Telecenters in Pakistan
Telecenters and Community Resource
and Information Centers
in
Pakistan
Report on setting up ‘Tele-centers’ in Pakistan under the USF Program.
Prepared for the World Bank
Volume I
October 17, 2006
Final Report
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd.
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Telecenters in Pakistan
Preface
This document is a brief study of the phenomenon of Telecenters as they have evolved in
different parts of the World and in Pakistan. Considerable useful information and case
studies are available on the Internet and I have made use of these in formulating thoughts
and referring to them as well as quoting from these sources. I have tried to clearly
acknowledge these where I have quoted from them but if there are any omissions I would
like to apologize for any oversight. Remainder of the materials is from our (SATC) own
internal documents and research
It was however necessary to create the proper context with reference to Pakistan and for
doing so, references of experiences from similar economies were studied, detailed
conversations with the people involved in this (especially in India and Sri Lanka) revealed the
challenges and pitfalls which need to be considered. A physical survey conducted in the
heartlands of the Punjab and the Frontier province, yielded excellent ground zero
information, which at times challenged preconceived notions.
Most of the time reports like this give outlines and general directions and can not be applied
directly. It was decided to take a thoroughly practical approach with reference to the
situation valid today. As such, this document also analyses different approaches to creating the
actual Telecenters and addressing challenges which will be faced. Another facet is the
involvement of prospective large size Telecenter operators and inserting their case studies
and directions.
While these would not constitute our (and I presume the World Bank’s) only
recommendations, these do come out as the best models in their respective categories.
Similar examples can then be extrapolated from these individual examples used. For example
the PSO case can be mapped by a large cellular, pharmaceutical or FMCG (Fast Moving
Consumer Goods) distribution company in opening up a chain of Telecenters where internal
usage synergies of these networks could complement social and developmental goals of their
Corporate Social Responsibility programs.
During our meetings with a whole range of organizations, we found a lot of confusion in
creating correct Business Models for these Telecenters; spreadsheets have been provided for
modeling by any user who would like to do so.
A consequent detailed Demand Analysis survey needs to be conducted to ascertain the areas
which should be addressed by the USF and how and with what services, this should be done.
A Telecenter Information Clearing House is needed right upfront to help coordinate the
activity and provide help and support to making sure that a coherent, interlinked, efficient
and consistent development can take place.
The report is structured into two volumes. The first one contains various details as
mentioned below and the second volume has details of the individual surveys. The excel
spreadsheets are given separately.
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The Volume 1 is divided into following Sections:
1. Executive Summary and Recommendations
2. Progress in the Telecenter initiatives and impact of Telecommunications growth in
Pakistan
3. Telecenters – Issues and suggested Regulatory and other interventions
4. Survey findings
5. International Experiences
6. Pakistan – the Country and Telecommunications
7. Examples of Models 1: Best practices
8. Examples of Models 2: Examples from Pakistan
9. Telecenter elements, current situation in Pakistan
10. Enabling Support structures
11. Business Models – sample calculations
12. Referencing guide
Volume 2 has details of the physical survey with pictures and forms filled out at each site
I would like to acknowledge the support of several organizations and people who provided
considerable insight and inputs to help create this document. Of these, the maximum critical
and insightful inputs came from Robert Schware and Kareem Abdel Aziz of the World
Bank, Muhammad Umer Somro for the survey and formatting of the document, Javed
Iqbal for the developmental aspects in Rural areas, Fouad Bajwa of FOSSP for his detailed
inputs into using Open Source Software in Telecenters. To all these people, I am truly
grateful.
Salman Ansari
Islamabad, October 17, 2006
salman@super.net.pk
+92 300 8545619
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Contents
Volume 1
Sections
1. Executive Summary and Recommendations………………………………
5
2. Progress in the Telecenter initiatives and impact of Telecommunications
growth in Pakistan………………………………………………………..
12
3. Telecenters – Issues and suggested Regulatory and other interventions……
22
4. Survey findings……………………………………………………………
32
5. International Experiences…………………………………………………. 54
6. Pakistan – the Country and its Telecommunications………………………. 78
7. Examples of Models 1: Best practices……………………………………… 91
8. Examples of Models 2: Examples from Pakistan………………………….. 120
9. Telecenter elements, current situation in Pakistan………………………….. 180
10. Enabling Support structures……………………………………………….. 187
11. Business Models – Sample Calculations...………….……………………… 260
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Telecenters and Community Resource and
Information Centers in Pakistan
Report on various models for setting up and sustaining different
models in Pakistan under the USF (Universal Service Fund)
Volume 1
Part 1
Executive Summary & Recommendations
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Executive Summary
The World Bank commissioned this report as a part of the USF Policy implementation
support for bringing the fruits of the telecom revolution in the rural areas. This is foreseen
to bring access to services, resources, information and access to opportunities using voice
and internet by the rural populace.
However, unlike other general purpose technology such as agriculture, energy, transport, etc.,
support for accepting ICT as a technology is needed from all stakeholders especially
government and people. Mere provision of hardware, software components does not help
the rural population to draw benefits from this technology, but a systematic and convergent
approach of policy makers, business drivers would be necessary for its use. As such the four
key players who will make the Telecenter program a success by their interactions and
ownership at all levels are:
•
Community being served
•
Government support in terms of Regulatory and Policy interventions and
automation and cleaning up the back end processes for e-Services
•
Telecenter operators
•
Telecenter support institutions including the Telecommunications, content
providers, financing institutions
It is not necessary to adopt a very high-end ICT infrastructure to support but needs an
optimized approach to select, develop and implement the technology, its components and
allow the rural citizens to use the technology as needed. Potential of ICT infrastructure use
lies in rightly identifying the need of rural citizens and their social fabric1.
To derive complete benefits from these Centers, a variety of supplementary services need to
be offered from here. These could be physical services (easy to implement like photocopies,
photos, printing) while the really useful ones (e-government services, farmer pricing and
crop information, etc) are relatively more complicated since they need third party readiness
and approvals and agreements.
Rural Support Network (RSPN) can be considered as a potential partner for outreach in
rural Pakistan. There are 13 RSPs in Pakistan, with the current coverage of about 12% of the
rural population in Pakistan and this may go up to 50% in the next few years since the
Government is considering a large project to scale up the RSP concept in Pakistan with
funding support from the World Bank, Multilateral Investment Agencies and other donors.
The clear message which has emerged is that most entities (PTA, etc) have a simple
Telecenter model (phone and internet) as an access service. The true impact comes about
1
Hiremath & Misra, MICs for rurals, www.i4donline.net, Aug 2006
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only when this becomes a resource and information center. Hence the suggested change in
titles as mentioned later in this document.
For this purpose extensive study, interviews and physical surveys were carried out. Existing
and planned initiatives by different entities were examined; suggestions and proposals were
put up. This document is the result of these activities outlines not only the process of
acquisition of data but comes out with some suggestions in the context of the environment
in Pakistan.
The contents of this report cover:
•
Telecenters and Telekiosks in the Rural areas in Pakistan
•
The key players involved in this activity
•
The corporate entities with the highest probability of success for setting up a
large number of Telecenters
•
The key resources available for making these operational
•
Details of addressing the key issues of setting up Telecenters
•
Templates for creating Business Plans for setting up Telecenters in the
context of Pakistan
An attempt has been made to give a:
•
Detailed research and analysis of International experience
•
Suggestions for Policy and regulatory interventions
•
Key Issues and practical suggestions for solutions
•
Some Models for fast track roll out with key partners
Practical plans
The current deployment and plans of Telecenters which could be used for the initialization
since they are quite far down the thought process and area good fit for the parameters laid
out for sustainability and scalability. Some of these are:
•
Pakistan State Oils (PSO) – conversion from non-functioning kiosks to
comprehensive Telecenters in all 3500 locations
•
Post Office – planning for a comprehensive rollout of Post Office related
services including e-Government, Banking, insurance, Agriculture extension
– ultimately reaching 12,000 locations across Pakistan
•
Agha Khan Rural Support Program – over 200 targeted in the short term
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•
KADO – Karakorum Development Authority – over 100 targeted
•
AIOU - Allama Iqbal Open University. Over 350 sites across Pakistan and
planning a deployment of over 2000 in the future based on their own VSAT
connectivity.
•
Telecard, Mobilink, Telenor – over 250 sites
•
Entrepreneurs – individuals and franchisees several hundred
A variety of support infrastructures are emerging and should be utilized for this purpose. These include:
•
Financial – NBP ‘rozgar’ scheme
•
Software – Microsoft, FOSSP (Free and Open Source Software Pakistan)
•
Hardware – Intel, local manufacturers
•
Urdu – NU (National University) Lahore
•
Service providers – Telecom
•
Service providers – content and services
•
Capacity building/training – FOSS, Universities, computer training institutes
and training partners like Intel
Summary recommendations
•
There should be a clear definition of ‘Rural’ for the USF in general and the
Telecenter program in particular
•
After the availability of voice communications at very low costs via Cellular
and WLL, it is necessary to eliminate PCO licenses as these are now
irrelevant and may cause unnecessary confusion
•
Eliminate regulatory obstacles for Telecenters such that no licenses are
necessary and some form of registration and special contracts should be
sufficient condition for getting support and assistance.
•
Emphasize as a policy the implementation of Broadband for rural even
before urban roll out, since competition will drive the urban markets but this
is vitally needed for services like telemedicine and video calls and
conferencing in the rural areas for achieving developmental objectives.
•
Create a well thought out interconnect transfer costs for Internet and voice
communications for the Telecenters
•
It is crucially important to include civil society, political and other relevant
stake holders in the decision making process for the USF users for
Telecenter projects
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•
Broaden the base of the USF recipients to include those who are not
contributing telecommunications companies. This can be achieved by
creating relationships between the licensees and the Telecenters operators
where the recipient is the former. Examples of such recipients are:
o Public Services (PakPost, Railways),
o Developmental
objectives
Governments, PPAF, NGOs),
(KADO,
AKRSP,
Provincial
o CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility – (PSO, Pakistan Tobacco,
political leadership),
o Enhancement of existing services (Cellular, WLL),
o Entrepreneurs and for profit (PCOs, Kiosk owners)
Key interventions needed are:
•
Creation of a National Strategy for Telecenters
•
Creation of a broad stakeholder support
•
Publicize the program extensively along with an education and awareness
campaign
•
Set up a Telecenter Information Clearing House
•
Create a training infrastructure for the Telecenter operators
•
Provide assistance in implementation
Content
While the proposed e-government programs which provide service delivery to the
citizens are designed and implemented, Select the low hanging fruit - develop and use
current services. Some examples:
•
NADRA payment Kiosks
•
Catalyse the automation of payments of Utility bills via different payment
mechanisms
•
Convert key static forms into interactive forms which can be filled out over
the internet – see the HEC initiatives
•
Access to NADRA’s Verisys for CNIC validation
•
Integration of the different Police department’s automation programs for
FIR, driving licence and car registration
Basic services at Telecenters,
These can be offered as a startup – the business cases are built around this concept – as
content generation catches up. Pilots of Telemedicine, Agriculture, etc exist and can be built
up once focused attention is given to these:
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•
Access to phone, fax and IT equipment
•
Access to email and internet
•
Access to printing, typing and other PC related services
•
Access to basic education
•
Photocopying
•
Pictures
•
Telemedicine
•
Farming * Free guideline, Weather forecast, Pesticide information, Livestock
healthcare, seeds information. Some of this is also being piloted on cell
phones via SMS by the private sector.
Telecenter Models
There are some clear Models (not just one) which can be mapped against the current
initiatives as well:
•
Public Sector model – Post Office
•
Public – Private sector model - PSO
•
Private sector commercial model – Telecommunications companies setting
up and operating these
•
Private sector Telecom Operator driven model
•
Development NGO model – AKRSP and KADO
•
Privatete entrpreneur model – Telecenters and cybercafes run by
entrepreuners
Sustainability
There are four elements of sustainability of Telecenters, not just financial as normally
assumed. These are:
•
Social & Cultural: unless this fits into the scheme of things in the locations
selected, the end users would not be convinced to go beyond the basic
services of telephones and e-mails thereby defeating the broad objectives of
the program
•
Financial of course being the key, especially for the time when subsidies and
policy support are withdrawn. Under these circumstances the best running
programs will wither away
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•
Political. In the rural areas of Pakistan, this is a crucial aspect and must bring
in the bureaucracy and the political realities into consideration. Hence the
earlier recommendation of their involvement in the process
•
Technological: there are bound to be long term failures with the incorrect
appreciation of hardware and software which is not supported connectivity
which is not economical, sustainable or reliable. The selection of the correct
combination can cut capital costs down by a factor of 60%
Conclusions
•
The environment is ready for a national Telecenters initiative
•
A National Telecenter Policy and Plan should be drafted
•
Consider the Policy modification recommendations before launching the
program.
•
Specially the use of USF by non-Telcos and the Regulatory cover needed
•
Conduct a comprehensive demand survey for Telecenter location
•
Consider an institutional structuring of the complete program
•
Look for Public – Private Partnerships. These can be moderated by the
MoIT under the USF
•
Consider a Risk Analysis and funding methodology for the Telecenters
(CAPEX/Counterpart funding/OPEX)
•
Using this study and the foreseen Demand Survey as a base, estimate the
funding requirements for the Phase 1 participants
•
Phase 1 should consider the corporate entities with high probability of
success
o Those with low dependence on revenues from these centres
o A clear set of applications and internal service delivery requirements
o A solid partnership with LDI operators
o Funding should be considered with counterpart funding (monetary or
in kind) as key
o Start with closely monitored scalable pilots
This report can thus be seen as only the first step in catalyzing a movement in the right
direction.
