Tanzanian telecenters share costs of wireless 'Net

Telecenters in rural Tanzania have gone wireless to share Internet connections with community members and to offset costs, in the process establishing a model for the sustainable operation of local technology centers.

Telecenters in rural Tanzania have challenged the idea that the ICT needs of rural communities are being met by mobile phone operators, according to a recent report by the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), a network of nonprofit ICT development organizations.

Mobile phone operators have been slow to provide data services, which might lessen demand for voice calls and cut down profit margins. Over time mobile phones and mobile operators will have a great impact on rural communications. For now, however, there is still a need for grassroots ICT development to fill the void that large mobile companies are leaving in rural areas, the APC report finds.

The problem is that local telecenters are having difficulty making enough money to stay in operation, even though they offer a variety of services. Telecenter services include Internet and phone services as well as training and miscellaneous business services such as photocopying, binding, lamination and faxing.

The establishment of the Sengerama Telecentre, in the town of the same name, was overseen by the local Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), a government agency that which has coordinated and managed the grants and other sources of financial assistance that the telecenter has needed to survive. Estimates show that the center needs an average of US$1,100 per month to subsidize its operations.

By using wireless technology to allow community members to share Internet connections, however, the Sengerama telecenter is generating revenue while helping clients offset costs. The telecenter has installed a Motorola Canopy Wireless System, which allows it to offer a shared connection to several geographically dispersed clients.

The Sengerama wireless system uses a mobile tower from Zain on a hilltop 1 kilometer north of the telecenter. There are two Motorola base stations, one facing south and the other facing west. An FM antenna acts as a receiver for the FM relay from the telecenter's studio.

The system provides an Internet connection for several sites, including a secondary school, the local government education offices and the town council offices.

The telecenter is a useful example of a sustainable ICT initiative in rural Tanzania, according to the APC. While it has not been financially self-reliant, it remains sustainable because it is being embraced by all of its stakeholders.

Similarly, the Family Alliance for Development and Cooperation (FADECO) telecenter in rural Karagwe was operating at a loss when Executive Director Joseph Sekuti, a self-taught technologist, decided to build a wireless network to share Internet costs.

FADECO built its network last year and has connected three clients -- a private secondary school, the local office for an electric company and a local agriculture NGO.

FADECO purchased a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), since up to then it had to dial out to Dar es Salaam, 1,500 kilometers away, and pay long distance call fees. The FADECO network started connecting local clients with a few off-the-shelf wireless access points and at each site used directional antennas to point back to the FM base station at FADECO.

Ian Howard, Frontier Markets and sustainable technologies expert and author of the APC report says "telecenters can become knowledge service centers that add tremendous value to local economies, act as catalyst for the creation of a micro knowledge sector and provide higher value work for educational workers who can be retained in the rural community."

The APC report advises, however, that "rural ICTs that do not have readily available technical support should adopt new systems only at a pace at which their staff can completely learn how to use and support them."