Connecting Villages: A Grand Challenge

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Connecting Villages A Grand Challenge
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Grand Challenges

• I believe that this nation should commit itself
  to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
  of landing a man on the moon and returning him
  safely to Earth.
• John F. Kennedy, 1961
•  
• That's one small step for a man, one giant leap
  for mankind.
• Neil Armstrong, 1969

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A Grand Challenge
Provide a high-speed Internet link and a point of
presence in every village in every low and
lower-middle income nation. 3 billion people 3
million villages
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1990s Hypothesis

• Computer networks could improve life in
  developing nations at a relatively low cost
• Marginal impact could be relatively great due to
  a lack of alternative ICT
• Raising the quality of rural life will reduce
  migration pressure

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Internet Diffusion, February 1991
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We have done

• Training
• Pilot studies
• ICT readiness assessments
• Conferences and workshops

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Many successful pilots
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The digital divide persists
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IP Connectivity, 2003
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Where are we?

• Many applications have been demonstrated.
• The Internet is on the radar screen
• But the digital divide persists
• Capital is not available

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The NSFNet Approach

• Developing nations challenge Provide a
  high-speed Internet link and a point of presence
  in every village in every low and lower-middle
  income nation.
• NSFNet challenge Provide a high-speed Internet
  link and a point of presence in every university
  in the United States.

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NSFNet

• Build backbone
• Fund connectivity and POP (router and a link)
• Connect
• US higher education networks
• International research and education networks

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NSFNet T1 Backbone, 1991
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NSFNet with regional links
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The NSFNet Strategy

• Highly leveraged -- 125 million
• Users in control
• Expert designers on temporary assignment

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Highly leveragedGovernment funding (million)
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User control

• Universities designed their LANs
• Universities funded their LANs
• Universities trained their users
• Users invented applications
• A dumb, end-to-end network with innovation at
  the edges

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Expert designers on temporary assignment

• UCLA
• MIT
• SRI
• BBN
• NSF
• Michigan
• Etc.

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Fiber Backbone, Mesh, POPs
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Steps

• Begin with a pilot nation
• Design and implement the network using a team of
  experts
• Apply lessons learned to other nations

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Which pilot nation?

• Strong government support of telecommunication
• Open, competitive telecommunication market
• Open, competitive business practices and laws
• High level of poverty
• High level of literacy
• Dense population
• High-speed international fiber links
• Strong university programs in EE, CS, and GIS
• Varied climate and topography

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Bangladesh?

• Densely populated reach with fiber
• Very poor
• Undersea cable coming
• Extreme climate
• Positive experience with micro-credit
• Government will not clear
• Low literacy rate
• Weak universities

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Areas of expertise

• Geographic Information Systems
• Local Geography
• Terrestrial wireless design and practice
• Fiber optic design and installation
• Network operation center design
• Network modeling and optimization
• Satellite research and practice
• High altitude platform research and practice
• Village POP configuration design
• Training for POP operation
• Design of solar and other power systems
• Spectrum politics and policy
• Mechanical design for radio towers
• Village telecommunication centers and applications

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High-Altitude Platform
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LEO constellation
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Let us continue the conversation lpress_at_csudh.edu
http//som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress
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Larry Press Professor, IS California State
University, Dominguez Hills lpress_at_csudh.edu
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On the radar screen

• Every government is aware of the strategic
  importance of the Internet
• (risks too)

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Possible ICT Grand Challenges

• Provide high-speed IP connectivity to all
  villages
• Provide access to all engineering and scientific
  literature and data sets at all universities

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WiMAX issues

• License free market innovation
• Mass production (carrier and user)
• Global regulatory conformity
• Competition from 802.11
• Competition from 3rd generation cellular
• Competition from new license-free bands

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Internet Diffusion, June 1997
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Why Bangladesh?

• Need is great
• Some positive points

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Great need

• Pent up demand cable landing, poor telephone
  infrastructure (300k users)
• Poor people great marginal impact

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Connecting Villages

• A Grand Challenge

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Successful Applications

• Education
• Health care
• E-commerce
• Democracy and human rights
• E-government
• News and entertainment

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Cannot attract sufficient capital

• Cost of 20 hours access as percent of average
  monthly GNI per capita