Last-mile wireless tech bridges digital divide

Most last-mile connections are made using physical structures such as the phone lines, fiber optics, and cable lines. But these physical connections are often both very costly to implement and impossible to use in remote rural locations. The fact that setting up wireless systems is so cheap has meant that its use has grown exponentially. As a result of this many have pinned their hopes on the wireless delivery of broadband Internet access across Africa and other remote locations worldwide.

Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access, or WiMAX, a standards-driven technological solution which facilitates the delivery of last-mile wireless broadband access over long distances, "This will be the best solution for bridging the digital divide in India," said Patrick P Gelsinger, a senior vice president and chief technology officer at Intel. This is because wireless broadband technology is relatively cheap and does not require a costly infrastructure to begin usage, which means that it can be used in very remote areas of the globe.A Business Standard article reporting on the sixth Intel Developer Forum in India quotes Gelsinger as saying in his keynote address, "The appeal to emerging markets is striking to say the least. Imagine being able to put up an antenna and provide high-speed Internet to thousands of customers who have little access to the Internet or even wired phones today. That has great promise in countries like India where the cost of wiring the countries would make broadband Internet access far too expensive." It has always been the dream of digital divide activists worldwide to wire the rural developing world; with wireless broadband technologies this dream can be realised.

The fact that the technology is standards-driven is incredibly important for its worldwide development. As quoted in an article in WiFi Planet, Craig Mathias, an analyst for the FarPoint Group, said that WiMAX has two drivers in the marketplace: 'lower cost for fixed-point to fixed-point wireless and interoperability. In short, the common benefits of standards.' This is because WiMAX is a standards-driven technology. These standards will allow WiMAX to be implemented more effectively and efficiently in more locations.

However, it is possible that because of the interoperability that WiMAX provides no one will have an incentive to pay for it. There are those who believe that the international interoperability achieved through standards based technologies is not best for bridging the digital divide in the developing world. As reported by ITWeb, The Technology Website, Christian Lacroix, Alcatel's Vice President for Southern and Eastern Africa believes the development of applications specific to the country, rather than generic ones applicable throughout the world, can also be a key driver in bridging the digital divide. He is quoted as saying that "Alcatel wants to play its part in overcoming the digital divide, but to do so properly requires cheap technology, and technology only becomes cheap when its volumes are high," says Lacroix. The implication is that if each country does not develop its own market and business relationships there will be nobody to pay for new technologies such as last-mile wireless broadband.

However, it does seem reasonable to suggest that if various technologies are developed with a single country in mind then other countries might be completely left behind. As a result of this fact, a standards-based approach that emphasises interoperability and the ability to implement the system on a local scale is arguably the just alternative. The more local one's scale of reference becomes, the more a wireless broadband approach seems necessary.

As CNN reported in an online article on October 18, 2004, the Ulwazi e-learning project, jointly entered into by the South African government and Motorola, attempts to make educational and technological connections in South Africa that we often take for granted in the developed world. However, they are making these connections without wires, which make them much cheaper and thus ultimately feasible. "Using wireless broadband technology, students and teachers in five schools across the country can 'talk' to each other using virtual whiteboards, microphones and the World Wide Web." Again, by using wireless technologies this connection has become so cost effective and simple that it likely to occur in remote areas throughout the globe. CNN quotes Paul Budgin, a Motorola employee who set up the Ulwazi project, as saying, "Using this technology, the students can see the teacher, they can see the blackboard, and they can interact with each other." If this is the sort of interaction that interoperable wireless technologies allow for, governments and private companies would do well to fund them worldwide. One method of funding such projects is through donations from countries where various technological devices become obsolete before they are actually unusable.

As the developed world moves faster and faster through technologies there is more and more slow, but functional, equipment that can be given to people in the developing world and used along with wireless last-mile technologies for positive social changes. It is an undisputed fact now that computers and Internet access are essential components of economic growth and social betterment.

The wireless last-mile technologies exist to get people in rural formerly inaccessible locales connected to the Internet. Simply because it is possible, and will improve people's lives and organisations around the world must work together to make sure it happens. To truly bridge the digital gap, media literacy and e-skills training must all play a part in the education of Internet users, but Internet access is undeniably fundamental.

Shajel Qureshi is the Business Development Manager of Alcatel Bangladesh.