India's Rural Internet

SAN FRANCISCO, June 15 - An international consortium, including Indian and American companies as well as the World Bank, is planning to establish thousands of rural Internet centers in India to bring government, banking and education services to isolated villages.

The project, to be announced Thursday, is intended to bring Internet-based services to individuals who must often travel long distances to conduct banking or business with the government. It is being undertaken by Comat Technologies, an Indian provider of Internet services; ICICI Bank, India's second- largest commercial bank; and Wyse Technology of San Jose, Calif., which makes computer terminal equipment.

The goal is to serve rural villages with populations of more than 5,000. Ultimately the plan calls for centers or kiosks in 5,000 villages in the state of Karnataka; Bangalore, the Indian high-technology center, is the capital of Karnataka.

The project, subsidized by the state government, will include money to train residents in computer skills. It comes after some disappointing results of earlier efforts to bridge the digital divide, which separates the Internet-connected world from less-developed areas.

The centers, connected to the Internet by either land lines or satellite links, are each to consist of 5 to 10 inexpensive "thin clients," simple computer displays that are more rugged and less expensive than personal computers.

The project will begin with a technical demonstration in 4 villages, and then be extended to 20 others, according to Andi Dervishi, an investment officer at the Global Information and Communication Technologies division of the World Bank.

He said the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank would act initially as a nonfinancial partner but was hoping to be able to finance the growth of the project if the early trials go well.

John Kish, the president and chief executive of Wyse, said thin clients, also called network computers, have long been held out as a promising low-cost way to deliver Internet content and computer services. The falling cost of PC's has until now made them financially unattractive.

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Rural Internet

Rural Broadband Access

Far too many rural Americans continue to be left without Internet access, despite claims of great progress in closing the digital divide. The broadband penetration rate in urban and suburban households is almost double the rate in rural areas. This is a significant concern for rural America as reflected in a recent release by the House Congressional Rural Caucus, stating that access to advanced broadband is one of its priorities for 2006.

Rural areas are often deemed unprofitable by broadband providers - the companies choose to avoid these areas leaving residents and businesses without access. Where service does exist, there is little to no competition and the high monthly fees can be too expensive for most of the community. A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that 29 percent of rural Internet users have only one provider available to them, most often a satellite provider. Satellite broadband services remain slow, extremely costly, inadequate solutions.

Rural communities are being left behind as broadband access has become a basic necessity for economic development, small business growth, and education. Large numbers of rural communities face businesses fleeing in search of areas with improved infrastructures. Businesses that stay struggle to compete on a national level. The towns face job losses and deteriorating civic vitality.

But rural areas across America need not be disproportionately disadvantaged in access to broadband Internet. Wireless technologies are being deployed that can work more efficiently in rural America than they do in urban areas. Some rural communities are currently witnessing the possibilities of community wireless broadband projects, applying technologies appropriate to the terrain. In Lamberton, Minnesota, for example, the Meadowland Farmers Cooperative has joined with the local high school to provide the town and surrounding areas access with wireless Internet service. The height of their fourteen silos help to distribute the wireless Internet. In rural Iowa and Illinois, Prairie iNet placed direct line-of-sight transmitters on top of grain elevators, which are then able to transmit signals across the flat plains to small towns miles away. Hermiston, Oregon has successfully delivered wireless broadband to its residents, beginning with some wireless hotspots and eventually making free high-speed Internet access available for some 600 square miles of previously unserved area.

Farmers could increasingly find themselves the beneficiaries of high speed Internet access — many now claim it could revolutionize farming. As one story suggests, farmers would be able to transmit data such as commodity prices in real time, or control and monitor equipment, or manage irrigation systems from anywhere on the farm.

If private providers are either unwilling or unable to offer affordable, high-speed Internet access, there may be other options for the community to consider. There are also policy options that could help further the developement of rural Internet access, starting with honestly recognizing the existing divide and the actions of area broadband providers. In addition, as suggested by the Rural Broadband Coalition, policy-makers should promote open access, competition, and innovation at the federal and state level and should encourage both public and private investment and partnerships in developing rural broadband Internet access.

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