<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Thank you Peter Wakaba for the probing questions. It has lead to very rich answers from Michuki, Ndemo, and Gitau. Thank you Joash for putting this forward, and Song too.<div><br></div><div>I want to request the following three players to also comment about their initiative. Probably what their initiative is all about, the positives, opportunities, and challenges they face.</div><div><br></div><div>1. Josephine Miliza of Tunapanda Network. </div><div>2. Tonny Okwonga of BOSCO Network Uganda</div><div>3. Andy Halsall / Dirk-Jan Koeman / Chris Rhodes of Poa Internet.</div><div><br></div><div>Can someone link the good people at Poa internet to this thread? Andrew Alston or Ben Roberts probably?</div><div><br></div><div>For a fact, I know BOSCO Network in Northern Uganda is quite expansive, covering a radius of about 200km, and offering FREE internet to community centers. Is this sustainable? Well, they have been around for more than 12 years. There is the answer.</div><div><br></div><div>Warm regards</div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">______________________<br>Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, 29 Mar 2019 at 18:51, Michuki Mwangi via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Peter,<div><br></div><div>The following article by Steve Song also provides some further insights on why Community Networks provide an alternative solution to providing connectivity to remote and underserved communities.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://manypossibilities.net/2019/02/rethinking-affordable-access/" target="_blank">https://manypossibilities.net/2019/02/rethinking-affordable-access/</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Michuki.</div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 6:38 PM Michuki Mwangi <<a href="mailto:michuki.mwangi@gmail.com" target="_blank">michuki.mwangi@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Peter,<div><br></div><div>To provide some insights on how community networks are built and operated, I would like to refer you to similar community initiatives we have in the country. You may have come across community water projects. These initiatives have for many years provided communities in semi-urban and rural areas with clean, piped, portable water and at affordable rates. Their sustainability is based on low OPEX and growing membership and a general application of Elinor Ostrom's "commons model". For most of these projects the initial CAPEX is from grant funds or loans that they repay over time. </div><div><br></div><div>Community Networks (CNs) are not any different. They are established using CAPEX from grants and similar models to those community water projects. The engineers are local youth trained through the initiative with the basic training needed to run and operate the network. CNs will negotiate IP transit capacity from operators closest to them. In some cases, it means building long haul wifi links spanning over 50kms to get to the closest operator's node. In the case of Zenzeleni, the closest operator who could provide them with reasonably priced capacity is in Umtata, more 100kms from Mankosi. In addition, CNs use low cost, low power wi-fi gear and use solar to power the equipment. All these factors have a significant impact on the OPEX and as a result, CNs are able to offer affordable access to the communities they serve. In some cases, CNs offer other services that supplement their revenue stream. Sustainability is still a challenge for many of them just like many water projects tend to suffer from. However, both of these tend to find ways of continuing to serve their communities for many years. I suppose its largely dependent on their bottom up community approach to the initiative. Kindly allow me to invite you to read the following study on CNs in Africa - <a href="https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CommunityNetworkingAfrica_report_May2017_1.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CommunityNetworkingAfrica_report_May2017_1.pdf</a> </div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Michuki. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 5:45 PM Bitange Ndemo via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">It uses broadcast spectrum on a shared basis. It is the aspect of sharing economy of the airwaves that lowers the cost.<div><div><br></div><div>Ndemo.</div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 4:27 PM Peter Wakaba via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"trebuchet ms",sans-serif">Who can talk to me about Mawingu and how it compares to this South Africa network. I would like to understand just what enables the lower costs and how it is different.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 1:25 PM Song, Stephen via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi Joash,</div><div><br></div><div>This is a great piece of video journalism from the BBC but a minor point of clarification. Zenzeleni is not a mesh network. It did start out as one but now uses hub and spoke WiFi technology from Ubiquiti just like Mawingu and many others do in Kenya. The BBC unfortunately buried the lead in the headline by not highlighting the real innovation of Zenzeleni, which is the nature of their organisation. They are a registered cooperative under South African law. Profits from the network go back to the community and back into the network. Cooperatives have been around since the middle ages. Their time is coming for rural broadband.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Cheers... Steve Song<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, 29 Mar 2019 at 06:37, Joash Moitui via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Dear all, <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Innovative mesh networks in South Africa are connecting the connected for less than <span class="gmail-m_-8455502630729665751gmail-m_3448935231510504824gmail-m_4689667379450337100gmail-m_5176809466369339354gmail-m_-8337044013676549833gmail-m_5097522520238670200gmail-m_6576052309503725127money">$2</span> a month. <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-47723967/internet-access-in-africa-are-mesh-networks-the-future?ocid=socialflow_facebook" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-47723967/internet-access-in-africa-are-mesh-networks-the-future?ocid=socialflow_facebook</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Could this be the solution for connecting thousands in rural Kenya?</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Best, </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><font face="sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Joash Moitui </span></font><br style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">~Sent from mobile device. Apologies for brevity and typos </span><span style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">~</span></div></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail-m_-8455502630729665751gmail-m_3448935231510504824gmail-m_4689667379450337100gmail-m_5176809466369339354gmail-m_-8337044013676549833gmail-m_5097522520238670200gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail-m_-8455502630729665751gmail-m_3448935231510504824gmail-m_4689667379450337100gmail-m_5176809466369339354gmail-m_-8337044013676549833gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Steve Song<div>+1 902 529 0046</div><div><a href="http://manypossibilities.net" target="_blank">http://manypossibilities.net</a><br><a href="http://nsrc.org" target="_blank">http://nsrc.org</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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