tech4africa - the village telco

The VillageTelcoor

3 pieces of kit for a neighborhood network

Steve SongShuttleworth Foundation12 August 2010

an easy-to-use, scalable, standards-based, wireless, local, do-it-yourself, telephone company toolkit

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:KEN:ZAF:ZWE:EGY:TUN

Africa

http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:KEN:ZAF:ZWE:GBR:MYS:KOR:EGY:TUN

World

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTIC4D/Resources/5870635-1242066347456/IC4D_2009_Overview.pdf

2InnovationInnovation

1Efficiency

Communication networks are potentially enablers of both efficiency and innovation

50%50%Percentage of Percentage of disposable disposable income spent income spent on mobile on mobile services in services in Africa.Africa.

http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2009/11/full-interview-clay-shirky/

...lower the cost of failure

To enable innovation...

When failure is expensive, the lesson learned is to stop wasting money.

It's the economy,

Stupid!

Bill Clinton famously captured the essence of necessary change in 1992

It's the cost of access,

Stupid!

What an inspired African leader might say about change needed in communication networks

Yesterday Today

trial and error is the new planning

command& control

build it and you can come

complexityuncertainty

unpredictability

1995 2010

Walled Gardens

Q. What do these two things have in common?

A. You don't have access to the recipe.

trial and error is the new planning

quantity is the new quality

quantity is the new quality

United States Uganda

hardware is the new software

hardware is the new software

what's needed is a paradigm shift in how we think about telecom networks

June 2008 – The Birth of the Mesh Potato

telephonydevelopment

toolkit

payg voice billing system for Asterisk

mesh management and mapping

Afrimesh

embedded Linux

powered by Open Source

DavidRowe

Elektra

RaelLissoos

What really drives the Village Telco.... people

trial &

error

planning

is the new

quantityqualityis the new

hardware

softw

are

cost of access

is the new

it's the

it's the

stupid!

Looking for...

✔ Volunteers✔ Partners✔ Investors

Steve SongFounderVillage Telcohttp://villagetelco.org

email: steve.song@shuttleworthfoundation.orgblog: http://manypossibilities.netskype: steve_l_songtwitter: stevesong

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