We’re back! If you don’t know me yet, I’m Thiago Moyano, from Brazil, speaking directly from our studio in the city of São Paulo. I’m the host of season two of the “Routing for Communities” podcast. And this is our fourth and final episode.

If you have not listened to the first three episodes, I strongly recommend you to do so before continuing with this one. It’s worth listening to the diversity of voices from more than 15 countries discussing community-centred connectivity initiatives in their regions, with their different realities, accents, challenges and achievements. We’ve included the links to these episodes in the description of this audio in your podcast player, to make it easier for you.

This is Routing for Communities, an audio journey tracing community connectivity around the world, season two, episode four.

So, to move on to this season finale, join me as we remind ourselves of the journey so far in this season of the podcast.

At the premiere, we learned more about what changes when we focus connectivity on the community. The topic was community-centred connectivity as a strategy that communities develop to bridge the digital divide.

These regions where community networks are built have many differences between them. But there is one commonality: lack of interest from large telecommunications companies in providing affordable connectivity, or any connectivity at all, to areas they deem unfeasible profit wise. Thus, populations that are often already marginalised, suffer even more from such access exclusion.

 In the second episode, we explored the impact women have in this field, and also how a community-centred approach can provide an opportunity to address gender, race, ethnicity and class barriers.

In episode three, you heard about how some principles of community-centred connectivity initiatives set them apart from traditional stakeholders in the ecosystem. Principles such as participation, wellbeing, human rights, environmental awareness and so many others.

Then you may be asking yourself: if there’s such a diversity of voices, so many social, economic and cultural potential benefits, if there are proven experiences that could be better than traditional market models, what is needed? What is missing for this movement to become stronger?

Good question! That's what we're going to talk about more in this episode: Financing, regulation and public policies in support of community-centred initiatives.

Community-centred connectivity projects are unique to each local context. There is no single solution or standard that can be replicated around the world to overcome persistent digital divides. The underserved communities must own and help build their digital future. Rather than defending community networks as a perfect model, we need to recognise more and more that small and large network operators can coexist. They can be complimentary.

So, what policies and governance structures are needed for community-centred connectivity initiatives to thrive?

“So connectivity is becoming more and more closer to a right, a human right, or at least to exercise any other rights. In places where the market has no interest, in places where there is no return on investment, those communities are really left behind and the so-called digital divide is only growing and growing.”

This is Carlos Rey-Moreno, who has devoted many years to studying, developing and supporting community networks around the world.

“I am originally from Spain, although I’ve been a bit all over. Currently I live in Australia and I work for the Association for Progressive Communications, co-managing the programme on local access networks and leading the LocNet initiative.”

This initiative Carlos is referring to is Local Networks, or just LocNet. It is led by APC in partnership with the organisation Rhizomatica. This initiative directly supports the work of community networks and other community-centred connectivity alternatives especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“Telecommunications is a highly regulated space where, in order to provide services, you need to pay rather hefty fees. I think it’s in the interest, I guess of everyone if we want to close the digital divide and to understand, to see that there is the need to create a more enabling environment for the small operators that don’t want to provide services outside their abilities, that they who don’t want to become a multinational company and that the same rules do not apply and cannot apply in terms of fees, in terms of bureaucracy, in terms of taxes, if you want to incentivise that those communities are the ones solving their own problems, problems that in many cases the market cannot solve for themselves.

So, thinking about other types of regulations, other types of incentives are required to make sure that everyone is connected, it is necessary and it’s possible. There are many examples of countries where regulators and policy makers are understanding this need and are really transforming the regulatory framework to make a space for this or their complementary types of operators, which are very much needed.”

Now, travel with me to Nairobi, in Kenya, to check out another example of a community network. We’re going to meet James Nguo, from the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), which works especially with the country’s rural population.

In 2023, ALIN was able to receive one of the first approvals from Kenya’s regulatory agencies. It obtained a licence to implement a community network in the Rift Valley region. Since then, they have been raising funds to create community networks.

“My name is James Nguo. I’m the director of ALIN, or Arid Lands Information Network, based here in Kenya, but working across East Africa. ALIN has gotten approval from the regulator, who is the communication authority, to deploy a community network in a place called Sipili.