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Volume 1
Part 2
Progress in the Telecenter and initiatives and
impact of Telecom growth in Pakistan
Back ground, Work Plan and Progress
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Background
The last few years has seen a major growth in the spread of Telecommunications and IT in
Pakistan. This has been predominantly in the Telecommunications domain where the
deregulation and liberalization process has increased the depth and spread of Cellular
coverage and use. The penetration of the fruits of ICT has not been able to get to the underand un-served population because of the delivery of services has been a challenge due the
lack of sustainability of pure public sector actions.
Several initiatives and Pilots have been in place and continue to operate. These range from
Internet centres at PSO (Pakistan State Oil) petrol pumps, Intel teach the teacher program,
private Internet Centres, PCOs with PCs for e-mail access, Public-Private partnerships in
Punjab for using schools after hours for Internet and computer usage, Post Offices having
Tele-Centres, etc.
USF (Telecommunications) and other initiatives taking place in trying to bring ICT to the
grass roots of the rural population. This Report sets the framework and direction for
prospective funding by Multilateral Investment Agencies for creating and setting up
Information Telecenters in Pakistan under the umbrella of the USF.
It is proposed to setup a series of ‘Information Telecenters’ across Pakistan based on
funding from the USF (Universal Services Fund generated by Telecommunication
operations). These ‘Information Telecenters’ will function as rural multi-service platforms
optimized for services based on voice communications and IP based solutions.
An analysis of what has worked in Pakistan and what did not, is critical for preparing
workable proposals.
Work Plan
With setting up of the background research with all the entities, the process of data
acquisition and analysis followed check list. The reference document put in place would be
to enable the development of a framework to design strategies and basis for the
establishment of the ‘Information Tele-centers’ in the rural areas of Pakistan.
Work Plan
Phase 1: Initialization of ‘as is’ situation analysis
1. Conduct a selective baseline research to determine the different Tele-center
initiatives in Pakistan in the last few years and conduct a SWOT analysis of their
success or failure mechanisms. From this derive a ‘lessons learnt’ analysis.
2. Examine the issues and problems in setting up Tele-centers in Rural Areas of
Pakistan.
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3. Compare with Tele-center initiatives in similar economies e.g. India, Sri Lanka,
Indonesia, etc and the various models which have worked (e-Seva, MSR – Microsoft
project, Akshaya, Friends).
Phase 2: Models creation
4. By analyzing the sustainability and success of different Telecenter models worldwide
and by incorporating the results and experience from existing pilot projects, advice
on a few optimal models and solutions which would best achieve sustainability
5. Provide information on what type of organizations and alternate delivery
mechanisms are available for being considered for this program. These can range
from cooperatives, NGOs, private enterprises, telecom operators, Post Offices,
government schools, distribution chains with public interface (e.g. Petrol Pumps), etc
6. Advise on few specific access-center models (delivery means) likely to be adopted by
the franchisees, geographical locations and numbers in which these centers should be
situated based on the feasibility of telecommunications reach or suggest alternatives
to bridge the gaps, the number of centers needed, the funding relevant to each center
and also what types and mixes of services should be offered
7. Determine financing models – USF, Government, Private sector, NGOs. Develop
Cost models for:
i. Telecom part
ii. IT part
iii. HR and Training
iv. CAPEX and OPEX in totality for each model
8. Look at workable Public-Private –Partnership models for these models
9. Compare and suggest Umbrella delivery platforms for single and multi-location
ownerships like the Post Office and private individual and entrepreneur.
Phase 3: Technology and Networking
10. Propose the networking model for Internet connectivity as well as links to voice
service providers (Cellular, WLL, LDI, etc).
11. Propose hardware solutions (computers, UPS, etc) which are optimized for the
conditions in the rural areas. Maintenance and support delivery
12. Propose software solutions: Open source as well as deeply subsidized software and
application and project support from major players like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, IBM,
etc.
13. Consider different connectivity models via CDMA on Cellular or WLL systems,
VSAT DAMA DVB/RCS, fixed line, etc
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Phase 4: Support systems
14. Possible payment models for services eGov, Computing, Internet, training, etc.
vouchers, prepaid cards, merging current IN platform of Pre-paid cards (LDI,
Cellular, etc) to be able to exploit the distribution chain of these operators.
15. An assessment of the human resource, financial, technical and marketing capacities
that are required to achieve the above outputs and the possible training requirements
and mechanisms.
Phase 5: Impact foreseen
16. Determine the possible economic and social impacts on the growth of the localities
served by these Centers. Based on an understanding of these impacts, design
performance metrics and evaluation standards to measure, and as far as possible,
quantify these impacts. These may include the ROI if applicable, jobs created,
services provided, social monitors could include educational, telemedicine and
service delivery of government services.
17. Study true relevance of the impact of content, local language support in the Telecenter
Phase 6: Selection and Funding issues
18. A standardized and transparent selection process (representing both input and
output measures) to be used in evaluating competing potential franchise holders so
that the applicants with the most suitable plans to meet the government’s objectives
(entrepreneurship, services to the rural areas, stimulate the economy, empowerment,
employment).
19. In order to activate funding from Public funds including the USF and MIAs and
provide inputs to the selection criteria for the Tele-center owners. Since the selection
of access center franchisees will not be based on financial bids, it is important that
the selection criteria assess the technical, managerial and financial capabilities of
competing organizations;
20. Develop the performance metrics in order to measure the effectiveness and
sustainability of the centers
Phase 7: Government Policy and Regulatory issues
21. Determine the relationships of Government Policy (and eGovt. plans) for service
delivery to the citizens. Find out synergies for implementation via the Tele-centers.
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22. Review the telecom regulatory environment in Pakistan as it pertains to enforcement
of policies particularly those pertaining to universal access; interconnection
arrangements; tariffs; and implications of these for these Information Tele-centers.
23. Based on the internal targets set out by the PTA for Rural development, assess the
needed resources like existing telecom and power infrastructure, current and forecast
coverage of the Cellular and WLL companies, power availability, manpower and HR
availability to run these centers, etc. This will lead to practical suggested models as
stated above.
24. The legal and operational structures of the ‘Information Tele-centers’ and regulatory
framework, if any, governing their operations. This should include the definition of
the franchiser, the type of franchise agreement.
25. Getting a buy-in from key stake holders in order to bias the models for success
Objective:
The central aim of these Telecenters is the provision of better governance by delivering
government services, low cost telephone connectivity, providing ICT training, basic
telemedicine, email, information about farming, weather, prices of crops etc. It is envisaged
that this will enable the economy to be stimulated so that the micro-economic gains can
translate to an economic impact on the common man. Following are the objectives which
should be pursued for the development of Pakistan:
1. Targeting of rural access component.
Telephony (especially mobile) is so important for improving rural livelihoods that the
more comprehensive approach with an ambitious target of 5% Tele-density coverage of
Rural areas by 2010 should be strived for, if perceived as feasible -- through both
policy/regulatory changes to further enhance competition in service provision together
with sharing of passive infrastructure, coupled with a carefully conceived competition
for minimum required subsidy scheme.
2. Sharing of passive infrastructure.
To facilitate private operators to operate in areas with deficient telecom infrastructure,
open access of the passive infrastructure facilities of the incumbents
at "cost oriented pricing" should be mandated through regulation. Mandating opening
of the network to competition at "cost-oriented prices" will ensure that scarce national
resources are not spent in building multiple layers of similar telecom infrastructure. For
the incumbent; it would be an additional revenue stream with incremental cost of
infrastructure provision and contract administration.
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3. Provision of subsidized access to Tele-centers:
Under this scheme, multiple options can emerge for locating the Telecenters -- including
Post Offices, railway stations, local government offices, government schools, and other
green field sites in such rural areas of Pakistan where these facilities are not available.
Issues:
There are several issues and problems which need
to be addressed in order to meet this goal. Initial
surveys reveal critical problems and parameters
which differentiate successful models from those
which have failed. The highest failure rate in the
sites visited until now relate to a combination of
the Rural Areas and a lack of critical applications
which are actually needed to attract end users.
These are analyzed in the main report.
However, some of them are:
1. Connectivity for voice and Internet
Despite the fast roll out the areas covered by the Cellular and WLL do not cover the
most rural locations actually needing this service. The 2200 or so locations of the
PTCL where one can do a dial up at the cost of a local call are not usable since there
are no telephones to dial out from.
2. Electricity:
The second most important issue is that of unavailability of constant electricity (and
in some areas none at all) and special provisions will have to be made in the Business
Case to mitigate this.
3. Placement of Internet Kiosk:
The placement of internet kiosk is also an issue
at many locations. A special purpose built room
is not feasible and perhaps modular furniture
and storage designs can be created for the
different options of deployment.
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4. Delivery of Equipment:
The vendors appointed for delivering the equipment try to avoid delivering it to very
remote locations due to unavailability of proper roads and high costs involved in
transporting the equipment in single or less number of units. Due to which it takes
more time to deliver it than what it should take to wait for a considerable number of
sites on the same route in order to curtail high costs involved.
5. Repair & Maintenance:
In rural areas where support staff is not available, there is a very high probability that
machines might incur some defect or fault due to improper use. Once the machine is
out of order, there is no expertise available to mend it or remove the faults.
6. Lack of Computer Education and fear of ‘machines’ in rural areas:
Addressing the issues:
Some of the solutions to the above mentioned problems would be addressed in the report.
These solutions will find their way into the final solutions based on the reality on the ground
for each Telecenter:
1. In order to implement this project across the critical rural areas, the people of those
areas have to be made aware as to what does the term ‘Tele-centre’ means and how it
can benefit them. An ‘awareness campaign’ would be taken up through different
media in order to make people aware what ICTs can do for them, and how the Telecentre makes this possible?
2. Propose the networking model for Internet connectivity as well as links to voice
service providers (Cellular, WLL, LDI, etc).
3. Propose hardware solutions (computers, UPS, etc) which are optimized for the
conditions in the rural areas.
4. Propose software solutions: Open source as well as deeply subsidized software and
application and project support from major players like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, IBM.
5.
There should be enlarged rooms so that there is no disturbance or problem so that
staff can carry out official work easily.
6. Proper information must have been gathered about the location including the
infrastructure and facilities available in that region.
7. Connectivity is the main issue that needs to be overcome in order to make internet
facility operational.
8. Repair and maintenance facilities which should be made available.
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Initiatives ready to go!
Some interesting information emerged from the study.
The most important of this was the readiness of the
environment to adopt Telecenters for a variety of
reasons. Plans are already on the anvil or being rolled
out by large institutions like PSO, Agha Khan Rural
Support Program and the Post Office on the one side
and private sector initiatives like Telecard, Mobilink,
Telenor and private enterprise on the other.
There is a buy in from a large NGO community,
private sector (e-villages) and entrepreneurs.
Organizations like Intel, Oracle, Microsoft and FOSS
also underline the opportunity.
The issue in part is a lack of publicity of what role comprehensive Community Information
Centers can play, attracting educated people into this sector (not necessarily the PCO
operators), service delivery which can take place even now in a integrated program and the
interface with local language (Urdu). All these are central to launching an initiative which can
bear considerable fruit in the development of the rural communities.
This presents a huge opportunity for integrating this into an integrated ‘Pakistan Telecenter
Program’ where education, poverty alleviation, entrepreneur development, tele-health,
vocational training, etc can all be brought onto one platform for delivery.
The issue which will then remain will be the education of the possible Telecenter operators
(entrepreneurs and institutional). This should be considered as a key point in the strategy for
funding, managing and proving support for this activity. A key element would be the
education and awareness of all stake holders by a comprehensive print and electronic
advertising this information as a part of the program.
Survey results
The physical ground survey of over 60 rural locations across Pakistan revealed that real
Telecenters are rare even in locations which are relatively near the highways and edges of the
so called semi rural areas. This survey was designed to go from the edge of the highways into
the interior so as the address the areas in the so called Tier 12 and Tier 2 areas. Some results
of this survey were mirrored by a parallel survey conducted by PSO on their current 1100
Internet Kiosks.
The survey was designed to set the analysis and recommendations in the correct context.
The questionnaires and the surveyors (enumerators) were accordingly briefed. Subsequent to
2
PTCL Licence as per 1996 Telecom reorganization ordinance
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the survey a detailed contextual debriefing was done to extract intangibles which were not
reflected in the survey.
Even in these cases several locations had computers (without internet) for training and
watching movies. The assumption that PCOs provide a natural progression to becoming
‘Telecenters’ is valid from a financial and cost sharing basis but the issue of space defeats
this assumption since most PCOs were too small to house even one computer for public use.
Education plays a key role in the use of internet.
Hence the setting up of Kiosks having computers by
entrepreneurs is stalled because there appears no
utility in those locations. However, if educated
entrepreneurs are liked into the process with the
provision
of
microfinance,
technical
and
administrative support from a Telecenter Clearing
House or Association and operationalising these
services which can be delivered this can become a
successful venture. The efforts and success of
KADO 3 (Karakorum
Area
Development
Organization) in setting up Telecenters can show the way for developmental organizations.
KADO is one of the important development players in Northern Areas of Pakistan with a
good reputation and excellent record of its achievements as well as transparency.
Even though women used the PCOs quite extensively
they did not use the Telecenters because of the closed
structure of the cabins and ‘unsafe’ environments.
This would be an important consideration in the
physical design of these Access Centers. In the main
urban centers the cyber cafes are more open and
women tend to frequent these. However, for a more
comprehensive and sustained model care will need to
be mandated for the location of the computers and
the environment so that girls and women can use
these without fear and hesitation due to cultural
barriers.
Different Models will need to be designed for a sustained and successful roll out starting
from institutional (e.g. PSO, PakPost, Telecom company) to Entrepreneurs in a green field
or adjunct business environments.
The logical result of the research was that unless there is usable content and services relevant
to the user with good Internet access, Telecenters would not be of any real use. The critical
areas of service delivery being government, education and agriculture oriented.
3
www.kado.net.pk
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Evolution of Rural Telecenters in Pakistan
Several initiatives in the public and Private sector have been on going in the last few years. For
example, PSO (Pakistan State Oil) has set up kiosks at 1100 petrol pumps across Pakistan and
as a consequence of inter working with them in the preparation of this report, PSO has
changed the scope of the service provisioning from simple Internet and Fax service to a means
of delivery of several services.
