The Wireless Internet Institute, the United Nations and
major Wi-Fi technology suppliers have begun a global effort to use
wireless Lans and other inexpensive and unregulated wireless
technologies to bridge the digital divide in developing
nations.
Pat Gelsinger, chief technology officer at Intel, was the
keynote speaker at the Wireless Internet Opportunity for Developing
Nations conference.
He said technologies such as Wi-Fi and the 802.16 standard for
wireless metropolitan-area networks (Man) provided the chance to
"leapfrog ahead of the digital divide".
Daniel Aghion, executive director of the Wireless Internet
Institute, said the conference was developed from a challenge set
last November by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to "think of ways
to bring wireless fidelity applications to the developing world"
via unlicensed spectrum to deliver cheap and fast internet
access.
Gelsinger presented an Intel plan to help developing nations
realise the benefits of Wi-Fi that included an admonition to "say
no to copper" for a wired backbone and install broadband fibre
instead. Once that infrastructure is in place, developing nations
then "need to deploy wireless aggressively", he said.
The combination of short-range Wi-Fi, 30-mile-range Mans now
under development are based on 802.16 standards, and a fibre
backbone will present developing nations with "the greatest
opportunity for scalable and cost-effective networks", he
said.
Gelsinger also urged developing nations to follow the lead of
the developed world in putting as few strings as possible on the
use of Wi-Fi in unlicensed spectrum bands.
Amir Dossal, executive director for the United Nations Fund for
International Partnerships, agreed, saying developing countries
should keep Wi-Fi spectrum as "unregulated as possible".
Moshen Khalil, director of information and communication
technologies at The World Bank, said the debate on allocation and
unfettered use of unlicensed spectrum in developing countries is
still open and the UN, the Wireless Internet Institute
and suppliers will face "very tough" challenges before Annan's
vision can be realised.
In addition to the spectrum issue, the widespread proliferation
of Wi-Fi in developing nations needs to overcome a number of
hurdles, including heavily regulated and expensive wired backbone
carriers and tariffs that often push up prices for Wi-Fi gear -
equipment that has reached prices as low as $20 (£12) to $50 for a
wireless access card in the US.
Suppliers and potential service providers in developing nations
also need to "create viable business models", Khalil said.
Amir Alexander Hasson, founder and managing partner of First
Mile Solutions, has started to implement wireless service in India,
said equipment used in developing nations often has to be tougher
and more resistant to heat and dust than WLan gear used in more
developed nations.
But even with that proviso, Hasson said he was able to assemble
a WLan system for use in rural Indian villages for about $250
(£151).
Dossal said he believed the hurdles could be overcome, with
wireless internet access eventually serving as the "great
equaliser" in communications infrastructure between the developing
and developed world.
Bob Brewin writes for ComputerWorld