Design for sustainability: rural connectivity with village operators

Abstract

South Africa has approximately 26500 primary and secondary schools, of which at least 17000 are in remote rural villages. None of these rural schools have any form of Internet connectivity. The same rural villages may have one health facility for every 20 schools and very few other public or community service centres. This paper presents a model that is being developed and tested in South Africa to establish rural connectivity by way of Village Operators as rural micro enterprises that build, operate and support localised network infrastructure using wireless mesh network technology. The design of the intervention focuses on sustainability and resilience in providing the connectivity service, keeping in mind the adverse conditions, limited resources, and the cultural and political contexts in which these networks have to survive. In the space where the market does not normally operate, the creation of a new ecosystem with an associated business model is being explored. The findings and learning from the first phase, in which 200 schools were connected and 15 Village Operators established, is presented.