Financially Sustainable Digital Divide Bridge

Onno W. PurboOnno@indo.net.id

Disclaimer .. I may be wrong Some thought may be too extreme Consider this as an on going

research work

More References http://www.apjii.or.id/onno/ http://onno.vlsm.org http://www.bogor.net/idkf/

Way of Thinking .. Focus on Self-finance Sustainable

Access (Infrastructure). Applications may run on top of it.

Aim for highest impact at lowest possible overhead if possible self-finance sustainable processes.

RebelNet Architecture

Two (2) Main Technologies WiFi – for outdoor usage! VoIP

Main Features “Low Cost”

US$150-200 / WiFi node. US$10-50 / phone line (depending

conf.) Operating cost US$400/16-60 line/

month Many Open Source

Main Problems Outdoor WiFi (Fixed Wireless)

creating a lot of regulatory breach. Operator Licensing issues. Frequency issues.

VoIP (Internet Telephony) Create corporate voice telephony

extranet bypass most corporate traffics via VoIP Problems for Telco & Gov’t!!

Major Approaches Government Grass Root Movement

Government Path Key Success

Attitude, Quality, Culture – human resource.

Paradigm Shift? Old

Technology Expensive Specialized Skilled

Licensed from Gov’t Invest by Investors Build by Vendor etc Run by Operator For user

Future? …

Technology Cheaper Technology Friendly

From the people People Invest People build Run by People For People

Major Obstacle .. Old paradigm in regulatory

framework, i.e., only a licensed operator can run the network.

No room for community based infrastructure.

Government Major Approaches Set Vision; Do Assessment; Get

Loan; Deploy Pilot or Write Policy Paper. People get nothing …

Licensing Services People have to pay the government ..

Implanted Divide .. Operatorsvs. users. Investors vs. users. Haves vs. the have not. one close to regulator vs. common

people. one close to operator vs. common

people. one close to political leaders vs. common

people.

Some problems in licensing .. Distortion in licensing processes. Homebrew equipment type approval. No room for infrastructure that build,

run, operate, and for communities. Frequency is commodity.

The bottom line is “money talk”.

Grass Root Movement

Consequences .. 4+ Million Indonesian Internet Users 2500+ WiFi outdoor installations 2000+ CyberCafes 1500+ schools on the Internet

Not much gov’t funding & support No World Bank, IMF funding Mostly self-finance

Grass Root Key Success

Ability To Read English Supply Created-by-Demand

Society’s level of education Access to ICT skills / knowledge for

ICT professionals

Demand Creation Awareness Demand Creation Business Opportunity Pressure on Regulation

Create Supporting Structure Encourage Student

ICT Knowledge Producer

Mailing Lists Tacit Knowledge Distributor

Publications in magazine, books, VCD.

Self-finance and self-propelled.

Community broadcasting for rural / village areas.

Surfing

Publish

Packaging Disseminate

Feed Back

Access For Int’l Bodies Regulatory reform

Keep in mind a shift in technology paradigm Careful with distortion in operational practice

Supporting Grass Root Movement Aim for sustainable knowledge cycle for high

impact. Aim for self-finance & sustainable path.