Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] The Role of the Private Sector
On 11/25/2003, Global Knowledge Dev. Moderator wrote: Many GKD members have argued that the for-profit private sector must play a key role in expanding access to underserved communities. The notion is appealing. At the outset, let me state that I operate as an entrepreneur, mainly because the regulatory environment for public trusts in India is not very good. However, the work we do and the technology solutions we promote are almost completely focused on developmental issues, and I do not see any conflict of interest here. Of course, we don't make a lot of money either, and that is because we find ourselves shut out from several funding opportunities. I also have found some NGOs reluctant to deal with a for-profit, because it affects their own funding proposals. 1. What specific elements does a policy environment need in order to encourage the private sector to expand access to poor, isolated, underserved areas? Where do such policies exist? The first part is a challenging question. To my mind, policies do not drive access, demand does. Private companies will step in to supply against demand if there is sufficient possibility of a profit in doing so. Having said that, policies can and do work to *prevent* such a supply situation from being created, or even the demand situation. In India, for instance, currently the use of VoIP with termination within the POTS system (and that includes cellular and WiLL telephony) is banned, thus depriving half a billion people from access to cheaper and possibly affordable telephony. Without the experience of telephony, users are deprived of the ability to demand, and providers to devise, more imaginative uses for it (than POTS, that is). 2. What lessons have we learned about the risks and rewards of creating public-private partnerships to expand access to the underserved? Where have these lessons been applied, and where have they worked? Businesses are driven primarily by the profit motive. Unless there is a significant change in market mechanisms (and this is one place - perhaps the only place - that policies can make a difference) this situation will continue. To look at lessons in expanding access, I can suggest the experience of 'community' radio in Nepal, where several stations have been established in difficult areas, where opposing political groups routinely employ violence to further their cause. In India, several rural development groups are attempting to deploy better microbanking systems, using a hybrid combination of physical access and electronic data capture. In the absence of higher availability of electricity and low cost computers and networks (connectivity) this must be the only practical solution. 3. What are specific, unexploited opportunities for public-private partnerships to expand access to the underserved? Please provide examples where these opportunities can be exploited effectively. I have a little earlier suggested voice mail systems deployed over smartphones using cellular and WiLL networks. To develop such a system needs private-public partnering, even if the actual cost of software is met through development in publicly owned facilities such as universities. Actually, the cost of development is trivial, the deployment needs a large investment, and I am not aware of any such investment ever being made in the past by a public agency for promoting access. 4. What concrete lessons have we learned about stimulating/supporting local businesses to extend access to the underserved? Please be specific. Where have these lessons been applied effectively? The example of hybrid microbanking systems is a very good one, I believe. The reports I have read indicate that users consistently exhibit better banking behaviour, with higher rates of savings and lower defaults on loans, thus stimulating local economies. Both men and women appear to benefit, often the latter more. 5. Within underserved communities, women often face special difficulties becoming ICT providers (e.g., lack of capital, education, competing demands for time). Are there particular approaches that can be used to support women entrepreneurs who want to offer ICT access to underserved communities, beyond the 'Grameen cell phone' model? I have been told, verbally, that the private Reliance Infocomm WiLL network in India has encouraged about 5,000 small entrepreneurs, of which perhaps 20% are rural based, to use the phones as PCOs. No reports have been published yet of this effort. However, where ordinary users pay as little as Rs 500 (just over 9 euro) upfront for a phone with connectivity, entrepreneurs under the scheme do not pay anything at all. They also do not pay Reliance any commission, for billing of under Rs 250 per month. A call costs Rs 0.40 per minute (this was the cost, till very recently, of a call within the Reliance network, anywhere in India, but has probably gone up as a result of a regulatory change. The organisation is
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] The Role of the Private Sector
Let me preface my comments by some more general considerations: (a) No matter how wealthy he might be, a donor is only willing to finance operation costs -- or even a substantial fraction thereof -- for 1 or 2 years. (b) As accumulated cost for ongoing operations rapidly exceeds inital investments (due to breakdown or obsolence), most projects should consider operation cost and relacements right from the beginning (it's: only the first PC is for free, you have to pay already for the next one). (c) As a consequence of (b), many if not most projects collapse, once the original donor disappears. (d) To prevent (c) there is a new buzz-word: sustainability (e) However, the concept of sustainability holds a deep and fundamental misunderstanding about the difference between NGOs and for-profit companies. (f) In the North (or whatever synonym you like) a NGO gets funding mainly from donors, endowments, tax-reducibles, public money. (g) In the South (or whatever synonym you like) there are no rich donors nor a huge amount of persons interested in tax-deductions, and public money is urgently needed for 1,001 tasks -- ICT4D is just one among many. (h) Thus, sustainability in the South actually means: those who benefit, one way or the other, have to pay for the services they receive -- at least for the direct costs (e.g., for replacements, upgrades, expansion. Whoever is the provider has