Sipili is four hours out of Nairobi, in the northern direction, into the Rift Valley. It’s a rural setup, a small town of about 3,000 traders, but over 100,000 people, mainly engaged in farming.

Many of these people are involved in subsistence farming. Because they are growing food for their own consumption, they keep animals and the area is a bit dry, so issues around climate change affect them in a big way. But they are very hardworking people because they build water dams, water pans for their animals, and use the same for irrigation. And actually, they are able to produce a lot of food compared to many areas here in Kenya.

So, we’ve walked a long journey with this community. It’s a community that relies a lot on the power of information and knowledge. They’re excited that they will have a network that is going to facilitate them, not only in their own agriculture practices, in education, entertainment and civic participation.”

The licensing and shared spectrum framework for community networks was published in Kenya in 2021. It aims to regulate public networks in the country’s communities, primarily offering Wi-Fi services. One of its main goals is to ensure economic accessibility and to improve service efficiency through community networks, especially in relation to internet connectivity.

We celebrate ALIN for being issued one of the first community network licences under the new framework. Specific regulations like this could emerge in more and more countries and evolve, based on concrete experiences.

“ My name is Kathleen Diga and I am the co-lead for the Local Networks Initiative, and I am from the Association for Progressive Communications.  Kenya has been exemplary in terms of the space of collective action and policy. Kenya has been an interesting example of operationalising community networks through their new, relatively new, community network licensing framework.

This new framework is intended to see communities be able to overcome some of the bureaucratic and very expensive fees of connectivity, of being a licensee and be able to do so as a small-scale operator. I would say that what we are, however, learning is that, for these communities, the processes are new and they certainly require a lot of accompaniment. Today I think we can celebrate the fact that we are a growing network of grassroots communities who are filling the gap of community-centred connectivity.

I believe that these networks now have an understanding and knowledge of the communities that are working in the similar field as them, who are indeed trying to meet the community needs, specifically around communication. And I think the network’s also helping them to find partnerships and see through the goals of their constituents.

 I would want to refer to, you know, I’m based in South Africa, this one local language, you know, word ‘Ubuntu’, and it means ‘I am because we are’. We are a collective of change makers and I think it’s this universal bond of sharing and exchange that’s connecting us and humanity. So I really do think in the digital inclusion space, I would say the broader, or this global network of actors have a role to play to ensure that we bring the voices and perspectives of marginalised communities to the front, and particularly those from the Global South.”

From Asia, for example, we celebrate the passing of a bill aimed at expanding connectivity. It addresses the needs of underserved communities in the Philippines. Numerous society organisations advocated for the approval of this new legislation, called the Konektadong Pinoy Act, which promises faster network development, particularly in rural areas. We will leave a link with more information about this in the episode description.

“Over the past years, we’ve seen the growth in terms of the movement of community networks especially in Eastern and Southern Africa, but the main challenge still remains the issue around licensing.”

That’s Josephine Miliza. She is the current policy coordinator for Africa at the Local Networks Initiative we mentioned earlier.

“I live in Nairobi, Kenya. My background is in network engineering. I grew up in rural Kenya so I think in the grander scheme of things I always gravitated to work that looked to resolve issues around inequalities. So, whether it is inequalities in terms of access to education or inequalities in terms of access to opportunities that are available online.”

At APC, Josephine works towards advocating for regulatory policies and environments, which support community-led networks. She points out that challenges still remain around licensing in African countries.

“Currently only Kenya and Zimbabwe have what we call an enabling environment in terms of an affordable licence for community networks. Definitely, there is a need for more regulators to be able to recognise this particular licence category of organisations wanting to offer internet services in their communities.

Secondly is the issue around, I would say, access to affordable  backhaul, because as community networks, most of them are looking to offer internet services to their communities. But there are still issues around affordability when it comes to  backhaul. And especially when you go rural, then it becomes more and more expensive and so the recommendation, or one of the advocacy points around  backhaul, is that so many governments are investing in fibre backbone networks, and there is opportunity for them to look at this as public goods. Community networks could be supported because when you look at the value that community networks provide, it's just beyond access to affordable connectivity, they also impact community development whether it is through a digital skilling for communities, promoting innovation in terms of locally available relevant content and platforms, as well as just inspiring the economy, especially at the grassroots level.