1.
PTA
2.
PSO – Pakistan State Oil
3.
Pakistan Post
4.
Telecard – providing CDMA
WLL service under the brand Go
CDMA
5.
Mobilink
6.
CallMate LDI
7.
Development NGO in the
northern areas of Pakistan (e-Village
Resource Centers). Pilots running in
two locations in the Northern Areas.
8.
Content delivery – Agriculture
Ministry, Land Records, e-Government
for service delivery
9.
Individual entrepreneur either operating some form of Internet Centers or
PCO operators who want to move up the value chain.
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Volume 1
Part 3
Telecenters – Issues and suggested Regulatory and
other interventions
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Shift in focus
The rapid growth of coverage of Cellular and WLL and the bringing down of tariffs to very
low levels (e.g. current Mobilink tariffs including airtime for post paid for domestic and
international calls are comparable with land line PSTN charges).
The coverage and low tariffs point to the importance of enlarging the focus of the USF
Policy from Voice in the USF thrust to provisioning of Broadband internet in the rural areas
to enable a fast development of these areas.
From the lessons learnt from International deployments as well as in Pakistan, a practical
strategy of creating solutions as this document was developed. In this considerable stimulus
was provided to several institutions and organizations where Telecenters and their support
systems have been brought to the forefront. This would enable the proposals contained in
this document to go beyond theoretical suggestions and actually provide building blocks for
actual programs. These can be directly considered for funding by a Multilateral Investment
Agency (MIA).
The changing scenario for provision of Telecommunications services in
rural areas
Telecommunications, especially Mobile is spreading at an astounding rate across Pakistan.
With the pressure on creating more value
for the investments being made, the rural
areas are being targeted for expansion of
service.
Mobilink alone will have covered over 80%
of the rural population in the next few
months. When one combines the reach and
coverage of the entire mobile and WLL
operators put together (current and
planned), the coverage of the rural areas has
improved considerably.
The cost of service is rapidly dropping and is at times lower then the PSTN wired or WLL
service for local and international calls. This is the reason that Pakistan is reaching almost
29% Tele-density purely on the back of cellular.
This suggests that the focus on USF spending needs a redefinition and more holistic view.
Instead of provisioning only for funding CAPEX for access to voice (telephones), this
should then emphasize more on:
•
Access and Usage enabling methods like Telecenters, language, software,
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•
•
•
Ubiquity of all types of content and information delivery to the citizens and
Stress on Broadband for Rural for providing a whole range of enabled services.
Interconnect rates to remove the differential between Cellular and Mobile access
specially the CPP anomaly which causes calls to the Cellular to be more than WLL or
PSTN
Emphasize Broadband for Rural – even before Urban
Most services which will enable the fruits of the deregulation travel into the economy are not
only based on voice communications. Rural areas more than Urban, need broadband
services for delivering Government services including training, education, Tele-heath and
telemedicine, agricultural extension programs, etc.
This document also examines the different
Broadband options which are being rolled out
or which can be encouraged to do so with the
right set of incentives. The current models
range from using the Internet connectivity at
reasonable speeds on WLL CDMA networks
to proposed WiFi, WiMAX and DVB-S2
solutions.
The issue will be not only the availability and
reliability of GPRS and EDGE coverage and
the cost of the CPE devices but also of the way the service is charged. Because of a lack of
focus from the Cellular operators the abnormal charging for sessions and volume where the
operator deliberately drops sessions and restarts while charging for this (covered in the
section on connectivity) the use of this medium may be counter productive. This has been
taken up with the key Cellular operators and some relief may come about.
WLL (at least Telecard which responded to queries) do not have this limitation and may be a
better option for these Telecenters with few PCs (see the section on Connectivity) until the
tariff structure changes in the way Cellular will provide EDGE And GPRS.
However, both of these solutions have a volume based billing and do not lend it easily to the
commonly used hourly based charging at the Telecenters. Some workarounds will need to be
found for this. Currently on Mobilink is providing for a flat rate (Rs.500/month) but does
not have a major emphasis on the data aspect of its business.
Another aspect of the GSM based GPRS (and to some extent CDMA as well) is that it is
optimized for WAP type (small size of data) and not normal type of HTML content, hence
the data services and user experience will not be optimal
Based on typical cost structures in telecommunications and the growth of the coverage as is
happening, the issue would not be so much in terms of a one time subsidy but for a
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Sustained need for providing this in terms of OPEX for interconnect, backhaul and satellite
bandwidth (where needed).
International Experiences
A considerable amount of information exists on Telecenters (using different terminologies);
their roll out and case studies from all over the world. Handbooks 4 for setting up and
running these, training manuals for educating the Telecenters operators, business cases and
lessons learnt are also available and will be referred to in the main report.
The issue is of context and applicability. We have sifted through a large volume of inputs
and have focused on instances from similar demographics, economies and preferably similar
cultural backgrounds. India, Sri Lanka, some examples from South America and Africa hold
valuable lessons for similar work in Pakistan and has been studied in detail to get clues for
sustainability.
In most instances, many critical services which are on offer need fundamental issues to be
tackled. However, these may not be in the direct area of intervention for this Report.
Examples of these are getting the utility companies to open their billing data basis for bill
collection and speedy transfer of funds back to the Utility companies, backbone connectivity
to rural centers, etc.
A wealth of information was obtained via the Internet as well as by direct contact with
people who have set up these ‘Centres’ which perform a variety of functions. The issues and
the way these have been addressed are fairly similar all over the world. However it has been
the local dynamics which drives the success or failures in each environment. These issues
and ground dynamics are complex just as they appear to be simple.
As mentioned earlier, in order to make this report a useful and a practical document, we not
only studied and analysed experiences internationally (this is adequately covered in a
complete chapter of the report) but also derived lessons in the context of Pakistan.
Issues of power, connectivity, content and sustainability are common to most international
experiences where Telecenters have been set up. In order to come out with a realistic
document, we decided to single out the key items and address these in a practical form. The
experiences in India and Sri Lanka have been useful base for understanding what creates a
sustainable Tele-centre and what the pitfalls are.
This needed extensive discussions, coaxing and motivation to get a buy-in from different
stake holders who could drive the six distinctive models which were singled out as being the
Models for deployment of the ‘Information Telecenters’ in Pakistan.
A spin off effect was that several events and relationships started falling in place even before
the Report is finalized. The Report will cover these as possible elements and entities that
some MIA can consider funding.
4
CSC, APDIP/UNDP, Cornell University
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Policy and Regulatory issues for Telecenters
Telecenters arguably should be run as businesses 5 , which places the main responsibility
squarely on the private sector. But since a primary aim is to contribute to development, there
are some functions that the government must perform. The government’s initiative may be
needed to launch the process, establish the legal and institutional framework, start up pilot
projects, and develop national or regional support.
As the idea proves itself, the government may be able to reduce its role to a support function
and public reporting and regulatory responsibilities. Eventually the support function could
be jointly owned and managed by participating Telecenters, perhaps through an industry
association.
In the early stages of developing a Telecenter program the government could:
•
Publicize the program.
•
Remove regulatory and administrative obstacles to market entry and
competition.
•
Specify the minimum service requirements to meet development needs.
•
Assess the eligibility of Telecenter proposals and business plans for public
support.
•
Facilitate operators’ access to information, technology, and infrastructure.
•
Provide or channel financial support for investment and start-up if needed.
•
Provide training and support services for operators.
•
Monitor and evaluate results and disseminate best practices.
Some rethink needed
The USF Policy needs some change in focus for a more effective utilization of funds. These
may not be show stoppers but in view of the spread of basic voice telephony covering over
80% of Pakistan the thrust should now focus on delivery of content and services. This point
to a greater emphasis on Broadband delivery as well as a nationwide roll out of the initiatives
mentioned in this report – Telecenters and Community Resource and Information Centers.
The USF Policy6 calls for setting up Telecenters as a part of the Policy statement:
“…..MoIT hereby sets following nation-wide targets for the end of year 2010:
5
Sustainable Telecenters: A Guide for Government Policy; Björn Wellenius
6
USF Policy 29.6.06 – MoITT, Pakistan
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•
85% of country population to have coverage and therefore access to service if
desired
•
Teledensity: 5% in rural areas (fixed and/or mobile)
•
Broadband: 1% penetration (nation-wide average)
•
Telecenters: preferably one for every 5,000 people, but at least one for every 10,000
people in USF contract areas.
And by the end of year 2015:
•
95% of country population to have coverage and therefore access to service if desired”
Due to the aggressive roll out of the Cellular Networks, it is expected that many of these
voice based targets may be met (and perhaps, exceeded) in a relatively short time, a realistic
resetting of targets may need to be done, especially for broadband provisioning and
Telecenters.
As an outcome of this research, challenges the key percepts of the USF Policy:
1. The Targets
2. Definition of Service
3. The definition of Rural
4. Increase focus on broadband for rural development
5. Criteria for QoS for Rural areas, specially for broadband and internet
6. The focus of the spending and finding ways to fund non-telecom players
7. The structure of the decision making structure of the USF
Broadband Policy
Modifications in the Broadband policy are needed to enhance the use of broadband in rural
areas for stimulating economic and social development as a part of an integrated government
effort for poverty alleviation.
Costs of rural broadband services need special review since the existing focus is more urban
driven and in all discussion with the PTCL (still a primary provider) and other operators this
way back on the radar screen.
An emphasis or rewards (e.g. delayed payments of license fees for spectrum) by the PTA, for
rural broadband roll out on IP will enhance the development on WiMAX and WiFi Mesh.
The release of the 2.6 GHz MMDS spectrum by the PTA for WiMAX and the opening up
of additional bands for WiFi will be a big step in helping the deployment of Broadband in
Rural and Urban areas.
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The issue of usage of the license free bands like WiFi (2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz) and WiMAX (2.5
GHz) in these bands should be approved for both, voice and data.
Rural definitions
The definition of Rural needs to be streamlined and made uniform for the USF to function
with clarity and by extension, the Telecenter initiative. The various definitions currently are:
Definitions of rural as per PTCL old license:
TIER 1:
means areas having population more than 100,000 inhabitants.
TIER 2: means all settlements between 5,000 and 100,000 inhabitants.
TIER 3: means all areas within the Licensed Territory not included in Tier 1 or
Tier 2.
Federal Bureau of Statistics defines a village as:
“Revenue estate identified by its name “Had Bast Number”, cadastral Map and name
of Tehsil/Taluka, Distt. Province in which it is located. “Village is called a settlement
consisting of House Holds where people live in and identified on the ground in
consultation with local administrative authorities”.
Definition of a village in the light of Local Government Ordinance 2001:
‘Village means an integrated and contiguous human habitation commonly identified
by a name and includes a dhok, chak, killi, goth, gaown, basti or any other
comparable habitation;
Funding aspects
The other aspect is the utilization of USF funds for Telecenters exclusively by participating
Telecommunications companies. All the research and interaction has shown that the prime
drivers will NOT be Telcos but a predominant majority being organizations involved in:
•
Public Services (PakPost, Railways),
•
Developmental objectives (KADO, AKRSP, Provincial Governments, PPAF,
NGOs, Acumen fund),
•
CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility – (PSO, Pakistan Tobacco, political
leadership). This is useful for initialization of major programs but for long term
sustainability the Telecenters should be sustainable from its commercial operations
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•
Large Service providers who can form umbrella Telecenter organizations creating
franchises for smaller entrepreneurs. They would then be able to create a buffer
between large funding agencies and smaller operators
•
Enhancement of existing services (Cellular, WLL),
•
Entrepreneurs and for profit (PCOs, Kiosk owners)
As such a change in policy regarding the partners to be funded is necessary.
Licensing and Regulatory
PCOs
In order to make these locations proliferate, the concept of issuing licenses for opening and
running PCOs should be finished and the segment liberalized totally. This is proven by the
fact that there is no allocation of scarce resources which needs the Government to license
this sector any more.
Because of the deregulation and almost perfect competition the tariffs for calls on Cell
phones are becoming better than what the fixed lines can offer and most PCOs are offering
cell phones from different Cellular operators for completing calls. The brief experience of
the PTA has been the same when it opened some Telecenters as trial pilots. Card payphones
could continue in this fashion in order to meet any regulatory and licensing requirements.
Telecenters
While Telecenters should not be licensed per se, but they need to be brought into a common
framework by registering them, in order to be able to share resources, experiences and be
able to access common funds and facilitation. An association in the form of ‘Telecenter
Association of Pakistan’ should be formed in order for it to be able to provide support to
new and existing initiatives. This entity would also represent Pakistan in the international
community of Telecenters (or whatever name these are known as in different countries).
Decision making structure
One key element in the USF i.e. the decision making and governance structure is deeply
flawed when one considers international experience. The most relevant experience being in
India. The issues are starkly near what will happen if we do not involve the civil society, the
rural community, politicians who represent them (however flawed in their governance) and
non telecom players. The current make up of decision makers for this will because a log jams
in decision making and incorrect decisions constituting a lot of sound and fury but no real
consistent progress. It is important to see what has happened in India:
…..TRAIs policy is to invite the consumer groups for consultations twice a year. But, it also
invites service providers at the same time, making one-to-one interactions between TRAI
and consumer groups virtually impossible. 'There is no lobby for rural people. They are not
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considered consumers,' says Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras. Under-served
rural communities, unfortunately have little access to the tools available to city users. With
hardly any service, leave aside choice, market mechanisms clearly do not help. Complaints
mean little …. In his response to some of these issues, outgoing Chairperson of TRAI,
found little wrong with its working. He said the civil society was inadequately represented,
weak and poorly organized which TRAI could not help. The Universal Service Obligation
Fund, constituted to subsidise rural communications has largely functioned as an
opaque accounting bureaucracy with close to US$2billion of its collections unspent.
