Welcoming
Remarks - Ministry of Communications (DepHub), Director
General of Post and Telecommunications & USAID
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Keynotes
on International Best Practice
in Public Access
August 27, 2003
Christopher Light, Senior Program
Officer, AED
Michael Tetelman, Senior Program Officer, AED
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The
DOT-COM Alliance |
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Digital Opportunities through Technology and Communication (DOT-COM) –
funded by USAID
An Alliance of:
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dot-GOV
(Internews) |
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dot-ORG
(Academy for Educational Development) |
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dot-EDU
(Education Development Center) |
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Best
Practice with Community Teleservice Centers |
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Illustrative
Models |
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India |
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Entrepreneur-owned
kiosk approach |
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Rwanda |
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Entrepreneur-owned
traditional telecenter approach |
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Paraguay |
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Public
sector approach |
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Summary
– some lessons learned and potential applicability for Indonesia’s
CTCs? |
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India:
N-logue Telecenter Model |
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Rural-only
focus. |
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Each
site should service a 25 km sq. area. |
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Low equipment cost (+/- $1,000/site) |
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Equipment
consists of PC with multimedia/Webcam, equipment to connect to Internet,
UPS, and local |
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application
software. |
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Uses
corDECT WLL technology. |
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Share
bandwidth revenues but bulk of revenue stays with kiosk operator. |
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Once
connected, focus on services and content. |
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700
villages connected. |
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Rwanda:
Community Internet Centers |
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Challenges
to successful implementation |
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Design
strategies include: |
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Focus on populations between 20,000-40,000 people and no reliable
ICT access points prior to project |
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implementation |
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Competitive
tender that required detailed business plans |
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Working
with experienced IT entrepreneurs |
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High-up
front investment by the operators |
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Use
of vouchers to stimulate demand |
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“Hybrid”
approach of social development and for-profit ICT access and
services |
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Rwanda:
Community Internet Centers |
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| Most
Popular Services |
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IT
Training (mainly students), basic ICTs (Internet browsing, email,
photocopying) |
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| Value-Added
Services |
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Supporting
distance education and local justice process (community court proceedings) |
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Multi-media
presentations: e.g. opening adjacent “movie theater” |
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early lessons from the project |
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Value
of setting up CICs in areas with extensive NGO and school/university
network |
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Working
closely with telecom companies to get acceptable bandwidth |
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Challenges
of reliable electricity |
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Developing
association of CICs for lobbying |
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Paraguay:
Community Learning Centers |
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Project
supported by municipality in Asuncion and centers (12) installed in
schools and municipal buildings |
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“Hybrid”
approach |
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11
centers still operational, though only 2-3 are thriving (municipal
subsidies still supporting most of the |
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centers) |
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Lessons
learned from divergent outcomes |
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Leadership
is critical: strategic use of management committees (e.g. need for
member turnover) |
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Long
term planning/community involvement focus and acceptance of continued
reliance on municipal |
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subsidies
to achieve outcome |
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Build
on unexpected success of first center to catalyze remaining centers
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Problems
of starting with free services and moving to fee for use |
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Strategic
partnerships (e.g. with ISPs) |
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Summary
– Some Potential Lessons for Indonesia? |
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Up-front
investment by telecenter operator |
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Feasibility studies prior to site selection and implementation |
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Technical and cost issues relating to connectivity |
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Value
of a “hybrid model”: for-profit orientation mixed with
social development |
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Need
for value-added content to go beyond access and training |
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Gender
sensitive approaches: e.g. women as trainers and managers |
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Effective
management staff |
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Telecenter
operators and local project managers |
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Further
Information |
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Website:
www.dot-com-alliance.org |
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Contacts:
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Christopher
Light |
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Academy
for Educational Development |
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clight@aed.org
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Michael
Tetelman |
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Academy
for Educational Development |
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mtetelma@aed.org
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