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

[Meddie Mayanja]

Great!

I like how Ahmed has described the possibility. Ofcourse it shows that mobile phones are complementary to telecentres - as Polly and others have said already - but it also shows very specifically how telecentres can take full advantage with to addressing connectivity challenges.

Will you please put that note on your website? ...and we need more concrete trails for telemedicine, e-commerce etc and a clear description of what can be done. I sometime mentioned about e-pesa and wizzit in Kenya and South Africa respectively.

This approach can help others adopt the technologies with much more ease.

Best, Meddie




________________________________________
From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org [ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of Ahmed Ndaula [andaula at ugabytes.org]
Sent: November 18, 2008 3:19 AM
To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] Rural communication: Is there still a need for  telecentres now that there are mobile phones?

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
Off: +256-414-267247
Check our web: www.ugabytes.org
http://www.ahmedpanel.com


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