Building Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networks

Simple item page
assaf.peer-review.statusPeer-Revieweden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorAcademy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
dc.contributor.authorDepartment of Science and Innovation (DSI)
dc.date.accessioned2021-01-19T08:24:38Z
dc.date.available2021-01-19T08:24:38Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.descriptionPlease 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.2019/0065en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe 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.en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipDepartment of Science and Innovation (DSI), South Africaen_ZA
dc.format.extent28 pages
dc.identifier.citationAcademy 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.2019/0065en_ZA
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2019/0065
dc.identifier.isbn9781928496304
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11911/174
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherAcademy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)en_ZA
dc.relation.ispartofseriesIID Seminar Series
dc.rightsAcademy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) & Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)
dc.subjectCommunity networksen_ZA
dc.subjectSTIen_ZA
dc.subjectICTen_ZA
dc.subjectConnectivityen_ZA
dc.subjectInterneten_ZA
dc.subjectCOCNen_ZA
dc.subjectIIDen_ZA
dc.subjectZenzelenien_ZA
dc.subjectASSAfen_ZA
dc.titleBuilding Profitable and Sustainable Community Owned Connectivity Networksen_ZA
dc.typeProceedings Reporten_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
2020_assaf_proceedings_iid_building_profitable_sustainable_community_networks.pdf
Size:
719.11 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download Report
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
371 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
F. Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) Seminar Series (incl. Proceedings)