Then the other aspect beyond access to affordable backhaul and licensing is also the issue around access to financing. So far, the majority of the community networks have been funded through grant funding. And across the continent it exists, especially in the regulation, whether it is universal service fund, and we believe that this financing can be used to support community networks, especially whether it is the initial capital for equipment or it can support in terms of providing them subsidies for access to backhaul.

And then, lastly, is the issue around capacity building in terms of ensuring that community networks have access, all community organisations that are interested in certain community networks have a way for them to build their capacity to deploy, maintain and operate sustainable community networks.”

Let’s now listen to Steve Song, an expert in the field of community networks.

“We actually need a multiplicity of business models and technologies to provide affordable access to all.”

He is a researcher and consultant on technologies that enable broader access to the internet, especially in African countries and other emerging regions.  Earlier this year, in 2025, he also became the senior director of infrastructure, mapping and development at the internet society, continuing his journey in the field.

“I think there’s one of the barriers to sustainability is really access to capital, access to finance, in that community networks often start as acts of philanthropy or they are started by someone who has the technical capacity and approaches some kind of philanthropy, the Internet Society or APC or someone to say ‘Hey, look I can connect all these people if I just had, if I could just afford to buy the equipment’. And so, you know, the grant facilitates buying equipment and it facilitates paying for the initial connection. But often that is done without thinking about the longer term sustainability of how is that connection going to be paid for over time.

And that’s hard to do, because not only are you now solving the technical challenges of building the network, you’re also solving the financial challenges of, ‘How are we going to sustain ourselves over the long term?’

And this is complicated by the fact that in some areas there is never really going to be a full business case for community networks. In some of the most remote, the poorest areas, the ability to pay is so low that it’s never just going to be a simple business, there is always going to be a need for some kind of subsidy and some kind of support to be able to enable access in these regions where providing access is the most challenging and where ability to pay is at its lowest.

And that really takes us to the frontier now for community networks is: ‘What are those you know financial mechanisms that are going to enable community networks to grow?’”

Yes, as you can see, it’s a complex issue. And there are barriers in different levels and in various areas.

“On the one hand there is the policy and regulatory environment that allows them or does not allow them to thrive. So, for instance in the UK or in North America, if you want to build a community network, you don’t need a licence. If you want to put up an antenna on your house and start delivering services - if you charge for those services you have to be registered as a business - but beyond that there’s this new immediate requirement and falls under you know, what’s called a general authorisation. So there's a very low barrier to offering services in and you know generally most of Europe, North America, I think Australia, New Zealand, whereas in many other countries, in fact almost all other countries, you do need a licence to offer any kind of internet service you have to register and become a registered licensed operator.

And that has two implications. One, there is an administrative requirement of applying for the licence and on the other hand, there’s also fees often associated with it. And those fees can be onerous, especially for when we’re talking about poor communities and the ability to pay.”

Grants. Fees. Money. The same issue, again and again. This means opportunity - or lack thereof.

So, let’s go to Argentina to talk more about it. When it comes to connectivity, the country has a higher penetration of internet access in the southern cone, with 54%. However, there are enormous inequalities between the provinces and the population and that’s where we met another good example of a community-centred connectivity initiative.

In a rural area in Córdoba, in Argentina, there is the project Quintana Libre, a pioneering experience in using various types of technologies throughout the years, in order to bring internet access to different towns between the mountains. To achieve this, they sought support outside the community. Quintana Libre’s community network received support from the Altermundi organisation, of which Jessica Giudice is a member.

“I’m 37 years old and I've learned about the concept of free softwares about 20 years ago. Since the very beginning, the idea moved me, like love at first sight. And little by little I got involved in different events, as I felt that my role was to be able to articulate the people who wanted to learn with the people who could teach and materialise and facilitate the necessary materials and spaces for the idea to come to fruition.

And that ended up guiding me, taking me down an endless path towards community networks. I became fully invested when I moved here, to the town where I live, and the need for connectivity demanded a shift to a rural environment, a place where telecommunications really needed to be improved. It is the community network that has taught me, inspired me and also educated me, not only in technical terms, but also in time, in relationships, in learning on both ends.

Quintana Libre was born as a test bed, as a learning experience. It has a pretty diverse technology. Not only does it have the ‘switch’, which is the hardware, the router, which we designed from Altermundi, but it also has commercial teams. Fortunately, now shortly, we are going to be updating all the Libre routers with the funding we received from the state for this purpose. and these are mainly our Wi-Fi networks.