There are recent reports that USOF will amend its rules to provide support to rural
telecommunications infrastructure like towers etc. The USOF has no established
consultation process. Civil society players have little access to it or its thinking on issues of
import.
Civil society organizations (CSOs) have varying levels of expertise and experience in
interacting with regulators. Many issues in the forefront of telecommunications debates –
access deficit charges, interconnection rates, niche operators for rural areas, the spectrum
requirements for GSM and CDMA technologies etc - require information and skills which
CSOs frequently lack. So their engagement on these issues is expectedly limited.
Without relevant and reliable information, their involvement can only be limited and even
counter productive. CSOs have had some impressive wins. For example, the opening up of
wi-fi based services recently is largely the result of CSO's relentless pursuit, which is a greater
priority for it than the big players. But these 'wins' are rare… Regulation will play a critical
role in determining whether or when ICTs become available to all parts of civil societies
especially the poor and rural communities. The link between CSOs and regulators is weak. In
the absence of effective dialogue with civil society, regulators largely insensitive to civil
society issues, have largely concentrated on the issues brought to them by industry. Faint and
poorly articulated, civil society voices have yet to reach regulators in their seriousness and
urgency and remain largely unaddressed. CSOs will need to correct that7.
A change in the USF policy will ensure that Pakistan does not fall into the same trap.
What’s in a name?
Telecenters and Community Resource
and Information Centers
Building on the international experience and
knowledge, these Centers can serve as a
critically useful platform for not only ICT but a
comprehensive economic development of a
community.
The trend of the ‘Telecenters’ is more towards
‘Information Centers’ , ‘Resource Centers’ ,
‘Access and Community Centers’, etc each of
7
Dr. Mahesh Uppal, civil society and the unfinished telecommunication agenda, www.i4donline.net, Aug 2006
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which struggles to define the role of the center itself. In several locations across the world the
‘Telecenters’ did not have any Telecommunications facilities at all and a ‘bait and switch’ 8
principle led these from useful community service centers to full fledged Telecenters.
The local surveys have yielded similar results in Pakistan as well. It may be useful for
considering a change in name to something which reflects its utility. One example for Pakistan
comes from the Aga Khan Rural Support Program 9 Community Technology Learning
Centers (CTLCs) where the primary goal of CTLCs is to take ICT to every village in the region
so as to provide a wide array of opportunities for development and facilitate the building of
constructive social capital.
Major components of the CTLCs include the following:
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Community information networking
Capacity building and skills development
Facilitation of economic activity and employment generation
Social preparation for sustainability of ICT service
This initiative will thus have to distinguish between Telecenters where only Phone and
Internet services can be given from those which can become comprehensive Resource
Centers. As such this project should be titled ‘Pakistan’s Telecenter and Community
Resource and Information Centers’
Those Centers should be named Telecenters where the service is only small scale
Internet access and PCOs and be called Community Resource and Information
Centers where a more comprehensive Service offering is available.
8
Challenges to sustainability; Kentaro Toyama, Assistant Managing Director
Microsoft Research India
9
Application of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to Community Development Initiatives in
Northern Pakistan, AKF March 2006
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Volume 1
Part 4
Survey Findings
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Survey
It was necessary to do a physical survey in order to ascertain the real benchmarks for success
in prospective Telecenter initiatives. The results of this survey were used to validate
assumptions and to determine the reality of how far this phenomenon had penetrated.
Summary Results
•
Telecenters rare even in suburban areas
•
PCOs may not be the best upward path for Telecenters – ownership and
education
•
Current set up of Telecenters does not encourage women to use the internet
•
A variety of services like printing, scanning, pictures, etc already creates a
good business
•
Lack of useful and paid e-services is a key reason for a lack of growth
•
Lack of education
•
Electricity in the remote locations
•
Lack of awareness for educated youth
•
Financing for the people who can set up and operate Telecenter
•
Biggest challenge: Connectivity
Key Issues
Strategy
Two sets of surveys were carried out. One was through the rural heartlands of the Punjab
(the most populous Province having agriculture as its mainstay) and the second one through
the remote areas of the NWFP (Frontier Province, difficult region, very conservative). A
smaller one and more focused one was done in three main cities (Islamabad, Lahore and
Multan) to see the state of Telecenters in Urban areas.
The intent was to determine:
Survey Locations
•
•
•
The availability of Telecenters in
suburban and rural areas
Determine the availability of
PCOs (Public Call Offices) and
their ability to scale to Telecenters
The profile of users (age, sex, type,
use)
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Rur al
Suburban
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This was done in relation to the largest city in the area being surveyed. Hence the result of
each response form was studied in
Adjunct Businesses to Telecenters
the context of the region and its
specific
demographics.
To
substantiate this survey, pictures
were also taken. The results of two
Computer
such locations follow in this
training Computer
document. Details of the 60 sites
Sale &
are in Volumes II of this report.
Service
Details about two such locations
follow this text to give a sense of
Cell phone
the type of survey conducted.
Shop + PCO
The most interesting part of
results is that even though over
2300 locations in Pakistan have
access to telephones and dial up
internet at the same charges as the
urban centers, the Telecenters
Internet Café
(Only)
were almost non-existent. Some places did have computers but these were mainly to watch
movies on DVDs.
As such the phenomenon does not go beyond main cities as even in sub-urban areas the
proper use of the Internet and the advantages of having communities around Telecenters.
Cyber cafes proliferate in the urban areas because of education, need and recognition of the
utility of the Internet. Cities will continue to have Telecenters as opposed to the suburban
and rural areas being fertile for Community Resource and Information Centers.
It is strongly felt that awareness of the utility of the internet and the services which can be delivered needs to be
addressed in the related Media
campaign for Telecenters.
User distribution at the PCOs
Baseline Research
This research focused and
compared the business of PCO’s,
Internet Cafés and Call Centers.
The aspects highlighted during
this project are space for
improving quality of centers,
physical conditions of centers,
owner’s qualifications, structure
of
centers,
Demographic
situations of towns etc. in the
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Labor
21%
Students
13%
Visitors
16%
Farmer
23%
Govt. Servant
12%
House Wives
15%
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Urban and Rural areas of Punjab and NWFP. This study focuses on a centers improvement
project that promotes community participation as a development strategy to counter
diminishing government resources in the specified sector.
The major aim of the survey was to collect a set of comprehensive statistics on the various
dimensions of country’s rural areas. The results from the survey provide information
required for skill development and planning, for setup of Telecenters in rural areas and
identify the factor and ways of improving.
This research also identified challenges and opportunities regarding the establishment of
Telecenters in rural areas of Pakistan and to propose a model for the establishment of
Telecenters in Pakistan in terms of policy formulation, planning, management, funding,
building, equipment, technology, services, targets groups, marketing and sustainability.
Objectives and main findings of the research
Following are the objectives and results of the study
1. To assess the situation of the rural population in two districts of Pakistan and
information facilities available to the, including telecommunications, computers and
public libraries.
2. To find out the problem facing PCO’s, Internet Cafés and Call Centers in Rural and
Urban areas.
a. PCOs operate due to market drivers
b. The use of Internet is a function of education and need
c. The basic business case for PCOs converting to Telecenters is not there
since there is a severe lack of space and the congestion does not lend itself
to a clean access environment
3. To find out factors for success and failure of centers in Rural and Urban areas.
a. Telecenters in the urban areas are need driven and where there is already an
awareness
4. Quality and services providing PCO’s, Internet Cafés and Call Centers in Rural and
Urban areas.
a. PCOs are primarily service and price driven.
b. If there is competition both of these was improved
5. To collect data on socio demographic characteristics form owners of Centers (i.e.
Gender, Age, marital status, level of educations and usage & knowledge about
computers)
a. Details in volume II
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6. Get statistics information from the owners of Centers about income, expenditure
and monthly usage of Phone, Mobile and Internet.
Income level of Centers
14
<10,000
No. of Centers
12
10,000
to
15,000
10
10,000
to
15,000 15,000
to
A bo ve
20,000 20,000
8
6
4
<10,000
2
0
10,000
to
15,000
15,000
to
20,000
15,000 A bo ve
20,000
to
20,000
A bo ve
20,000
13 %
Internet Cafés
Call Centers
PCO's
7. To collect information of facilities in the area (i.e. Primary School, High School,
College, Electricity, Telephone, Mobile, Cable TV, NGO’s Office, Net Café and
Computer Training Institutions)
a. In the areas surveyed, mostly the Telecenters were commercial in nature
with no real public sector or Government inputs
b. Electricity is available in most of the suburban and a majority of the rural
areas in the survey points
c. There has been no thought of setting up comprehensive Telecenters or
Resource and Information centers. A ripe opportunity
8. To collect descriptive facts of the centers i.e. Numbers of Telephone Sets,
Computers, Printers, Scanners, Fax, Photo Copying, Binding and Lamination
Machines at center)
9. To collect data of centers items daily usage, their income & profits.
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Centers daily Profit Percentage from Services
100%
89.36%
90%
80%
Profit Percentage
71.99% 71.36%
72.97%
70%
60%
58.33%
59.88%
50.67%
50%
40%
62.50% 56.47%
60%
31.97%
30%
20%
10%
0%
10. To collect data about knowledge about computers
a. Surprisingly, a high level of computer knowledge exits in remote areas
primarily because f the multitude of ‘IT training centers
People knowledge about computer
30 - 50 %
Knowledge
8%
36 %
< 10 %
Knowledge
56 %
10 - 30 %
Knowledge
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Avaialbility of Technical support
No
Available
40%
Available
60%
11. To collect data of gender visits, timing and most usages age group.
a. Females did not come to the computer centers because of
i. Congested locations – cultural issues
ii. Lack of knowledge of computers and its usage
iii. Cultural issues
12. Cultural components (Consideration of social and historical characteristics, cultural
outlook, level of education and literacy)
a. This was to put the question sin a social and economic context
13. Observe the centers locations and get information where Telecenters setup could be
successful.
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14. Type of users of the Internet
Internet Users
Labor
Farmer 7%
8%
Students
28%
Shopkeeper
14%
Govt. Servant
20%
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Visitors
23%
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15. Number of years in operation in the regions surveyed
Internet Cafes - years in operation
No. of Net Cafes
5
4
25%
25%
18.75%
3
2
12.5%
12.5%
6.25%
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
No. of Years
No. of Call Centers
Call Centers - years in operation
5
4
3
2
25%
12.5%
12.5% 12.5% 12.5%
1
12.5%
12.5%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
No. of Years
PCO's - years in operation
No. of PCO's
10
30%
8
6
15%
8%
4
2
8% 8%
8%
4% 4%
4%
4%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14
No. of Years
16. To analyses the above factors and determine which one plays the most significant
role for the setup of Telecenters in Rural areas.
17. To document the community information initiatives in terms of objectives,
institutional framework, staff, services, use finance, technology and lessons learned.
18. To analyses all factor from research for the policy makers to give a user friendly
environment of technology that enables all rural citizens to have ready access to
dynamic information, modern communications and electronic services and content
that realize quality of life improvements.
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Research Methodology
The qualitative & interpretive questionnaires were drafted in accordance with the areas that
were being inquired at and get results through personal interviews and observations.
Research will consist of following four steps.
Step 1: In depth Interviews from owners of centers about his services, knowledge,
experience, services rates, types of people (Male & Female) visits and services user’s
satisfaction.
Step 2: Observations at Center about demographic factors, social networks, use of
facilities
Step 3: Observations at an affluent center and compare patterns with disadvantaged
communities
Step 4: Owners of centers and outside locations picture were taken.
Coverage and Selection of Districts for Survey
The survey covered 50 urban and rural areas of 23 districts of two provinces of Pakistan
Punjab and NWFP. From 23 districts 26 PCO’s, 8 Public Call Centers and 16 Internet Cafés
were selected for interviews.
z Selection Criteria
z Wider geographical diversity
z At least one district from each zone
z At least one rural area from each district
z Easy access by road
z Proportionate distribution in accordance with
z Development regions,
z Ecological regions,
z Population distribution and
z Literacy level
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SELECTED DISTRICTS OF PUNJAB & NWFP
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Data Collection Method
In pursuance of the research objective, a survey research method was undertaken, which
enables the systematic collection of data from the respondents. (It also lets the respondents
express themselves more freely and to remove any ambiguity that is reflected upon by the
queries present in the information requirement instrument). Personal aspects of survey
research were preferred, as it facilitates the direct interaction with the respondents from
various socio-cultural backgrounds, and the chances of misinterpretation become a lot more
diminished. As far as sampling is concerned, Convenient & Simple Random Sampling will be
used for collection of data due to time constraints.
Measurement Techniques
A formalized, structured approach was followed for the purpose of data collection and
measurement, and the direct measurement of the investigative areas. For this, a
questionnaire approach was made use of, as it allows in-depth search for various variables,
and that too with a minimum of effort, especially if the questionnaire is a closed ended,
which happens to be the case in our research. The questionnaires were
circulated to
owners of PCO’s, Call Centers and Internet Cafés and were also taken responses off, right at
point wherever possible. It was preferred though that, the respondents have ample time, and
no pre-occupation of mind, at the time of filling the forms, as that could have distorted the
quality and reliability of the data being collected.
Sampling Bases
For the purpose of data collection, measurement and overall research survey, sampling has
been done as per following:
Total Population
The size of the population, considering the magnitude and the various inherent limitations
was restricted to a total of 26 PCO’s, 8 Public Call Centers and 16 Internet Cafés from
where relevant data has been obtained. For this purpose the nature of the population
happens to be the owners of PCO’s, Call Centers and Internet Cafés in rural and urban areas.
Sample
A Random sample of 26 PCO’s, 8 Public Call Centers and 16 Internet Cafés was taken from
fro 23 districts of Punjab and NWFP. A stratified sample design has been adopted for the
survey of rural & urban areas.