to charge for those costs - regardless of whether it's a so-called Small Business or a NGO). (i) Another way to look at it: most private small businesses are not really for profit, but rather are a way to for someone to generate self-employment income, i.e., the small business is not expecting to generate revenue for share-holders or interest for capital-investment. (j) This makes the Northern distinction between small business (for profit) and NGO (charity) -- found in many fund-applications of World Bank, Regional Development Banks and Big national Donor Organizations -- not only incorrect but counterproductive. (In the Southern context, aquiring sustainability means going into business and charging fees, just like any other business). (k) With respect to national public funds: assignment of extremely scare public funds to subsidize ICT4poor seems reasonable and ethical if and only if using ICT vs. other means will save money. Example: a Nicaraguan Teacher is paid roughly 0.58 US$ per class-lesson assuming class-frequencies of 35 and more. Operation of 1 single PC costs roughly the same per hour. Nicaragua has a recognized deficit of some 10,000 primary and secondary teachers in public education, mainly due to budget limits. Under these circumstances, spending 1 single US$ (or asking the parents to pay) to sustain a School-computer is not only a waste but anti-ethical. (l) Corolary from a-k: the usage of ICT in the South can only be sustained if it provides measurable economic benefit, either in form of services directly for end-users, or in the form of reduced costs (or extended coverage) compared with traditional approaches to providing the same or similar services. Having said this, here are my answers: KEY QUESTIONS: 1. What specific elements does a policy environment need in order to encourage the private sector to expand access to poor, isolated, underserved areas? Where do such policies exist? Drop the artificial distinction between for benefit NGOs and for profit micro and small enterprises. 2. What lessons have we learned about the risks and rewards of creating public-private partnerships to expand access to the underserved? Where have these lessons been applied, and where have they worked? Assume that, unless there is a clear benefit for the public sector, as explained above, public spending in PPP must and will tend to 0. Thus, the contibutions will be only for limited administrative costs, administrative and policy support. 3. What are specific, unexploited opportunities for public-private partnerships to expand access to the underserved? Please provide examples where these opportunities can be exploited effectively. Use smallest-scale bids for local would-be service providers, open to NGOs and small businesses. Treat both as part of the local micro/small/medium-enterprise environment, and provide support, etc., to both that are normally given to any of these types of enterprises. 4. What concrete lessons have we learned about stimulating/supporting local businesses to extend access to the underserved? Please be specific. Where have these lessons been applied effectively? If you don't do as expressed above, realize that the utmost probability is that your (donor) project will be history as soon as you stop throwing in money. (You have the odds of the experiences of thousands of Tele- and Info-centers against you). 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
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] How Much Bandwidth is Necessary?
Edward, Would broadband imply a higher ROI? Not necessarily. The margins for rural service are always tight. Every incremental cost counts, including the cost of a basic payphone set. Rural ROI is highly dependent on willingness and ability to pay for services offered. Rural customers are very price sensitive. Where broadband has a real chance in rural areas is where it can best respond to price sensitivity for voice telephony - e.g. voice over IP... hence the importance of the regulatory environment... which can catalyse creative technical adaptations for the rural market if convergence applications are enabled and not blocked by regulation. Look at Ghana where ISPs or operators providing VOIP can get pretty hefty fines. Don Richardson Edward Malloy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Don et al: Given the low cost and availability of new wireless access devices, plus the steady expansion (and underutilization) of the national backbone (often fiber) in many developing nations, is the real cost of extending voice and data telecom service to rural villages any higher for broadband than for narrow band? If as I suspect the cost differential is not all that much, wouldn't then broadband imply a higher return on investment. [I am assuming, of course an ideal regulatory environment described earlier (market liberalization, open investment climate, good regulation (that supports universal access).] 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
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] Bringing Connectivity to Under-Served Communities
Indeed, WorldSpace is not a total solution in itself, but only part of a solution in an imperfect situation. I don't see that anybody has yet promoted it as 'a substitute for the real thing'. Thus the risk of that misperception should not cause us to ignore its existence and its potential uses. Arguably, the initial step towards joining the information society is to receive information, and not to transmit blindly. In the same way, a newborn's first breath is always to inhale and not to exhale. Especially in terms of educating, informing and entertaining, there is much that can be achieved through being able to merely receive broadcasts. If this were not the case, then the traditional forms of media dissemination (ie. radio/TV/print) could never have become as pervasive as they are now in our more privileged urban areas. So WorldSpace satellite radio receivers bring about inclusivity by merely offering a new option for reliably receiving high quality audio and data content in locations hitherto excluded from any of the traditional media forms. Of course, as with traditional broadcast media, other options would need to be looked into on a case-by-case basis to contribute anything in return; but at the outset, this requirement is not a sine qua non. So in discussing the use of WorldSpace, I'd suggest it would be more worthwhile to focus on the following two issues: (a) The