ICT for Rural Development: Architecting the Essential Components

According to the introduction to this White Paper, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become recognised as being significant factors for economic growth within developed countries. The focus of the paper is to establish a cohesive ecosystem for addressing the rural ICT challenge. The paper disaggregates into three components the challenge of leveraging ICT capabilities for increasing socioeconomic opportunities: connectivity, access, and content-services. For each of these components, key elements are discussed. When these components are "architected" into a single ecosystem, as stated here, they provide an integrated foundation for applying local adaptations in order to achieve successful and sustainable deployments of ICTs in rural settings that can change the lives of those most often forgotten and ignored.

This paper reviews progress in ICT dissemination to emerging and developing economies, both as a public sector commitment and as private sector engagement. It then focuses on the remaining challenge of bringing ICT technological change to the 56% of the population living in rural areas globally, including the following “five essentials for achieving success”: 1) improving the partnership/collaboration between the public and private sectors for bringing about needed change; 2) expanding inclusivity such that those in the most remote rural areas are not ignored; 3) undertaking approaches that ensure long term sustainability; 4) expanding the ICT solution to include not just voice, but a much expanded range of value‐added content and services; and 5) leveraging all of the above to enhance the socioeconomic opportunities of those living in rural areas.

To establish a cohesive ecosystem for addressing the rural ICT challenge, the structure set forth here pulls from the current and emerging dynamics while addressing specific legal and regulatory issues, including “universal service, a range of newer wireless broadband technologies, a growing number of internet-based applications, along with lessons emerging from successful pilot implementations that promise broader-scale replication.” The three intersecting elements with selected strategies include the following:

• Expanding Rural Connectivity  - Creating an enabling environment, possibly with financial inducements provided through universal service funds where high revenues are not possible, may require: 1) obtaining low-cost international broadband connectivity; 2) universal service funding extended from the telephony model to include the internet; 3) an enabling environment to allow for legal use of phone-to-phone voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP), allowing voice over a single network, so that there is a built-in cross-subsidy that helps with financial sustainability; 4) an architecture with multiple delivery points across the rural community, developing and delivering content and services to capture added demand; 5) the option of connectivity via microwave and, if necessary, the more costly satellite connectivity.
  

 

• Enhancing Internet Access - establish a sustainable business approach that captures more demand and revenue than most current models, including: 1) expanding the rural internet cafe into a service provider (iCommunity) for connectivity in local health clinics, schools, small businesses, and government offices, on a for-profit basis through a franchise model with replicable packages for scale-up; 2) a universal service fund designed to provide funding support for this local rural community access component; 3) aggregating the national, regional, and local governments’ demands for connectivity and access, and channeling them through the access being provided by the local iCafé and iCommunity franchise; 4) franchising to develop several technology solution sets including using low-power laptops and external broadband wireless options including WiMAX, WiFi, WiFi Mesh, CDMA/EV-DO,and GSM/HSPDA; 5) low-cost or free frequency licensing; and 6) off-grid electricity.

 

• Delivering Value-Added Content and Services - including: 1) low-cost delivery of voice, both mobile telephony and VoIP, and data services; 2) a national content service platform supporting education, health, government, and financial services with video-based communication where illiteracy is a barrier; 3) business and agricultural services (both free and fee-based); and 4) ebanking for diaspora-oriented family financial linkages.

The paper concludes that "The challenge is to pull together the political vision, the required changes and commitments of the government, with essential public and private sector resources. There is the need to empower the private sector to make the necessary investments to expand connectivity and access, along with value-added content and services that focus specifically on delivering expanded socioeconomic opportunities."

(Editor’s note: This document may be requested from the contact below.)