Sampling Unit
The basis used for drawing the sample is as simple as it can be. We have concentrated on
individual owners of PCO’s, Call Centers and Internet Cafés.
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Sampling Method
Non-probability sampling with the sub-division of convenient sampling were used.
Sample Size
Out of the total 68 districts, 23 districts of Punjab and NWFP were selected and have taken
50 respondents from the Mouzas / Dehs / Villages for our measurements, and collection of
relevant data. This means that we have chosen at least 2 towns from each district.
Data Analysis Techniques
To come up with a substantial conclusion various data analysis techniques will be used which
comes with Ms Excel. For ease of understanding various types of Charts (graphs) will also be
used.
Data Processing and Editing
After data collection, manually clean, edit and check the filled in questionnaires for
consistency and completeness. Also during data entry, further editing of computer identified
errors by applying computer edit checks, data ranges in numerical values were used to
eliminate erroneous data as result of mistakes made during coding. The survey records were
edited and corrected through a series of computer processing stages.
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Samples of the survey
(Full survey in Volume II)
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Multan
Longitude
E71 26.965
Latitude
N30 11.508
Area
3,720 km²
Population
4 million (Approx) (720 persons / km²)
Literacy Rate
43.38 % (Ranking 29th )
Number of towns
3 (Makhdoom Rashid, Qadirpur Ran and Basti Maluk)
Number of Union
Councils
4 (Multan Cantonment, Multan Saddar, Shujabad and Jalalpur Pirwala)
Multan: is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan, and capital of Multan District. It is
located in the southern part of the province, and is steeped in history. It has a population of
over 4 million, making it the sixth largest city in Pakistan. It is located in a bend created by
five confluent rivers, more or less in the
geographic center of the country, and
about 966 km from Karachi. Multan has
connection with other cities by bus and
coach. The district has metalled roadlength of 983.69 Kilometers. The district
is linked with Khanewal, Lodhran and
Muzaffar Garh districts through metalled
roads.
Education: Multan is famous for its
Bahauddin Zakariya University,. Other
educational institutes are Al-Khair
University, and Nishtar Medical College.
There are several colleges affiliated with
the University of the Punjab.
Industry: Multan is a commercial and
industrial center; it is connected by road
and rail with Lahore and Karachi, and by
air with Karachi, Quetta, and Faisalabad. Industries include fertilizer, soap, and glass
factories; foundries; cotton, woolen and silk textile mills; flour, sugar and oil mills; and a
large thermal-power station. It is famous for its handicrafts (ceramics and camel-skin work)
and cottage industries. Multani khussa (shoes); embroidered clothes for ladies; embroidered
cholas for men; earthenware pottery, painted pottery, camel-skin ware (e.g. lamps); carpets,
wooden products, especially lacquered wood.
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Agriculture: An area of 1900 acres is under forest in the district. There is also linear
plantation of 810 Km alongside the roads / rails / canals in the district. Trees grown in the
area are Kikar, Shisham and Mulbury, etc.
Corps: Wheat, Cotton and Sugarcane are the main crops grown in the district.
Fruits: Mangoes, citrus, guavas and pomegranate are the main fruits grown in the Multan
district. Additionally, dates, jaman, pears, phalsa and bananas are also grown in minor
quantities in the district.
Vegetables: Onion and Cauliflower are the main vegetables grown in the district.
Visit Locations: 1. Bosan Road
Multan City
2. Raja Ram
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BOSAN ROAD, MULTAN
Multan is an agricultural city. Bosan Road (Multan) location was chosen for Telecenters
survey because it is the main ideal place for Telecenters business. Bosan Road is a
commercial and educational & offices sector of Multan. It is 7 km from the bus stand
toward the Bahaudin Zakariya University and the central location of Multan. During survey
visit a questionnaire regarding Telecenters specific information was filled and takes the
pictures of locations.
Some Picture from Multan Survey
On Click PCO & Internet Café Bosan Road, Multan
One Click: Net café Server Section
Multan outside location
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One Click: PCO section
Bosan Road Chowk, Multan
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Telecenters Survey Questionnaire
Name: Muhammad Zubair
Address: One Click PCO & Internet Café, Bosan Road, Multan
Age:
26 – 64
<18
18 – 25
1. Education:
None
2. City Area:
Rural
3. Population:
More than 100,000
Above
Gender:
Under Metric
Intermediate
Peri Urban
Urban
Male
Female
Graduate
50,000 to 100,000
Post Graduate
Less than 50,000
4. Which of the following facility available in you city?
Primary School
High School
Mobile
Cable TV
College
Electricity
NGO,s Office
5. Do you have computer training certificate?
Yes
6. Local people knowledge about computer?
Net Café
No
<10 %
Telephone
Computer Training Institute
Duration: 1 Year
10 – 30 %
30 – 50 %
7. Is Internet facility available in the city?
Yes
No
Don’t Know
8. What do you think about internet usage?
Good
Bad
Don’t Know
9. Are the repair & maintenance facilities / computer Hw. /Sw. expert available in the area?
10. Total numbers of workers in the center?
3 people ( Me & 2 Employee)
11. How long your center has been operative?
7 years
12. Your monthly income?
Less than 10,000
13. Which prepaid cards available at your center?
Rs. 10,000 to 15,000
PTCL
14. Your personal monthly expense on following facilities? Telephone: Rs. 900
15.
No. of Equipment at your Center
Telephone Sets
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Yes
No
150,00 to 20,000
Mobile
Mobile: Rs. 600
Above
Above
Internet
Internet: Rs. 400
Quantity
5
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Computers
6
Printers
1
Scanners
1
Fax Machines
1
Photo Copying Machines
16.
Binding & Lamination Machines
What services do you offer at your center & what about their profit margin (Without main expenses)?
Description
Rate
All items usage per day
Total
Profit Margin
Telephone Calls
3 / Unit
400 Units
1200
200
Email & Internet Access
20 / h
18 hours
360
250
Computer Use (Films, Songs etc.)
15 / h
36 hours
540
400
Printing
10 / Page
20 Pages
200
160
Scanning
10 / Page
5 pages
50
50
Word Processing
Photocopying
Fax Communication
17. What type of people visit at your center (Rank 1 – 6)?
Men
5
Women
Labor
Labor
6
Farmer
4
Farmer
18. What are 3 age group that use facility (Rank 1 – 3)?
19. What is the source of initial funding?
Shopkeeper
House Wives
1 Students
Students
1 < 18
Self
2 Govt. Servant
3
Govt. Servant
2 18 -30
Visitors
Visitors
3
Loan
30 to above
Partnership
20. Could this business run on the other location?
Net Café / PCO/ Telecenters will be successful near Bahauddin Zakariya University or Shah Rukne Alam Colony sectors. Because these
areas are successful for any business.
21. Summary Status & Analysis:
Bosan Road is commercial, Educational & Office Sector of Multan. There are many PCO’s Offices, Internet Cafés, Mobile Shops, Book
Shops, Photo Copying Machines and Educational Institutes at that sector and success ratio is 60 %. During the survey it was found that
maximum students use Café for only chatting and watching films. According to the survey, owners of PCO & Internet Café are not highly
educated but their centers are successful because of the commercial location. Telecenters business is expected to have a high success rate.
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RAJA RAM (MULTAN)
Raja Ram is an agricultural town of Tehsil Shujaabd, District Multan. It is 7 km from the bus
Shujaabd, 45 Km from Multan, 25 Km from Basti Maluk and 20 Km from Lodhran. Raja
Ram is an agricultural town of District Multan. Raja Ram town was chosen for the
Telecenter survey because it is ann ideal place for this business and central location for many
small towns (i.e. Alaabad, Kale Wala, Lakre Wala, Caval Wala, Bhoje Wala, Basti Rashed
Abad, Dhore Wala, Kotly, Jeven Wala, Gele Wala, Matutele and Muweem Pur. There is a
Railway Junction in Raja Ram. During survey visit a questionnaire regarding Telecenters
specific information was filled and pictures taken.
Some Picture from Raja Ram Survey
Al Hafiz Public Call Office, Tehsil: Shujaabd, District: Multan
Outside Picture Al Hafiz, PCO
Al Hafiz PCO Section & Representative
Out Side Locations of Raja Ram (Zaref Shaheed)
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Telecenters Survey Questionnaire
Name: Malik Ashfaq
Age:
<18
1. Education:
Address: Al Hafiz PCO & Gas Centers, Raja Ram, Tehsil Shuja Abad
18 – 25
26 – 64
None
2. City Area:
Rural
3. Population:
More than 100,000
Above
Gender:
Under Metric
Intermediate
Peri Urban
Urban
Male
Female
Graduate
50,000 to 100,000
Post Graduate
Less than 50,000
4. Which of the following facility available in you city?
Primary School
High School
Mobile
Cable TV
College
NGO,s Office
5. Do you have computer training certificate?
Net Café
Yes
6. Local people knowledge about computer?
7. Is Internet facility available in the city?
Electricity
No
<10 %
Yes
8. What do you think about internet usage?
Good
2 people (Brothers)
11. How long your center has been operative?
6 years
12. Your monthly income?
Less than 10,000
13. Which prepaid cards available at your center?
10 – 30 %
30 – 50 %
No
Don’t Know
Bad
Don’t Know
Rs. 10,000 to 15,000
PTCL
14. Your personal monthly expense on following facilities? Telephone: Rs. 600
15.
Computer Training Institute
Duration:
9. Are the repair & maintenance facilities / computer Hw. /Sw. expert available in the area?
10. Total numbers of workers in the center?
Telephone
No. of Equipment at your Center
Quantity
Telephone Sets
4
Yes
No
150,00 to 20,000
Mobile
Mobile: Rs. 700
Above
Internet
Internet:
Computers
Printers
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Scanners
Fax Machines
Photo Copying Machines
Binding & Lamination Machines
What services do you offer at your center & what about their profit margin (Without main expenses)?
16.
Description
Rate
All items usage per day
Total
Profit Margin
Telephone Calls
3 / unit
400
1200
400
Email & Internet Access
Computer Use (Films, Songs etc.)
Printing
Scanning
Word Processing
Photocopying
Fax Communication
17. What type of people visit at your center (Rank 1 – 6)?
Men
3
Labor
1
Farmer
2
Shopkeeper
Women
2
Labor
1
Farmer
3
House Wives
18. What are 3 age group that use facility (Rank 1 – 3)?
19. What is the source of initial funding?
6 Students
4
Students
3 < 18
Self
5 Govt. Servant
4
Visitors
5 Govt. Servant
6
Visitors
2 18 -30
1
Loan
30 to above
Partnership
20. Could this business run on the other location?
Raja Ram is the best location for PCO's and Internet Cafés.
21. Summary Status & Analysis:
Raja Ram is an agricultural town of Tehsil Shujaabd, District Multan. It is 7 km from the Shujaabd and 45 Km from
Multan. There is a Railway Junction in Raja Ram. Its population is more than 50,000. PCO’s successful ratio is
40 % and their profit margin is 33 %. There are no College, Computer Institute and Net Cafés but there is great
demand for new technology. Telecenters business will have a considerable success rate here.
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Volume 1
Part 5
International Experiences
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International Experiences
Overview
An overview of the Tele-center dynamics:
Tele-centers are one of the most rapidly growing applications of ICTs in the developing
world. Their rationale lies in shared-access models that allow provision of a wide range of
services to more users at lower cost than privately-owned home or office computers which
are often out of financial reach of poor people.
The definition of a Tele-center is as varied as the activities that such a center can offer.
Smaller Tele-centers usually include basic Internet service, and may also include access to fax,
phone, and photocopying. Others may include targeted activities in education and training,
health, e-commerce, e-government services and more.
The physical composition of Tele-centers also varies widely. Common models include kiosks,
school computer labs made available to the public after hours, multipurpose community
Tele-centers, and mobile Tele-centers. Regardless of the different configurations, Telecenters all have one common feature: they use IT to provide a range of services using a
shared access model.
In order to establish a direction, information from international efforts 10 is relevant to
analyze the background and model the Pakistan initiative after the more successful ones.
This would ensure a degree of sustainability which is the most important feature in setting
up and operating Tele-centers.
International Tele-center Initiatives by Sector
10
Digital Dividend Clearinghouse
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Tele-center Activities
Tele-centers
use
information
technology to offer a variety of
different
activities.
Computer
training remains the most popular,
with half of all Tele-centers offering
some sort of formal training
program. Education (19%), egovernance activities (12%), and
programs aimed at youth (12%)
round out the most common
offerings.
Percent of Telecenters Initiative that offer a specific Activity
Only 3% of Tele-centers offer activities involving Internet-enabled radio, they account for nearly
a third of all ICT-enabled radio activities. More than a third of all agriculture applications and
computer training is conducted through Tele-centers. Financial and business services, too, are
also frequently implemented through Tele-centers, even though a small overall percentage (2%
and 5 % respectively) actually offers them.
All Tele-centers are Not Created Equal
The activities of a Tele-center vary widely depending on which type of managing
organization (for-profit, non-profit, or government) is setting the Tele-center up. The graph
below shows a breakdown of activities based on sector.
Tele-center Initiative Activities by Sector
Government
Tele-centers,
predictably, primarily offer egovernance services. While a small
number do offer computer training,
education, and activities related to
agriculture,
youth,
and
the
empowerment of women, they
typically lag behind the other two
sectors. Several activities, primarily
the financial ones, are not offered at
all.
Agricultural activities are found
most often in for-profit Tele-centers,
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perhaps reflecting a willingness to pay for agricultural inputs such as accurate crop prices,
weather reports, and
Crop diagnostic services. Other
activities that are found almost
exclusively in for-profit centers
include business development, ecommerce, and financial services.
Healthcare services are rarely
offered in these Tele-centers, an
indication that fee-based health
applications market may be still
developing.
Non-profit Tele-centers offer the
vast majority of computer training,
education,
and
youth-based
activities. Healthcare and radio
applications are also almost solely
offered in these centers. Like
government-run
Tele-centers,
business-focused services are rarely included in services offered.
