Sorry for the late post...hope it's not too late for this subject. I'm Jim Forster, an engineer with cisco Systems. I thought I'd describe a small effort in Nepal that I'm helping.
-- Jim > 1. What activities are endeavoring to bring connectivity to under-served > communities? Dave Hughes, a long-time advocate of unlicensed wireless for rural connectivity, as been in Nepal helping Tsering Sherpa set up 802.11 for the main Sherpa village of Namche. Namche apparently gets a fair amount of tourist and Mt. Everest climber money, but their telephony service was cut off when the Maoists blew up the government-owned telephone relay tower. Last year Tsering set up a small PBX and supplied voice service to some lodges, and Internet service to some Internet café's in Namche. Last week Tsering and Dave Hughes setup 3 802.11 radios to provide 802.11 service to all of Namche, and via relay to the SPCC National Park HQ. They had planned to provide relay service to a nearby school but will need another radio for that service. When that happens the students will receive English lessons from a Sherpa in Colorado, using VoIP over Internet the whole way -- no PSTN whatsoever. See <http://www.linkingeverest.com/gallery/learning> for the original idea, and <http://www.linkingeverest.com/gallery/hughes-everest?page=4> for pictures of the project underway. > 2. What are the goals of these efforts? To what extent are the goals > attained? Enable English language lessons and increased educational opportunities through Internet and VoIP. Preserve Sherpa culture by enabling those that must leave to find work to remain in contact with their families and village. Enable the whole village to economically share one VSAT connection. Demonstrate to to the world, through the visiblity that Sherpas have due to Everest, that Internet connectivity is feasible anywhere and economical in many places. > 3. Who is being served by these connectivity efforts? Are the benefits > widely distributed? Do some groups "win" and some "lose" in these > connectivity efforts? > 4. How do connectivity efforts seek to ensure that all groups benefit? 802.11 coverage of the entire village lowers the barriers. ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For the GKD database, with past messages: http://www.GKDknowledge.org