Wireless Africa

Wireless Africa: Towards Sustainability Models for Community Owned Wireless and VoIP Networks

Forthcoming Events Wireless Africa Workshop 25 - 27 June 2008, Pretoria, South Africa

Background

The objectives of this project are to:

1. Build Wireless Africa capacity and network between organisations in different countries researching and building Community Owned Networks;
2. To understand community environments, information and user needs of the poor; and in particular the cultural, gender and social values and priorities of these communities;
3. To research business models for Community Owned Networks, and approaches for replication and scalability;
4. To embrace and enhance the business models through development and implementation of open source, open hardware technologies and open access infrastructure;
5. To identify barriers (political, economic, social, technological and environmental) to a “Wireless Africa”, and propose strategies to overcome these barriers and influence institutional frameworks, regulatory considerations, national policies and telecommunication costs.

This project will achieve these objectives through a well-managed organisation of a number of sub-projects with the various project collaborators in different African countries. Outcome Mapping will be used as a planning and monitoring tool.

Events

Wireless Africa Sharing Workshop

Date: 25 - 27 June 2008

Venue: CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa

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This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre(IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.