content delivered by WorldSpace needs to be better adapted for local relevance, but the cost of doing so is too high for local content developers unless they can secure major subsidies. (b) The presence of a WorldSpace receiver in a remote rural setting should be optimised to deliver more than just data connectivity for websites, as its transmissions reach places where traditional media does not exist. Its multimodal (audio and video) capabilities ought to be exploited holistically. I am a user of WorldSpace radio myself, especially whenever I travel by car around East Africa. Its little satellite-dish sits perfectly on the dashboard and is very reliable so long as there are no overhanging obstructions (trees, bridges, etc.) as the satellite is nearly directly overhead. You just can't imagine the excitement it generates whenever people in remote areas get to experience it! Sadly, the only broadcasts I've heard in Kiswahili -- a language spoken by an estimated minimum of 60 million people in East Africa -- are on Voice of Kenya plus the occasional BBC World Service programmes. I am not aware of any other African languages being available on it in this sector. I once enquired from local broadcasters as to why they did not seize this medium to expand their audience. They consistently replied that the cost of up-loading content was unjustifiably high, especially compared to the cost of streaming directly onto the Internet. A few asked me about downloading the audio content for their local broadcasts, which was quite the opposite of my intentions... Now, if that is the reality of the situation for the audio side (where local content is abundant), then the situation for the data side (where local content is relatively more scarce), is necessarily worse. Clearly, WorldSpace have a business model that they must adhere to for sustainability, so it would be unfair to request them to lower their rates. But perhaps this suggests that there is room for some sort of arrangement to sponsor the sharing of channels dedicated to local content among several small-scale broadcasters and/or web-content developers? Cordially David On Wednesday 26 November 2003 23:41, Simon Woodside wrote: WorldSpace is a broadcast system. With a WorldSpace system you are only capable of receiving data, not sending it. While I think WorldSpace is a great and wonderful thing, it's very dangerous if people thinking it's a substitute for the real thing which is an internet connection that allows two-way communication, email, web access, VoIP, web email, content creation, content sharing ... none of those are possible with WorldSpace. So, if you want to be merely an information consumer ... WorldSpace is fine. If you want to join the information society, you need something more. 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
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] Using Intermediaries to Facilitate Communication
I read Raphael Marambii's post with interest, in particular: Although cryptography is complicated, we should not under-estimate the intelligence of people to quickly grasp the basic concepts (snip) It would be great fun and very empowering to teach villagers about ciphers and the art of cryptography (snip). For example, we could start with the simple one of wrapping a strip of cloth or paper around a certain sized stick, then writing a message across, then removing the stick, then showing the message can only be read by winding it around a similar sized stick. etc. I think there is something to be gained from not only bringing the IT technologies to people but also teaching some of the supposedly difficult concepts of computer science that underpin the technologies. I like this particular teaching idea because it combines a good locally available Visual Aid with IT awareness. I also like the fact that Raphael Marambii is interested in ways of teaching the supposedly difficult concepts of computer science. David Mutua and I are developing ICT awareness courses for people in Ago-Are. We have a slightly unusual approach to ICT awareness because of the history of our project. Our late founder, Peter Adetunji Oyawale, was an IT professional in the UK, but that happened against all the odds, because he was also the son of poor illiterate peasant farmers. Despite Peter's education and skills he kept the ability to look at the world through the eyes of (to use his description) an ignorant peasant. This means that he was continually recognising information and opportunities that would make life easier or better for his people back home in Oke-Ogun. Many of these opportunities related to the effective use of ICTs. When Peter was killed we lost from our project his unique ability to look at the world, simultaneously, through the eyes of an IT professional and an ignorant peasant. I believe most sincerely that when it comes to designing computer applications of any kind it is much easier for someone who is an expert in a soft system to learn sufficient about computers, than it is for someone who is an expert in the computer side of things to learn sufficient about the soft system. Therefore since Peter's death I have been looking forward to a time when some of his ignorant peasants (i.e. small scale farmers in Oke-Ogun who have lacked educational opportunity) would know sufficient about ICTs to be able to see things more through Peter's eyes, and suggest how ICTs can best be useful. So you will understand that when I talk about developing ICT awareness courses in Oke-Ogun I am not thinking about training people to be computer operators of some kind - I'm talking about seeing things Peter's way and giving a community an empowering relationship with the potential of technology. Raphael Marambii seems to have a similar philosophy, I hope we will be able to explore some ideas further... I know a youth in Ago-Are called Toby, who wants to study computer science, but has no money to go away and be a student. He stays with David, doing house-boy chores, in order to be around when there are opportunities to learn about computers. There are lots of chores to be done when electricity and running water are scarce and there are no labour saving gadgets. Toby helps me too when I'm in Ago-Are and I would like to help him in return. Any more ideas like the encryption stick to share with Toby? Pam McLean CAWD UK Volunteer on behalf of Oke-Ogun Community Development Agenda 2000 Plus 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
