Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks

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Date
2020
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
Sponsorship
Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South Africa
Abstract
The IID seminar titled “Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks”, was hosted on 31 August 2020 on Zoom Webinar. The 2019 White Paper on science, technology and innovation (STI) recognise the pivotal enabling role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in realising an inclusive and prosperous information society and knowledge economy. One of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)’s key role is to catalyse the digital ecosystem and develop scalable models for community owned connectivity networks to replicate in other areas. Rural areas provide challenging environment to implement communication infrastructure for data and Internet based services, including high cost of network implementation and lack of customer base, low-income streams, highly scattered and low population density. The DSI has thus partnered with the University of Western Cape (UWC), the Mankosi Village community, with support from the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) to scaleup the Zenzeleni Community Owned Connectivity Networks (COCN). The Zenzeleni COCN has been in existence since 2012 and provides timely, reliable and affordable Wi-Fi connectivity to the remote rural areas of Mankosi and Zithulele in Mthatha. The webinar, facilitated by Ms Ellen Fischat from Story Room aimed to look at how rural and township wireless connectivity models, including Zenzeleni COCN can be scaled-up to increase the number of people connected in the rural settings, more so in light of the COVID-19 crisis. It is evident from the proceedings the need for community networks to provide access to connectivity and also more importantly, what connectivity enables. Subsequent discussions would need to focus on the users and owners of these community networks to understand how their lives have improved through the deployment of the technology. This will shed light of the financial feasibility and benefit. Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South Africa.
Description
Please cite as: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) (2019) Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2019/0065
Citation
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) (2019) Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2019/0065
Peer review status
Peer-Reviewed