[UgaBYTES] Rural communication: Is there still a need for telecentres now that there are mobile phones?

[Ahmed Ndaula]

Absolutely agree with Polly. Telecentres and mobile phones are
complementary. From the experiment I have had over the last couple of days,
if you have got a good phone with 3G for instance Nokia N70, N95 etc, you
can have a fair access to the internet similar to the speed of some internet
cafes in the country. This brought me to think that if mobile phone
companies could adopt a fair monthly fee to those interested just using the
normal sim card I think would be great. And for a telecentre in rural areas
with say 3-4 computers this could somehow help than thinking of a VSAT. I
know it's not the best speed but could work for them.

Here's what I experimented;

Have a Nokia N70 using my normal Uganda Telecom sim card connected to my
laptop via a bluetooth adapter, I make a dial up Network and my laptop gets
connected to the internet with a 115kpbs speed. I shared my connectivity
with my friend's laptop via a created Local Area Network and we are all able
to surf the internet very well. It becomes faster in the evenning.

Best,
Ahmed

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:43 AM, Polly Gaster <polly.gaster at uem.mz> wrote:

> Yes, in our view telecentres and mobile phones are complementary. For
> instance, at this moment some telecentres that had no connectivity are now
> online via mobile phone modems and infrastructures, for the cost of a modem
> and ordinary pay-as-you-go phone cards - good synergy, don't you think?
> Polly
>
> ----
>
> Polly Gaster
> TICs para Desenvolvimento/ICT4D
> Centro de Informatica da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (CIUEM)
> Campus Universitario, Maputo, Mozambique
> e-mail: polly.gaster at uem.mz
> cel: +258-82-3264540
> tel/fax: +258-21-485779
> Skype: polly_gaster
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-- 
Ndaula Ahmed
Program officer,
Technology management
UgaBYTES Initiative
Plot 2218 Ggaba Road, Kabalagala
2nd Floor, Kangave House
P.O. Box 6081 Kampala, Uganda
Mobl: +256 773 066 343 / 702 066 343
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