 But it has two connections, one through José de la Quintana to a mountain in a nearby town. And from there, there is a 52 kilometer Wi-Fi jump to the city of Córdoba. And in coordination with the National Technological University and the National University of Cordoba, we use the inter university fibre to reach the ARSAT fiber, which is a public private company mostly owned by the state, which manages the national infrastructure.

Well, we have a fibre optic connection from ARSAT, in Los Molinos too. And since both networks are interconnected, or in fact, technologically just a single network with two different management units, we can go out on one side and all the towns on the other.”

In recent years, Argentina has started to develop state programmes to guarantee access to the internet. For the first time, money from a universal service fund has been used to finance community networks. These funds were created by governments in several countries precisely to subsidise the promotion of universal access to telecom services. But many of them still leave community-led initiatives aside.

Through groundbreaking policies, Argentina became a pioneer in incorporating community networks as a necessary alternative for the universalisation of services. However, recent changes in the country’s political direction brought significant setbacks in these policies – which demonstrates the importance of having policies and regulations that are not as heavily impacted by changes in the country’s administration.

The financial issue is crucial when it comes to closing digital gaps. That's why public policies are fundamental to create and maintain community-centred connectivity projects.

On this topic, we also spoke with Adriana Labardini Inzunza. She is a lawyer specialised in ICT - information and communications technologies and she is the policy coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Local Networks Initiative.

For many years, Adriana has been engaged in debating and advocating for regulations and public policies in the digital world. She also discusses the role that regulators and lawmakers play in improving people’s well-being through access to ICT and promoting human rights.

“In hard-to-reach places, the costs of both setting up and maintaining a network increase five to 10 times more than in our urban area, which also has a population density that makes it very attractive to big companies. That’s the market failure. There are extremely high fixed costs and very, very low possibility of return on investment or income when the populations are small, remote and have very low per capita incomes. Therefore, as with everything, there must be another model in Latin America. A few countries, including Costa Rica, Colombia, and Argentina, have opened access to universal service funds to small operators, the constant subsidies to large operators, which later proved unsustainable even with assistance due to their high operation costs or the non use of the funds are the only exceptions. It’s about universal service.

Well, it’s really unfortunate because it jeopardises the future of our generations. The possibility of providing seed capital, whether for infrastructure or technical training or for the training of community content creators is an investment that can have a positive impact on the region to make it more equal and eradicate poverty, especially when the infrastructure and training will benefit women, so excluded from the economy’s education, health and the power to decide.”

We do not aim to romanticise these experiences or ignore their challenges. Nor do we see them as a formula to make everyone fit in. However, they have delivered practical results that can inspire us to reflect on connectivity models and alternatives, as Adriana reminded us.

“ But we have seen that from the perspective of regulation and public policy, it’s very necessary for a small scale, non-profit community operator model to flourish that the country or department or municipality develop an enabling environment for these small operators. If we apply a single regulatory model for large scale global operators with multimillion dollar investment, but with the need to serve millions of users to be profitable, then we won’t allow small operators to flourish.

It's like wanting or pretending that there is only one dress size for all women and one short size for all men, regardless of age, height, weight, needs, whatever they need, short sleeves, long sleeves, the right type of fabric, their geography, their climate, etcetera.”

And we have reached the end of our second season. If you liked it, please recommend it to others who you think will appreciate it. You can follow us on all major podcast platforms or on APC’s website: routingforcommunities.apc.org..

If you’d like to learn more about the projects we talked about here, check out the links we have provided in this episode’s description.

You’ve just listened to episode four, the final one of season two of “Routing for communities, an audio journey tracing community connectivity around the world”. This is the podcast of the Local Networks Initiative, a collective effort led by APC and Rhizomatica. Production: Rádio Tertúlia.

To end this season, we leave you with this song performed by children from Indonesia. They participated in music and composition workshops and created a video during a digital narrative workshop, both held by Common Room.

This song is called “Sakola Adat” or “Customary School”, and the lyrics were written by Aki Dai, a traditional local artist. The lyrics describe how children learn from Indigenous peoples to maintain ancestral values and defend the customs and culture of the community.

Thanks for listening to us! See you next time! Bye!