Access and connectivity for remote rural panel: Basic infrastructure needed

Here are Andrew Garton’s observations on the “Access and connectivity for remote rural” panel, held on Tuesday 13 November in Rio de Janeiro, as part of this year’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Andrew is the director of APC.au, a digital media arts company based on the Internet Rights Charter of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).

Here are Andrew Garton’s observations on the "Access and connectivity for remote rural" panel, held on Tuesday 13 November in Rio de Janeiro, as part of this year’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Andrew is the director of APC.au, a digital

media arts company based on the Internet Rights Charter of the Association for Progressive

Communications (APC).

Observations

Panellist Vint Cerf brought not only wisdom, but clarity to the panel without

having to describe the origins of the internet or present another argument for

access.

What was clear from the general discussions though, was that basic

infrastructure is required well before the multiplicity of access issues are

addressed, or rather, that access is not just about the internet, its about the

means to enable development.

Vint Cerf explained that the internet was originally intended to be

built by anyone, anywhere, or at least anywhere there was basic infrastructure

including power, computers and self-sustaining businesses models.

It was also stated that there is no point creating the means for access of

there is no locally useful content available in a locally useful language and

this goes for all forms of communication.

It was interesting for me to reflect on the access issues described in, for

example, the Pacific. In 1992 I presented Pactok Community Networks to Pacific

Island delegates to the Global Forum, Earth Summit.

Pactok was a store and forward network comprised of a mix of hubs and access

points, local and international calls, UUCP and fido-gateways that provided

Pacific Island communities with secure access to email and news groups and the

international APC networks. Even in 1992 the Pactok connectivity map was quite

impressive. It included Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Kuala Lumpur, Cibu and

Kuching (Sarawak), Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

By 1996 Pactok was all but spent with the last hub decommissioned as late as

1999. With the advent of web came increased expectations for the use of net

which quickly eroded access to individuals and communities in the region,

content in local dialects and security.

If the kind of access people were talking about should be made available

according to local means and capabilities, why did a network such as Pactok,

and the many others like it, go into decline so quickly?

I was to add my reflections with a view towards steering the remaining

discussion from individual access issues towards:

How do we manage expectations, and;

What are the next steps for this Dynamic Coalition?

For some reason, despite having my hand up since the moment questions were

called, and the moderator handing the microphone to participants in front and

behind me, I had not been given the opportunity to speak. This did not go

unnoticed to those sitting around me.

Other than what Willie managed to tease out of this session, it closed with no

clear methodology nor recommendations for the coalition to make advances.

Recommendations

for reducing internet access costs workshops (posted by Willie):

  • Governments

    combine a national broadband strategy with a strict competition policy for the

    ICT sector. 

  • Governments

    should liberalise international gateways and landing stations.

  • Governments

    should end monopolies in fixed line provision especially with regard to the

    leasing of fixed lines, unbundling the local loop, the collocation of

    facilities and permitting ISPs to build their own networks.

  • Governments should create an enabling environment for ISPs to open internet exchange points  to retain domestic traffic inside the country

Region: 
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