Community Tele-centers
Community Tele-centers use ICTs to support a variety of different activities central to
community life. Their purpose it to provide information-based services that leads to
sustainable developmental results within the communities they serve. The specific activities
that are offered depend on the organization operating the Telecenter, as well as the local
demand for certain specific services. In the search for sustainability, community Tele-centers
benefit from their ability to add new services as the needs of the community change.
International Experiences
The Internet is a rich resource for information about international experiences. In this report
a lot of directions and guidelines have been built in by examining the lessons learnt from
International experiences. The lesson is that the focus must be on the end users, those
people for whom these Telecenters are being implemented.
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Examples of Telecenters in similar economies:
This document gives an overview of the Telecenter initiatives in the following countries.
•
Sri Lanka
•
Senegal
•
Kenya
•
Ghana
•
Uganda
•
South Africa
•
Egypt
•
Mozambique
•
India
•
Bangladesh
•
Hungary
Sri Lanka:
The Nenasala Project is one of the projects
implemented under the e-Sri Lanka Initiative. Formally
known as the “Vishva Gnana Kendra Project
(Nenasala)”, ICTA has incorporated it under the
“Nenasala” label to introduce several models of the
Telecenters or knowledge centers to be established in
all parts of Sri-Lanka to spread ICT services to the rural
and semi-urban population.
The Project will aim to meet the infrastructure
requirements in order to address the information and
communication needs of rural areas in all parts of the
country through the establishment of Nenasalas, and
the provision of ICT based services.
As the diffusion and the use of ICTs in rural areas are
limited, it is recognized that the most effective and
efficient way to provide access to ICTs for rural areas
will be through the establishment of Nenasalas. The
main objectives of a Nenasala are to assist communities
in:
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•
Poverty reduction
•
Social and economic development, and
•
Peace building.
Services offered:
It is important to note that all the services and support to be provided by the Nenasalas are
done in such a way as to aim/guarantee long-term sustainability. The lessons learned from
the evaluation of the initial Nenasalas will be used in the establishment of the Nenasala
Network across the country using the following models.
ICTA will have 3 main different types of Nenasalas or Knowledge Centers depending on the
complexity and the type of services that will be offered. Namely,
1. Rural Knowledge Centers,
2. E-Libraries,
3. Distance & e-Learning centres
4. Tsunami camp computer kiosks.
The main activities that will be implemented under the Nenasala Project include the
following:
a)
Selection of Nenasala locations
b)
Survey of existing Telecenters
c)
Identification of viable Nenasala models
d)
Identification of Nenasala Support
Institutions (NenasalaSI)
e)
Preparation of training materials
f)
Selection of facilitators
g)
Training of facilitators
h)
Demand analysis (ICT based services), and
i)
Village awareness meetings
j)
Design and implementation of a voucher pilot scheme
k)
Procurement of necessary equipment
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l)
Pre-bidders meetings
m)
Selection of Nenasala operators
n)
Training of Nenasala operators
o)
Launch of Nenasalas11
In discussions with the people involved in this initiative, the feedback is that even though
these are useful entities but the long term sustainability is suspect once the donor agencies
stop funding the operating expenses. The primary issue is always connectivity. In some
locations, a VSAT operator is providing the connectivity and is able to supplement his
income by commercial operations in these remote areas. The rest have issues.
Senegal:12
Telecenter Experience:
Senegal is the African country with the largest number of Telecenters – nearly 9,000. They
have been supported by Sonatel, the national telephone company, which have used these
‘Telecenters prives’ in the place of payphones.
In 1992, Sonatel launched the first 4 pilot Telecenters
in Dakar. Other companies were invited to apply to
operate a centre under license of Sonatel. The
conditions include a subscription fee per line
(US$40), deposit per line (US$100), a clean site at
least 16 metres, official commercial registration of the
business with the Ministry of Finance, and an
agreement to support illiterate and disabled
customers.
The number of Telecenters has grown steadily since 1992. There are 8,981 Telecenters,
5600 (62%) in Dakar. A third of the Telecenters are in rural areas. In total, the Telecenters
make up 7.5% of the total main lines of Sonatel. Over 20% of the Telecenter owners are
women.
Services offered:
Telephony is overwhelmingly the main service. However, other services are offered. Below
are the percentages of services offered at the Telecenters:
11
12
Establishment of Nenasalas
By Peter Benjamin
http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/1100/benjamin.html
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Telephony
Fax
Photocopies
Media
Minitel
Secretariat
Internet
56%
17%
13%
5%
4%
4%
1%
Primary Users:
Some analysis of the users and usage of the centres has been made. Men and women use the
centres in roughly equal numbers, though slightly more women use the centres in the cities,
with slightly more men in rural areas.
In summary, the Senegalese Telecenters have performed very well as sustainable small
businesses in an environment of support with clear conditions from the telephone company
Sonatel. There is fierce competition (especially in Dakar), and market demand is
encouraging the introduction of other services slowly, such as Internet. The owners of the
Telecenters have made a financial stake in the Telecenter, and so have a clear commitment
to its success.
This model certainly would not have been so successful if there had been a programme of
unstaffed payphones, but Sonatel made the decision to support these Telecenters as small
businesses.
Kenya:13
Telecenter Experience:
A different private-sector model comes from Africa Online, an Internet company that has
set up 261 E-Touch centers in Kenya—mostly in Nairobi. Africa Online is an Internet
Service Provider (ISP) with its headquarters in Nairobi that operates regionally. The
rationale behind the setting up of the E-touch centers is to facilitate community access to
information through shared resources. This has made possible for people who have no
computers or communications facilities considering the state of the telecommunication
industry to have access to the Internet.
13
By Peter Benjamin
http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/1100/benjamin.html
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E-touch centers operate on partnership basis whereby Africa Online looks for established
organization in the cities all over the countries and give them a sub domain where they are
able to create accounts for their customer. They are commercially run bureaux.
Services offered:
Of the 261, about 130 are based in Nairobi and its surroundings while the others are widely
distributed all over the city. In the E-touch centers a variety of services are offered such as
Email, Internet, and Fax, photocopying, printing and telecommunication services.
In the E-touch centers, free email addresses are given. For instance if the partner local
company is called freelance, a sum domain called *@freelanceafricaonline.co.ke is given
through which users are created for email.
Charges:
To send an email, it costs ksh 50 and to receive an email it cost Ksh 10. This works out at
about US$ 0.41 (41cts) - US$ 00.69 (69cts) per piece of mail. This is regardless of the size of
the email. To surf the web, it cost Ksh 7 per minute. These charges are independent of
the location. (Exchange rate is Ksh 74.3 per US$).
Primary Users:
At the moment, there are about 30,000 e-touch users’ accounts in the country 10,000 of
which are active users. (On average they use e-touch at least once in a day).
Challenges faced:
The idea of E-touch is just picking up and Internet is still not well marketed in Kenya
especially outside Nairobi. Most of the ISPs are located in Nairobi and so are most of the
clients. A lot of work is needed to sensitize people in the rural areas about this technology.
But generally the e-touch concept is really catching up especially in the western region of
Kenya. Many people who have no access to computers on daily basis are benefiting from
the e-touch though the cost is still relatively high for an average Kenyan.
Browsing particularly is too expensive for most Kenyans - 3 hrs of browsing is the average
monthly income for most rural Kenyans. This leaves the services for a few young, educated
urban elite. Rural bureaux are few and far between and those that are there cater to tourists
who need to keep in touch with home.
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Ghana:14
Telecenter Experience:
As well as the E-touch centres in Kenya, African Online also was active in Ghana. The
project was called “Email for everyone” and was launched in 1997 and worked through
“Communication Centres” that had blossomed as phone shops (similar to the Senegalese
Telecenters Prives).
Services offered:
These Communication centres were small shops owned by small-scale entrepreneurs opened
exclusively to provide phone booth services. Some of the Communication Centres also
provided some basic secretarial services including fax, word processing, photocopying – and
in some more sophisticated ones - binding and document desktop publishing. Most of them
could provide international direct dial to cater for users who had phones at home but who
could not afford the deposits required to have direct dial service on home or office phones.
The Centres also acted as the call in centre for people to receive their calls at fee as well.
Africa Online Ghana, which had entered the market as an ISP came out with a product
called Free Email for everybody with a target of around 50,000 within a year.
1. They provided participating Communication Centres with fully equipped
computers with modems and printers, to enable access in a short period.
2. The participating centres were turned into nodes on the Africa Online system. For
example, Yankah Communications Center became yancc.africaonline.com.gh
3. Each communication centre could register its own clients hence Eric Yankah
became ericyank@yancc.africaonline.com.gh.
Challenges faced:
Unfortunately, after much initial enthusiasm, most of the Centres closed down. There were
various reasons for this:
1. The use of the nodal email addresses meant that for those without a means of
‘popping’ their accounts from elsewhere, always had to go to their registered email
service centre to use services.
14
By Peter Benjamin
http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/1100/benjamin.html
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2. The telephone line quality and signal reliability in certain areas meant that clients
sometimes went home disappointed since they could simply not get access.
3. The "emergence" of true free email services (free of hardware, software etc) such
as hotmail.com, yahoo.com, netscape.net, wowmail.com completely transformed the
faithful clients into friendly enemies. Businesses therefore lost their regular clients
and some of them (particularly those in poor telecom areas, bad locations and
inconvenient hours) could not keep up with payments for the email/internet account
as well as the amortisation of cost of the computers supplied for the purpose etc
4. Computer literacy was very low, and therefore the growth of the market was slow
– almost each new user had to be trained. In this way this was ‘Greenfield activity’ –
each new user had to be won and invested in.
Africa Online also went into a joint venture with the post office to provide email services.
The email accounts were free to users, and in 3 months 30,000 Ghanaians signed up. Again,
after the initial enthusiasm, the active user’s number has declined, but it still is providing an
effective service to many, mainly in the cities.
In recent times, the telecom capacity has also blossomed with hundreds of new phone
booths spread out in the major cities. Communications Centres have also increased,
particularly for international calls, call receiving and for those who do not have phone cards
(all phone booths in Ghana use pre-paid cards).
Uganda:15
Telecenter Experience:
A national School Based Telecenter (SBT) project was formally started in Uganda in
September 2001 with a revised week-long training program. The network, established by
World Links through support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, involves fifteen
SBTs. Of these, eleven use Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite technology to link
to the Internet with at least eight computers on a Local Area Network (LAN). These sites
are geographically well distributed around the country in the districts of Jinja, Iganga, Mbale,
Soroti, Lira, Arua, Moroto, Hoima, Kabale, Masaka and Luwero. The four other school sites
will be connected via spread spectrum technology off the VSAT hub from the school in Jinja.
The bandwidth (256 Kbps “download”/32 Kbps “upload”) on the VSAT is shared among
the participating sites and the cost is accordingly shared among the schools with a payment
of US $200 per month. (World Links is contributing the other US$200 per month per site
for a two-year period).
15
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/IARW/SchoolBasedTelecenter_MMayanja.pdf
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Services offered and primary users:
Lowering the “student” user cost is one of the principal objectives for establishing a schoolbased Telecenter. These sites will traditionally provide computer and Internet-oriented
training and services rather than the basic telephony or other client facilities (e.g.,
photocopying, fax) featured at most MCTs.
Generally, the computer- and Internet-based services vary depending on the needs and
sophistication of the community.
All these Telecenters train students and teachers in the use of the computers and Internet
supported facilities as tools for learning and teaching. Lango College Telecenter in Lira
District and Kigezi High Telecenter in Kabale also receive a number of community users for
Internet supported services.
At Duhaga Telecenter of Hoima District, the user records for the last month indicate that
there are clients from the community who have used the Internet to search on health,
farming and business issues (e.g., rice prices; the area is known for upland rice growing).
Ndejje Secondary Telecenter in Luwero district provides access to community institutions.
For example, Ndejje University is one of the principal users. Without a computer lab or
Internet access of its own, the university students and lecturers access Internet related
services and research at Ndejje Secondary Telecenter.
Charges:
The schools raise funds from charging students termly tuition fees and other community
user fees. On average, each student pays US $18 per year. A typical secondary school has
between 800 and 1000 students around the year.
South Africa:16
Telecenter Experience:
This chapter reviews the role that shared access centers have played in universal access
within South Africa, with a specific focus on the policy intent driving universal access. It
focuses on the experiences of two communities. One is a small rural settlement in Kwa Zulu
Natal, north-east of Durban; the other a large township in the Western Cape, south-east of
Cape Town, on the same peninsula.
South Africa's experience took a leadership position in Africa, with top-level political
commitment to universal access to ICTs. This engagement was driven by the need to redress
the legacy of apartheid, and by a strong belief that communication and broad access to
information were keys to democracy and development. Moreover, South Africa's
government had relatively more money and human capacity than its neighbours to address
the task.
16
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-88204-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
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Bhamshela:
It is a densely populated rural community and trading centre, less than two hours drive from
Durban. Until 1998, when a Telecenter was established, there were few telephones.
Services offered:
While it offered a full range of services, including computer and Internet rental, only
telephone and, to a lesser degree, photocopying services were used. This was partially due to
the lack of expertise of the staff in using these, and partially to lack of awareness and
demand on the part of potential clients.
Challenges faced:
The Telecenter ceased phone, fax and Internet services in 2000 after experiencing problems
with the telephone company, resulting in a large bill it could not pay, exacerbated by
problems with its phone metering system. Local demand for phone services persisted,
though, and a Vodacom shop and Telkom container were opened the following year, the
latter by a former staff member of the Telecenter.
Meanwhile, the Telecenter further developed its staff's expertise in computers and began to
offer basic training courses. There was demand for such courses due to the high priority
many people placed on finding employment and the perceived importance of computer skills
in formal-sector jobs. Many students defaulted on their tuition payments because they could
not afford them. A few found jobs.
