[UgaBYTES] Press Release: CWRC Launches Community Wireless Networks in Lira and Nabweru

[Joe Opio]

Hello Kiringai,
Thank you for including me in this discussion.   Here are a few pointers to
help you understand what we are doing and can do together:

1) I do know Dorothy and when she was in Canada with her family, we
corresponded via email and phone, and worked on some other project together.

2) We are currently in touch with Nabweru center.  I believe our engineer on
the ground in Uganda, has already visited the center to access the center's
technical needs. I hope to receivie a report on this accessment this week.

3) We do have various operations in Lira already.  In October we will have a
Point of Presence, linking the city to our global Satellite network.  We are
currently conducting market surver all over the city and gathering customer
information to help size the Satellite equipment required to serve the city,
businesses, communities and the schools in the area.

4) We have tendered to the  UCC our proposal for extension of our services
to rural Uganda.  The proposal has been well received, and we should get a
positive response within this month.

5) Our company was orginially formed to provide services in rural Uganda.
The equipment we carry and operate are ideally suited for this application.


Please visit us at www.fastpathnet.com.  Our headquarters are located in
Crown House, Kampala.  I am physically located in Boston, Mass, USA where I
coordinate all our international operations.

Regards,

Joe Opio
Chief Technology Officer
FastPath Networks International
Kanodiko Systems LTD, UGANDA
Network Infrastructure Provider
Crown House
4A Kampala Rd
Tel. +256 041-425-9335 (Uganda)
      +1 508-369-3871 (USA)
 
MSN ID: joe.opio at fastpathnet.com
www.fastpathnet.com








-----Original Message-----
From: Kiringai Kamau [mailto:kiringai at willpower.co.ke] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 1:46 AM
To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
Cc: cwrc-l at lists.mak.ac.ug; 'Joe Opio'
Subject: RE: [UgaBYTES] Press Release: CWRC Launches Community Wireless
Networks in Lira and Nabweru

Dear All,
Our ICT Company, Octagon Data Systems (www.octagon.co.ke) is collaborating
with Fast Path Networks (http://fastpathnet.com) of Kampala to offer
connectivity solutions to the agricultural sector in Uganda.

You may want to explore possibilities of partnership with them to see what
collaborative efforts can be created to support the telecentre initiative.
And since their Satellite systems can access many parts of Africa, it might
be good for the Telecentre actors to explore possibilities on this as it
would help all that are keen in reaching rural areas do so from an
institutions that promotes connectivity for the marginalized.

I am copying this mail to Mr. Joe Opio who can participate in this forum to
give direction on how the company can partner with the rest of us to realize
the missing links.

Joe, can you kindly address the communication issues of the participants in
this list serve? We need the intervention of your business to address
sustainability through your usual level of innovation.

Good day,

Kiringai Kamau



-----Original Message-----
From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org
[mailto:ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of Dorothy Okello
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 8:01 AM
To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
Cc: cwrc-l at lists.mak.ac.ug
Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] Press Release: CWRC Launches Community Wireless
Networks in Lira and Nabweru

Dear Polly,

Many apologies for the delay in responding to you and thank you for 
your interest. Let me respond to the questions you raise.

1) The wireless networks are using commercial wireless equipment, 
sourced from abroad with the support of IT+46. Currently, we are 
looking around town, Kampala, to see which of these equipment we can 
obtain locally.

2) We regard the telecentres as "Internet Access" points as opposed 
to ISPs. This is primarily because the telecentres are not selling 
the bandwidth per-se, they are instead collaborating with partners in 
the community to share the cost of bringing in bandwidth. A major 
challenge for all the telecenters we have engaged with so far has 
been the costs of bandwidth, so this solution seeks to address this 
particular challenge. The partners in the community are those that 
would/were using the telecentre anyways, the benefit of this is that 
they can still access the telecentre service but 'wirelessly' from 
their own locations. The Ministry of ICT is aware of our project, in 
fact, at one time we had thought we would collaborate on the project 
in Nakaseke.

Hope this helps,

Dorothy


At 01:29 PM 8/6/2007, Polly Gaster wrote:
>Dear Dorothy
>
>This press release is interesting but I would like a little more
information
>if possible, considering that there are various similar initiatives under
way
>in Mozambique. Firstly, are the wireless networks using the low-cost
>"cantenna" model, or normal commercial wireless equipment? Secondly, are
the
>telecentres that are the "hubs" of the system registered as commercial
ISPs,
>or do they have to be in Uganda? In Mozambique this is a problem -
providing
>this type of service is understood by government as moving clearly into the
>area of commerce and away from the non-profit telecentre, and this has many
>implications for legal status, paying taxes and VAT, etc etc.
>
>Polly
>
>
>----
>PLEASE NOTE NEW TELEPHONE CODES AND NUMBERING!
>
>Polly Gaster
>UNESCO-CMCs
>cel: +258-82-3264540
>e-mail: polly.gaster at uem.mz
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>ugabytes mailing list
>ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
>http://lists.ugabytes.org/mailman/listinfo/ugabytes_lists.ugabytes.org


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