing the Urban-Rural Digital Divide: Connectivity Success in Mongolia

A rich dynamic taking place within the telecom sector is the emerging of new, low-cost solutions more suitable for delivering cost-effective solutions to remote, low-density rural communities. Studies have shown that there is considerable untapped demand in rural areas. However, until just recently the cost of delivery relative potential revenues, has limited carriers from making the needed investments to service those living in these rural communities.

Photo Credit- Mongolian Artist

USAID’s Last Mile Initiative (LMI) undertook a number of projects to explore the potential for identifying and exploring potential solutions. One of these was the Mongolia LMI project. The project was launched in mid-2005 with an initial Assessment that explored opportunities, including holding discussions with the government and discussion private-sector firms interested in becoming involved. Discussions were also held with the World Bank who at the time was exploring an initiative to support for a universal service program and to undertake some limited rural demonstration deployments.

During this early phase the most promising approach that surfaced was to form a partnership between the Khan Bank who has approximately 300 rural banks throughout Mongolia, and Incomnet, a local ISP with a satellite network providing connectivity to a growing number soum-center branches of the rural Khan Banks. The preliminary focus was on leveraging this satellite investment by adding a community-wide extension through the deployment of community-WiFi networks, with voice services provided through a low cost Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution set. In many ways this VoIP approach served as a forerunner to the now-emerging lower-cost commercial solutions entering the marketplace.

In late November-early December of 2006, the USAID-funded team returned to Mongolia to design a workable network using Incomnet’s satellite network and to develop a detailed project plan. This design and project plan put forward an approach consisting of three key elements;

the development of a detailed business-financial plan showing financial viability of rural access,
the support of technical assistance for the deployment of wireless networks in four rural communities that would provide broadband and VoIP services off the back of Incomnet’s Dial@way satellite network, and
a modest amount of risk capital required to install these four rural community networks.

The project was executed from mid-2006 through mid-2008, with full operations beginning in mid-2007.

The implementation took place in four rural communities: 1) the Saikhan soum of the Bulgan aimag, 2) the Tsengel soum of Bayan-Ulgii aimag, 3) the Chuluut bridge of the Ondor-Ulaan soum in the Arkhangai aimag, and 4) the Tsagaannuur bagh of theTariat soum in the Arkhangai aimag.

The implementation focused predominately on providing voice services via satellite-WiFi-VoIP, with PSTN interconnection. A final phase provided Internet access by placing a limited number of PCs within each of the four communities. For the initial installation an estimated 20-30 WiFi phones were distributed across the rural communities, with more to be added based on local demand.

The Mongolia LMI provided a valuable test-bed of experience, rich with lessons in several key areas for application well beyond Mongolia, including;

Even those living in the most remote areas are capable and willing to pay for telephony services,
The satellite-WiFi-VoIP solution sets is a viable, low-cost approach for delivering voice services into these remote areas, with the added advantage that the network can also deliver broadband Internet access,
The revenue from these rural communities is sufficient to pay for the network, its operations, and interconnection cost, making these profitable business ventures even without universal service funds,
Maintaining these systems in harsh conditions is a significant challenge requiring constant attention, and
The technical & business-financial model is replicable to additional rural communities throughout Mongolia as well as other countries.

The Mongolia LMI project also positioned Incomnet, through the capacity building gained through execution of this project, to aggressively pursue subsequent roll-out of yet additional rural communities being funded in part through the World Bank and the newly established universal service fund.

In many ways the experiences in Mongolia pushed the envelop of both technology and a viable business-financial model, with the conclusion being that there are viable solutions for both. Fortunately there has been significant advancement in lower-cost technical solutions since this project was concluded, that provide even more stable and replicable rural solutions to meet the needs of rural Mongolia, as well as other remote rural communities.

May 24, 2011/by actualize