Khayelitsha:
It is a fast growing, densely populated, predominantly Xhosa Township with a population of
about one million people. Despite its large population, it sustains only limited economic
activity, with most residents shopping and working elsewhere. Both public phones and
private cell phones are widely available and phones are used by over 90 per cent of the
population. However, the use of other ICTs remains quite limited, mainly due to cost and
lack of capacity.
The market in Khayelitsha sustains many
phone shops initiated in part due to the
license obligations of the major operators,
plus some independent phone shops. It also
has at least one large computer training
centre and a couple of other businesses that
offer non-phone ICT services in addition to
their core business (a phone shop and a
driving school respectively).
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Services offered:
These include value-added services such as typing CVs, letters and funeral programmes. The
non-profit sector in Khayelitsha offers a similar range of ICTs. In addition, one library offers
Internet access. Although some entities have tried to do so, public Internet provision cannot
be sustained via the market due to the large gap between the cost of providing it and
people's ability (and willingness) to pay.
Challenges faced:
There need to be cheaper ways to offer Internet access. The high prices can be attributed
largely to Telkom's monopoly in effect at the time of research. Given the experiences at the
library, market prices would have to be substantially lower before people would use Internet
services. This implies that even in a fair and competitive market, many people would not
consider the Internet an affordable and justifiable expense if they must pay by the minute or
hour.
Egypt:17
Telecenter Experience:
During the past two decades Egypt has been striving to enhance its information and
communication infrastructures. Universal access to telephony, to the Internet, and to other
information services has become of increasing importance in order to support and empower
socio-economic development.
In October 1999, a new Ministry for Communications and Information Technology (MCIT)
was established. The mandate of MCIT is to support and empower the information society
in Egypt. This is reflected in the 24 national projects proposed by ministry shortly after its
creation.
Challenges faced: Among the challenges that the information society in Egypt faces are:
17
•
Limited public access to information and communications technologies (ICTs),
including access to computers, access to software, access to the Internet, and
access to professional training and technical support.
•
Language barrier, due to the limited knowledge of foreign languages among the
population. (Arabic is the sole national language).
•
Lack of local information content, especially in critical sectors including:
commerce, trade, industry, small and medium size enterprises (SME), healthcare,
education, tourism, culture, public services, environment, and agriculture.
•
Scarcity of technical skills and qualified professionals.
By Sherif Hashem
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/documents/jdc-hashem.doc
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Among MCIT’s national projects, two projects call for the establishment of MCTs targeting
the youth and the professionals, namely the Technology Clubs and the Community
Telecenters Projects (respectively). In addition, there are other forms of MCTs in Egypt:
TACCs, 21st Century Kids’ Clubs (or simply Kids’ Clubs), Information and Decision
Support Centers and Units (IDSCs). In the following sections, we provide a brief overview
of these different types of MCTs.
TACCs: In 1998, a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) pilot project supported
by the Egyptian Government established three TACCs. A TACC offers a unique delivery
mechanism of ICTs, which can empower local communities in developing countries.
Services offered: The key services of the TACCs are:
•
Providing affordable public access to information services to empower
community socio-economic development. The TACCs are open to the general
public, and have specialized programs that target the needs of the local
communities, including professionals, minority groups, women, children,
students, etc. Internet services are provided on a walk-in basis as well as dial-up.
•
Providing professional technical and technological support to professional users
from various sectors, including: traders, physicians, engineers, teachers,
professors, merchants, agricultural producers, industry people, SMEs,
environmentalists, and healthcare professionals. This support starts with basic
introduction and awareness of where and how ICT can help them in their line of
business.
•
Then, based on community needs assessment, the TACC organizes specialized
training courses, seminars, workshops, and roadshows. Finally, the support can be
leveraged up to the level of assisting professionals in reorganizing, reengineering,
and managing their businesses to maximize their benefit for ICT. This feature is
unique to the TACC and is seen to be crucial if we wish to have a strong impact
on development of the local communities.
•
Supporting and empowering the creation of local information content in various
sectors, especially multilingual (Arabic/English/other languages) information
content. This is needed to facilitate local and regional information exchange, and
to encourage and promote the use of ICTs.
21st Century Kids’ Clubs
These kids’ clubs are part of a national children’s Telecenter project in Egypt entitled the
21st Century Kids’ Clubs. The 21st Century Kids’ Clubs project is managed by an NGO,
The Integrated Care Society (ICS), whose chairperson is H.E. Mrs. Susan Mubarak, the First
Lady. These Clubs are being established in an effort to build the information society, to
reduce the gap between the have’s and the have-nots, and also to be an avenue for kids to
work with their peer groups around the world in cyberspace. The initiative began in 1997,
and is supported by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT),
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Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), the Regional
Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), The Internet Society
of Egypt (ISE), and by many private sector contributors.
National Telecenter Projects:
Based on the national communications and information technology plan, MCIT planned to
establish over 300 new Technology Clubs and Community Telecenters by the end of
December 2001, and about 200 such Telecenters per year for three years, including up to 60
specialized Telecenters for professionals in various sectors, which include: commerce,
manufacturing, healthcare, etc.
Services offered:
MCIT provides the Telecenters with support in the form of: PCs, printers, software, and
Internet connectivity (through private ISPs). In return, the Telecenters make a commitment
to provide their services to the local communities at affordable rates. They also provide a
variety of specialized training courses, and assist communities in developing their own local
information content.
Mozambique:18
Telecenter Experience:
The IDRC was launching its Acacia Programme and agreed to fund a feasibility study to
verify the viability and acceptability of the Telecenter concept in Mozambique and propose a
pilot project. This study was led by CIUEM and carried out by a multi-disciplinary team
from the university and the national telecom company (TDM). The government granted full
support for the project.
It was decided that the pilot project should aim for an impact on local development and try
to reconcile the need for sustainability with the need to serve the poor. It was decided to
conduct the pilot project in rural areas where the technical conditions and potential uses
offered better chances of success.
The two district capitals, Namaacha and Manhiça, were chosen as the most appropriate sites.
They already had at least two public phones provided by TDM, and several privatelyoperated booths, so the primary job here was not simply to introduce telephony but to bring
access to computers, e-mail and so on, and test them in these particular contexts.
18 Information taken from Case Study written for the Commonwealth of Learning by Polly
Gaster, Eduardo Mondlane University Informatics Center, Maputo
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/91628/telecentres/telecentres/workshop/sbtpdf/ca
sestudies/MozambiqueCaseStudy.pdf#search=%22Telecenters%20in%20Mozambique%22
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The Namaacha Telecenter is based in a former workshop within the precinct of the
secondary school, to which it pays rent and with which it has developed a special
relationship. It comprises one large room, about 10m x 12m.
The Manhiça Telecenter is located on the town's main street, in an outbuilding, previously a
storage space, between a café, to which it pays rent, and a church. Again, given the small
scale of the project, it was considered better to house all of the services in one work area
where the staff could keep an eye on things.
Technology:
Each Telecenter is equipped with four computers, one for the management, which has
greater capacity and could be used as a server, and three for public use. These are connected
in a local network to an Internet hub, modem and dedicated phone line for e-mail and
Internet access, and to an inkjet and laser printer. Each computer has a UPS and surge
protector, and an AVS system is also installed by the fuse box. The electricity system is
earthed and there is a lightning conductor.
Reasons for choosing these sites for Telecenters:
The Namaacha and Manhiça districts, where the two pilot Telecenter projects are based, are
similar in size and within easy reach of the capital city, Maputo, about 75km away by good
highways. They are however, quite different in their population sizes and economic bases.
Lying to the south, the Namaacha district covers 2,144 sq km and according to the 1997
Population and Housing Census, has a population of 31,259, just under one-third of which is
in urban areas. Its main economic activities are small-scale cross-border trading, farming and
tourism and its only industries, a mineral water bottling factory and sawmill, both privately
owned. There are a number of educational institutions in Namaacha town and the town
looks deceptively wealthy with solid houses dating from colonial days lining its main street
and dotting the surrounding hillsides, but these are far from the norm.
Manhiça, located on the main road north, is a more typical small African town, with bustle
and movement quite alien to Namaacha. The Manhiça district covers 2,380 sq km, has a
population of 129,476, and an urban population of around 22,000. Its main economic
activities are farming, livestock and agro-industry, two sugar plantations, rice husking factory,
a flourmill, and catering for travelers and migrant miners. Manhiça has significantly larger
numbers of people in the higher income bands, particularly in the band of 3,000 contos plus
a month (about US$185 in 2000). One reason for choosing Manhiça as a pilot site was that
in 1998 it was due to become one of the first towns in Mozambique to elect its own mayor
and assembly as part of a decentralization programme.
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Services Offered:
The Telecenters provide access to computers for word processing, games, CD-ROM usage,
e-mail and Internet, etc. However, the most popular services to date are the public phones,
fax, photocopying and binding, library, TV and video.
Challenges faced:
Computer training courses were launched at the end of 1999, with the support of the
CIUEM Training Department, and these are much in demand. Unfortunately, when these
courses are running, there are no computers available for general access. However, the
strategy is to train intensively, to build up a group of committed users, and re-organize the
timetables to allow more general access towards the end of 2000.
Courses are provided for the public in Windows, Word, Excel and e-mail/Internet, and web
design courses are planned for. In providing computer training, Namaacha has had greater
difficulties than Manhiça, because its staff has less computer experience, but it has worked
hard to catch up.
India:
Two initiatives from India point to mechanisms for
sustainable rural Telecenters that involve the private
sector -- in one case from the delivery of high quality
agriculture information services as a business, and in
the other, from franchising the delivery of government
services to local investors. Building in mechanisms
from the outset for sustainability in Telecenter
initiatives makes sustainability easier to attain, but does
this lead to the strengthening of existing elites? Will the
poorest of the poor still be able to benefit? We still
need more evidence, but these cases offer useful
starting points.
Case 1:
Samaikya Agritech P. Ltd started operations in June
2000. Samaikya means “coming together for a good
cause” in Telugu, the language of Andhra Pradesh.
The company operates 18 “Agritech Centres” in five
districts in Andhra Pradesh. The centres provide
agricultural support services to farmers on a
commercial basis. Samaikya’s Agritech Centres are
permanently manned by qualified agricultural
graduates called Agricultural Technical Officers
(ATO) and are equipped with computers linked to
the head office in Hyderabad through a modem-tomodem telephone connection.
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Services offered:
Through these centres Samaikya provides: technical assistance to member farmers, including
inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides; machinery hire; tools and spares for sale; soil
and water analyses; field mapping; weekly field inspections; field visits by specialists; and
weather monitoring.
The centre in the village of Choutkur has 53 registered farmers covering 110 acres of
registered land. This is out of a total of around 1,000 farmers within the centre’s catchment
area. Major crops include sugar cane, padi, and pulses. Registered farmers receive technical
information in support of their farming activities.
Case 2:
Keltron is the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. It operates the
Keltron Information Kiosks (KIKs), which are being implemented throughout the state.
Keltron is wholly owned by the Kerala state government, but operates as separate company.
Keltron is developing information kiosks (Telecenters) for public access to the Internet.
There are currently three kiosks in Thiruvananthapuram, and two more are being
implemented in rural districts, which are expected to open in March 2003. The village
panchyats (local councils) will operate these two new centres. In addition, five village
panchyats have applied formally to operate kiosks, and all the panchayats in one district of
Kottayam have expressed interest in applying.
Charges:
The centre provides public Internet access to around 50 people daily, charges Rs.25 per hour
and has daily revenues around Rs.1, 400.
Services offered:
Trained staff is on hand to provide assistance.
In addition to public Internet use, the kiosk is
implementing a series of government
information systems for: agriculture support,
covering crops and pests; census data, with
summaries and the official list of people
below the poverty line; the electoral role; a
grievance reporting and tracking system with
facilities for email to ministers; and industry
information on a variety of licensing,
regulatory, and support schemes.19
19
Published on February 06, 2003, by Roger Harris and edited by Pat Daly.
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In India, ‘Saksham’ (A public private initiative Microsoft launched- which will
additionally develop a rural portal powered with content and applications aimed specifically
for the rural segment by working with regional and local ISVs to accelerate the adoption of
these services) has been developed in close consultation with industry partners and imbibes
the principles of public-private partnership to create a sustainable economic model and a
strong rural IT ecosystem. ‘Saksham’ will not only provide local entrepreneurs with the
opportunity to set up and manage these kiosks for content and services, but also provide the
local ISV (Independent Software Vendor) community with the opportunity to develop rural
content and applications. The rural portal which is under development currently, will bring
all of these services together in a comprehensive manner at the front end, and provide a
seamless experience to the end user. In line with the needs of the rural communities, the
kiosks will offer a range of relevant content and services such as:
• Government to citizen services: land records and birth & death certificates.
• Health services: direct referrals to hospitals, online appointment requests, online
Consultation requests.
• Agriculture services: vet consultancy services, agri-newspaper, and online consultation.
• Commercial services: insurance, digital photography, astrology, matrimonial services.
• Communication services: chat, online telephony & e-mail.
• Entertainment content & services: web browsing, games, music & movies.
• Desktop publishing: typing, printing and designing.
• Education content and services: computer education, language literacy.
Microsoft is also in talks with banking institutions including State Bank of India, which is
currently running a pilot with Microsoft and IIIT Bangalore in the state of Karnataka, to
provide credit options to entrepreneurs. 20
E-Seva is run by the West-Godavari District Administration in Andhra Pradesh State, India,
which has established Web-enabled rural 'e-Seva Centres' run by self-help Groups of women
from the poorest segments of society. The aim is to help them achieve Economic
independence. It is also an attempt to replace the traditional form of Governance and its
accompanying deficiencies with a modern, more open, transparent and responsive service
delivery system.
