Toward Universal Access: Strategies to Bridge the Digital Divide in Nepal

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Toward Universal AccessStrategies to Bridge
the Digital Dividein Nepal

• Professor Heather E. Hudson
• Director
• Communications Technology Management Program
• University of San Francisco

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Linformation est la clé de toutes les
portes(Information is the key to all doors)
woman using a telecentre in Timbuktu, Mali
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Information Key to Development

• Information is the fuel of medicine. Here we
  have none. Year by year we are falling behind.
  Physician in Timbuktu
• We have a saying When the telephone rings,
  business is coming.
• Rural co-operative manager in China
• We need information masses of it. Without it,
  our culture will die.
• Inuit leader, Nunavut

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The Information ConnectionBenefits of ICTs

• Efficiency Saving time and money
• Logistics for transport and tourism
• Ordering spare parts
• Arranging clinic visits
• Getting perishable crops to customers
• Effectiveness Improving quality of services
• Education
• Timbuktu an up-to-date map of Africa
• South Pacific and West Indies university
  extension tutorials
• Northern Canada help village students finish
  high school
• Health Care
• Consultation between village health workers and
  physicians
• Training for health workers
• Access to specialized expertise
• Equity Bridging Digital Divides
• Urban and rural rich and poor minorities
  disabled

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ICTs Creating New Business Opportunities

• New markets, new audiences, new sources of
  supplies
• Using websites to sell crafts, carvings, weaving
• Getting price information
• Uganda price of coffee in Kampala for 1 text
  message
• Getting competitive bids
• Northern Canada fur co-operatives
• Outsourcing/Insourcing
• Doing work for distant client
• Call centres, data entry, translation
• Delivering social services
• Health, education services to remote areas
• Funds transfer
• Remittances from overseas via mobile phone
• Micro finance
• Connecting lenders with microbusinesses

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What makes ICTs accessible?

• Criteria for access to ICT facilities and
  services
• Availability
• Affordability
• Sufficient bandwidth
• Sufficient quality
• There are many metrics for countries as a whole
• Nepal needs to determine what metrics and targets
  it should use
• Need local as well as national targets
• Access for low income groups
• Access for urban, rural, and remote regions

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ICTs Necessary but Not Sufficient

• Context Social, economic, cultural
• Need other infrastructure transportation, power
  supply, etc.
• Other services local banking, funds transfer
• Opportunities If I learn to use a computer,
  will I be able to find a job?
• Content
• Local languages
• Relevance
• Capacity
• Skills to use and manage information facilities
• Infomediaries the information broker
• Uganda
• My father sent many telegrams in his life. My
  father couldnt read or write.
• Ecuador
• Farmers get help to find a way to save the potato
  crop
• Northern Canada
• Chiefs track down government officials who have
  promised support to their communities

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Implications of Technological Trends

• Distance is no longer a barrier
• Price of devices and services is coming down
• Competition is possible
• even in rural or isolated regions
• Leapfrogging
• Directly to wireless and IP-based services
• Combining old and new media
• Radio and Podcasts
• Video and YouTube
• Mobile phones with video, PDAs, MP3s,

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Community Access to the Internet Telecentres,
Kiosks, Internet Cafes
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Call Centre in Bhutan (Using VOIP over leased
fiber circuit from Paro to India)
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Call Centre in Bhutan
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Good News and Bad News ICT Access in Developing
Countries

• Good news access to voice services has improved
  dramatically
• Primarily mobile (wireless)
• But bandwidth very limited typically GSM
• Bad news Internet access limited and expensive
• Broadband largely unavailable in most developing
  countries
• Implications
• Limited connnectivity, high prices
• Underutilization of international capacity where
  available

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• ITUs DAI consists of several factors
• Infrastructure
• Affordability
• Quality of ICT services
• Education levels of population
• Internet usage
• ? Nepal ranks
• very low on the DAI

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Mobile AccessNepal is low even compared to
Least Developed Countries, but Growth Rate
(CAGR) is high
ITU Data for 2007
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Latest ITU data (2007) ? Nepal has 4.2 mobile
subscribers per 100 inhabitants 65 of all
telephone subscribers are mobile subscribers So
major growth in mobile, but access is still very
low
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?Latest ITU Data (2007) Nepal has 0.24 Internet
subscribers per 100 population ITU estimates
1.20 Internet users per 100 population Among 10
lowest in Asia
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Nepals access to the Internet is extremely low
(at any speed). Access to broadband
is negligible.
ITU Data 2007
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? Nepal ranks very low in international bandwidth
availability
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Many developed Asian countries have more than
1000 times the international bandwidth per capita
available in Nepal
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Mobile Sector StructureLow and Lower Middle
Income Countries
Most developing countries now have competition in
mobile Result is higher growth (see next slide)
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Mobile subscribers vs.GDP per capitaMobile
sector structure Competitive Monopoly
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Lessons from the Wireless Explosion

• Competition is key
• Lower prices
• Innovative strategies e.g. prepaid, microloans,
  special services
• Demand may be much greater than assumed
• Farther down the economic pyramid
• Old Distinctions no longer Relevant
• Fixed vs. mobile
• Cellphones as first and only phones
• Portable public phones e.g. Bangladesh,
  Philippines, Uganda
• Wireless public phones e.g. South Africa, Uganda
• What is E-mail?
• SMS (short message service) Poor persons
  (everyones?) e-mail?
• Voice vs. data
• What is voice?
• (Some countries still have monopolies on fixed
  voice)
• Bits are bits
• VoIP Telephony

