Refuting Objections to a Global Rural Network (GRNet) for Developing Nations

In a previous article, "Internet in Developing Nations: Grand Challenges", Larry Press suggested that it is now time to undertake a Grand Challenge project: providing Internet connectivity for every village in every developing nation. To quote Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, "affordable technologies, in the hands of local communities, can be effective engines of change, both social and material. Access to information and technological know-how is essential if the world is to defeat hunger, protect the environment and achieve the other Millennium Development Goals agreed by Heads of State and Government at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000."

According to the author, implementing this project would require perhaps a decade and billions of dollars for design and planning, procurement, installation and operation. Critics object that such a project would not be worth the effort and investment.

In this article, Larry Press attempts to address nine common objections to such an undertaking.

1. Internet connectivity would be nice, but it is not a high priority. Power, clean water, nutrition, employment, and literacy are more important and should be addressed first.
2. Internet service has been offered in rural areas of developing nations, and there is little demand for it.
3. There are no applications of interest or value to illiterate rural people who do not speak English.
4. There is no sustainable business model.
5. Developing nations lack the people and resources to do research.
6. Even if the world community can justify sponsoring the research leading to a concrete backbone plan, developing nations cannot afford to implement it.
7. Villagers cannot afford to use the network even if the backbone transport and connection are free.
8. Developing nations cannot afford high–speed connectivity — low–cost store–and–forward technology is more appropriate technology for a poor, developing nation.
9. Focus should be placed on cities where there is already demand, not rural areas.

Excerpt:

"Once design alternatives and equipment modules are defined, we would be ready for deployment in a pilot nation. The initial research consortium would retain responsibility for contracting for and evaluation of this trial. Criteria for selecting the trial nation would include:

• Strong government support of telecommunication in general and this project in particular;
• Open, competitive telecommunication market;
• Open, competitive business practices and laws;
• High level of poverty;
• High level of literacy;
• Dense population relative to current fiber, roads, pipelines, etc.;
• High–speed international fiber links;
• Good university departments in computer science, geography, GIS, etc.; and,
• Varied climate and topography.

With the pilot nation lessons under their collective belts, the team would issue requests for proposals for the global rollout. The order of rollout could be determined using criteria similar to those listed above, and some minimum standards would be needed. Again, it is important that the research team, not the many vendors actually building and operating the network, retains control over and responsibility for the project.

It may sound as though GRNet would be a charity project for the rural poor in developing nations, but immense benefits would accrue in both the developed and developing nations. The story of the young mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan rising to fame after writing Professor G.H. Hardy at Cambridge from his village in Southern India is well known [46]. How many Ramanujans will we find on GRNet? How many tropical drugs will we "discover?" How will we be empowered by access to open–standard, mass–produced medical instruments and data analysis software developed for use in two million villages? Different problems and cultures give rise to different worldviews and lead to the asking of different questions and development of different application. We will all be enriched."

Larry Press is Professor of Information Systems at California State University, Dominguez Hills.