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Strategies to Increase Internet Access

• Community access models
• Payphones (PCOs), telecentres
• Resale
• Phone shops, Internet cafes
• Legalizing Bypass to PSTN
• VSAT networks direct to end users
• Businesses, schools, telecentres, etc.
• Wireless for local access
• E.g. WiFi (802.11) for local access
• hot spots to cover villages, neighborhoods
• Other WLL options WiMax, CDMA 450, etc.
• IP Telephony (VOIP)
• Inexpensive voice-over-data networks
• Reducing local barriers
• Customs duties
• Local fees and taxes

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Satellite Facilities
Case Study Telemedicine and Broadband in Alaska
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Alaska Like Nepal, with Mountainous Terrain,
Isolated Villages

• Huge land area 1.7 sq. km. with small population
• Only 4 communities over 10,000
• More than 200 villages
• Few roads many villages are accessible only by
  boat or bush plane
• About 16 percent of population is indigenous
• Shortage of professionals
• teachers, physicians
• Distance from specialized expertise
• medical specialists
• teachers of specialized and advanced subjects

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From Bush Telegraph to the Internet in Alaska

• Early days communication by HF radio
• BUT for more than 20 years, Alaskan villages have
  had reliable communications by satellite
• 95 of households have telephones
• Broadband Internet access to almost all schools
  and libraries
• WiFi now covers many villages for Internet access
  from homes, businesses and community centres

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Telemedicine in Alaska TodayThe AFHCAN Project

• Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network
  (AFHCAN)
• Telemedicine for all federally funded health care
  facilities in Alaska
• 235 sites 37 member organizations
• Village clinics
• Public Health clinics
• Regional hospitals
• Military installations, Coast Guard, Veterans
  Administration
• Covers more than 212,000 beneficiaries
• About 40 of Alaska population
• Majority are in Alaska native villages

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Telemedicine facilities for consultation between
Alaskan regional hospital and village clinics...

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AFHCAN Telemedicine Facilities and Users
Voice communication from the village Still the
most important
Reading digital x-rays from regional hospitals
Health aides can send digital photos as email
attachments from village clinics
Electronic otoscope to examine village
childrens ear infections
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Training and Technical Supportfor Alaskan Health
Aides
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Alaskan children access the Internet in village
schools.
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How did Alaskan Villages get Broadband?

• New federal policy on Universal Service after
  1996
• From basic telephony to advanced services
• Used community access model for Internet access
• Discounted Internet access for schools,
  libraries, rural health facilities
• Subsidy goes to the school (or library)
• Not directly to the provider
• Schools post requirements on website for
  competitive bids
• Service may be provided by any telecom provider,
  including satellite, wireless as well as local
  telco
• Includes funding for LANs in the schools
• Goal Access to the classroom, not just the
  schoolhouse door or the principals office
• Now wireless extension from schools to cover
  villages

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Lessons from Alaska for TelemedicineDesign for
Success

• Know the needs of your users (those who will use
  the system) and customers (those who will pay for
  the system)
• Plan for staff turnover keep it simple
• Expect growth and change make it scalable
• Design for sustainability
• Strategies to continue past the pilot stage
• Document and evaluate
• Learn from the users
• Use feedback from evaluation to improve the
  project

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Lessons and Strategies to Increase ICT Access

• Separate the goals from the means
• access goals, not technology solutions
• E.g. dont focus on wire or wireless technology
  but on cost-effective solutions
• Use incentives to accelerate investment in rural
  communications
• Involve users in planning
• Community groups, NGOs, SMEs, etc.
• Include training
• technical and business skills
• SMEs, NGOs, disadvantaged, etc.
• Start with thirsty horses
• Prioritize based on interest, commitment, rather
  than only political level or population

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Use Targeted Subsidies where Needed

• High cost areas
• Rural, remote, mountainous, islands
• Specific user groups
• Schools, libraries, health centers, etc.
• Subsidies for users, not carriers/operators
• Incentive-based subsidies
• Universal Service Funds (USF)
• Reverse auctions for franchise territory
• Integrated economic development funding
• To support tourism, access to global markets,
  opportunities for call centers, etc.

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Summary Strategies to Increase Connectivity in
Nepal

• Foster competition
• Restructure fixed networks to eliminate
  monopolies
• Reduce entry barriers
• Eliminate restrictions on competitive services
  e.g. satellite, VOIP
• Use targeted subsidies to encourage investment in
  broadband for anchor tenants such as schools,
  health centers, businesses, NGOs, etc.

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Technology is the Easy Part...

• "We have now reached the stage when virtually
  anything we want to do in the field of
  communications is possible. The constraints are
  no longer technical, but economic, legal, or
  political." -- Arthur C.
  Clarke
• (World Telecom Day, 1983!)

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THANK YOUFor more information
hudson_at_usfca.eduwww.usfca.edu/fac-staff/hudsonF
rom Rural Village to Global VillageTelecommunica
tions for Development in the Information Age