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/sdm/previewDocument.do~activeDocumentId=442648
20
Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd PR – 562
1/2/2006
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Infrastructure:
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Computers
Printers
Scanners
Digital Cameras
Xerox Machine
Dial-Up connection in villages
Leased Line Connections in Towns
Services:
Payment of utility bills
Certificates
Labor Department
Permits/Licenses
Information
Reservation
ƒ Internet services
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Issues:
1. Many villagers have little or no literacy so fear being cheated when making payments
online.
2. Discomfort of government officers when they see work they were previously doing now
being handled by women who are less educated and less trained than them. Also many
government officers were collecting bribes to issue land records, death and birth
certificates, etc. The villagers felt their power was almost godlike, given that they were
able to approve or withhold electricity, agricultural loans and so on. Now these
government officers fear losing all this power and money.
3. The provision of an uninterrupted power supply and computer networking are
challenging infrastructural issues for remote villages.21
Bangladesh:22
Telecenter Experience:
Recognizing that schools and their communities are intrinsically interdependent, RI-SOL, a
US-based international NGO, began launching school community dual use Telecenters in
Bangladesh in 2003. Over the last two and half years, this approach is found to be viable in
21
22
E-Seva, India; background and history
By Nazrul Islam and Jack Welch, RI-SOL, Bangladesh
http://www.digitallearning.in/marmag06/generations.asp
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terms of educational, societal and sustainability goals. As the pilot phase now winds down,
the project encompasses thirty Telecenters, involves
eighty schools and reaches almost one hundred
thousand students and community members.
This project represents the third generation of RISOL’s educational Telecenter concept, the Internet
Learning Center (ILC). Not long after the
introduction of the worldwide web, its value as an
educational tool was recognized by industry leaders
in Silicon Valley; in 1996, they created a not-forprofit organization: Schools Online (SOL). SOL
promoted the use of computers in classrooms and
the integration of technology into all aspects of teaching and learning. The concept spread
quickly, buoyed by the rampant optimism of the time for any project involving technology
and the Internet. The dot com crash was a harsh blow to these and similar projects, and
forced SOL to reevaluate its strategy.
ILC is a multi-use classroom rather than a Telecenter that is used for classes – the distinction
is important. The primary use of the room, both for the school and its community, is
learning. The ILC belongs to the school and is run by the school, it is not an autonomous
enterprise appended to the school. The expertise and authority for running the center lies in
the school itself rather than hired specialists.
The role of RI-SOL is to support the educational mission of each school through expertise
in technology and education. RI-SOL solicits schools competitively in areas where it thinks it
can make the biggest educational impact. Typically, this excludes elite institutions and
focuses on schools that have minimal or no access to computer technology.
Each school is then asked to nominate a teacher as a “technical lead teacher”, or TLT. The
TLT becomes the caretaker of the ILC, taking on
both a management and operational role. Since IT
is part of the Class 9 and 10 curricula in Bangladesh,
many schools already have computer science
teachers – even if the school does not have
computers. Although these teachers already receive
a salary for their teaching assignments, it is common
practice in Bangladesh to supplement official
income through private tutoring. Since the TLT
takes on responsibilities that require a full-time
commitment, RI-SOL supplement the teacher’s
salary with a small stipend for a limited period to offset this loss in tutorial income. The
school, RI-SOL and the teacher sign a three-way agreement, committing the school to
continue this stipend after a certain date. The timing of this switchover depends on a
customized sustainability plan created by the school and RI-SOL. Schools must factor this
stipend into the sustainability plan, offsetting it through income generating activities.
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Training:
Majority of computer teachers in Bangladesh lack practical experience with computers and
require training to perform the technical aspects of the position. Consequently, a localized
technical instruction curriculum has been developed for these teachers to improve their
technical proficiency. Of course, there is a side benefit as well: they become better computer
teachers.
During this training, teachers are introduced
to the program’s educational goals and
methods by example. They sit where their
students will sit, and the training itself
employs group-based and participatory
methodologies promoted by the project. The
predominant teaching modality in Bangladesh
is didactic and authoritative, relying heavily on
rote memorization and pattern replication.
RI-SOL supplements that strategy with
methods designed to encourage creativity and
analytic thought. During the week of training,
teachers also receive instruction on
preparation of lesson plans and how to build
projects around available computer resources.
Single training sessions, even very intensive ones like this one, will have limited long term
impact unless some reinforcement is available. Likewise, a couple days of technical training
are not enough to cover all the operational and technical aspects of running a Telecenter.
Hungary:23
The first telecottage in Hungary was established in 1994 in the village library of Nagymágocs.
It was organized as one of the services of the
library and was called the telecorner. However,
it only lasted for approximately three months.
Later the same year, another telecottage was
created in the village of Csákberény. This
telecottage proved to be more permanent. It
still operates today and offers a broad range of
services, e.g. tele-training and tele-work. The
telecottage at Csákberény was established by
local inhabitants as a community centre in order
for people to get access to information, support
23
Telecenters: Case studies and key issues, by Colin Latchem and David Walker
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and training via electronic communication means. It was not the result of any external
initiative. However, the telecottage initiative gained support from the Ministry of Welfare.
Services offered:
ƒ
Agricultural information service
ƒ
Almanacs, catalogues, encyclopedias
ƒ
Second hand book store
ƒ
Coffee, tea
ƒ
Blood pressure measurement
ƒ
Local advertising and information services
ƒ
Public Internet access
ƒ
Local stationary exhibition
ƒ
Public information service
ƒ
Office services (office space, fax, computer, copy, etc.)
Access:
The centres are open for 41 to 48 hours per week and the vast majority of the centres also
open at other times on demand.
Technology:
Provision varies from centre to centre, but according to 1999 data, centres tended to have
five to seven computers, three to four CD drives, one color printer and one black and white
printer, one to two phone lines, a fax and a photocopier. Most also had modems for Internet
access. Roughly 40% of the centres had scanners, TVs, VCRs and 27% had video cameras.
Only 13% of the centres had ISDN access, but this was expected to rise to 35%.
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Volume 1
Part 6
The country and its Telecommunications Infrastructure
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Pakistan
Economy Overview:
Pakistan, a developing, has suffered from decades of internal political disputes, low levels of
foreign investment, and a costly, ongoing confrontation with neighboring India. However,
IMF-approved government policies, bolstered by generous foreign assistance and renewed
access to global markets since 2001, have generated solid macroeconomic recovery the last
four years.
The government has made substantial macroeconomic reforms since 2000, slowed. For
example, in the budget for fiscal year 2006, Islamabad did not impose taxes on the
agriculture or real estate sectors, despite Pakistan's chronically low tax-to-GDP ratio. While
long-term prospects remain uncertain, given Pakistan's low level of development, mediumterm prospects for job creation and poverty reduction are the best in more than a decade.
Islamabad has raised development spending from about 2% of GDP in the 1990s to 4% in
2003, a necessary step towards reversing the broad underdevelopment of its social sector.
GDP growth, spurred by double-digit gains in industrial production over the past year, has
become less dependent on agriculture, and remained above 7% in 2004 and 2005.
Inflation remains the biggest threat to the economy, jumping to more than 9% in 2005.
Foreign exchange reserves continued to reach new levels in 2005, supported by steady
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worker remittances. In the near term, growth probably cannot be sustained at the 7% level;
however, massive international aid, increased government spending, lower taxes, and pays
In the context of paper success in of the type of Telecenters serving the demographic in
different parts of Pakistan 24 can only be achieved by ensuring that the country’s specific
cultural and socio economic requirements are fully understood so that the services offered
provide comprehensive relevance to all aspects of their needs. The mode on which the
services are to be offered must also match these skills and social norms of the community
and keep in line with the rural culture which varies from are to area based on the physical
environment.
Therefore, for Pakistan it is important
to understand that the end users of
this activity are the destitute,
marginalized citizen who populates
the rural areas of Pakistan. The
demographic data of Pakistan
indicates as one would expect that the
people have inhabited areas close to
natural & man made water resources,
since this is the natural area that will
be where they find employment and
livelihood in the agriculture. It is a
Figure1: Population across
well known fact in all of the
Water resources
developing countries that the number
one source of income for the poor is
obtained from the agriculture industry. This is an important factor to keep in consideration
when designing the services that are to be deployed in tele centers that will be established to
support these countries.
Unfortunately, the creation of one
simple recipe for a successful formula
to create a self sustaining Telecenters
will not work for Pakistan due to the
complex cultural & ethnic diversities
of the country.
This is exacerbated by the strong
feudal system thriving in Pakistan has
taken full advantage of this weakness.
Figure2: Neighboring Countries
24
Road map for sustainable model for Telecenters in Pakistan; www.e-wwg.com
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Key statistics
Geography25:
Location
Southern Asia bordering the Arabian Sea, between India on the
east and Iran and Afghanistan on the west and China in the
north.
Geographic
Coordinates
30 00 N, 70 00 E
Area
Total: 803,940 sq km
Land: 778,720 sq km
Water: 25,220 sq km
Land Boundaries
Total: 6,774 km
Border countries: Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India
2,912 km, Iran 909 km
Climate
Mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in north
Natural Resources
Land, extensive natural gas reserves, limited petroleum, poor
quality coal, iron ore, copper, salt, limestone
Land Use
Arable land: 24.44%
Permanent crops: 0.84%
Other: 74.72% (2005)
Irrigated Land
182,300 sq km (2003)
25
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pk.html
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People:
Population
165,803,560 (July 2006 est.)
Age Structure
0-14 years: 39% (male 33,293,428/female 31,434,314)
15-64 years: 56.9% (male 48,214,298/female 46,062,933)
65 years and over: 4.1% (male 3,256,065/female 3,542,522)
(2006 est.)
Median Age
Total: 19.8 years
Male: 19.7 years
Female: 20 years (2006 est.)
Population Growth Rate
2.09% (2006 est.)
Birth Rate
29.74 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death Rate
8.23 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net Migration Rate
-0.59 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Sex Ratio
At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.92 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Infant Mortality Rate
Total: 70.45 deaths/1,000 live births
Male: 70.84 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 70.04 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Life Expectancy at birth
Total population: 63.39 years
Male: 62.4 years
Female: 64.44 years (2006 est.)
Nationality
Pakistani
Ethnic Groups
Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, Muhajir (immigrants
from India at the time of partition and their descendants)
Religions
Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shi'a 20%), Christian, Hindu, and
other 3%
Languages
Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%,
Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%,
Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite
and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8%
Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 48.7%
Male: 61.7%
Female: 35.2% (2004 est.)
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Government:
Government type
Federal Republic
Capital
Islamabad
Administrative
Divisions
4 provinces, 1 territory*, and 1 capital territory**; Balochistan,
Federally Administered Tribal Areas*, Islamabad Capital
Territory**, North-West Frontier Province, Punjab, Sindh
note: the Pakistani-administered portion of the disputed Jammu
and Kashmir region consists of two administrative entities: Azad
Kashmir and Northern Areas
GDP (Purchasing Power
Parity)
$393.4 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (Official Exchange
Rate)
$89.55 billion (2005 est.)
GDP – real growth rate
6.9% (2005 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP)
$2,400 (2005 est.)
GDP – composition by
sector
Agriculture: 21.6%
industry: 25.1%
services: 53.3% (2005 est.)
Labor Force
46.84 million
Note: extensive export of labor, mostly to the Middle East,
and use of child labor (2005 est.)
Labor Force – by
occupation
Agriculture: 42%
industry: 20%
services: 38% (2004 est.)
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Unemployment rate
6.6% plus substantial underemployment (2005 est.)
Population below poverty
line
32% (FY00/01 est.)
Inflation Rate (Consumer
Prices)
9.1% (2005 est.)
Budget
Revenues: $15.45 billion
expenditures: $20.07 billion; including capital expenditures
of $NA (2005 est.)
Public Debt
53.8% of GDP (2005 est.)
Industrial Production Rate
10.7% (2005 est.)
Electricity – production
76.92 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity – consumption
71.54 billion kWh (2003)
Oil – production
63,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil – consumption
365,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Natural Gas – production
23.8 billion cu m (2003 est.)
Natural Gas –consumption 23.8 billion cu m (2003 est.)
Note: This page was last updated on 8th August 2006.
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Telecommunications in Pakistan
Telecommunications Developments in 2005-0626
During last one year Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan increased by 238%, Telecom
sector was the largest beneficiary. ICT spending also increased in public and private sector,
most of the spending was on ICT infrastructure, especially in Telecom sector. Investment
from overseas in telecom sector has tremendously increased due to deregulation of telecom
sector and over US$1/Billion was received in last 9 months.
Government in Pakistan has laid the foundation of ICT future by changing the basic policy
of monopoly on telecom sector and handed over telecom operation to private sector, with
open and healthy competition among telecom operators. Pakistan Telecommunications
Corporation, public owned telecom monopoly, has been privatized and taken over by
Etislalat of United Arab Emirates. Cellular telephony sector has shown unprecedented
growth; over 100%/year and mobile phone connection have reached to 36 million from 14
million in a year. There is tough competition among cellular operators and beneficiary is the
customer.
As a result of proactive policies in Telecommunications:
•
ICT total investment and spending has crossed US$10/Billion in 2005-06
•
Over US$1/Billion foreign
direct investment has been
received in Telecom sector alone
during last 9 months and
US$10/Billion investment is
expected in next five years in
this sector.
•
2350
2300
2250
2200
150 ISPs / DNOPs licenses
have been issued, 70 are in
operation
2050
2000
•
Internet
users
5.5/Million
•
Mobile phone users increased to
over 32/Million
•
2339 cities and towns
connected to Internet
•
5500 Internet cafés are in
operation
238000
236000
234000
232000
230000
228000
226000
224000
222000
220000
218000
are
over
are
Cities
connected
on Internet
2150
2100
1950
2005
2006
Public call
office
2005
2006
Sources of data: PTA statistics, SATC Reports and Analysis and The AFACT Pakistan Country Report, 2006,
presented by Salman Ansari
26
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•
236,166 Public Call offices are operating in the country
•
International and domestic telecom tariff has been drastically reduced
•
Personal Computers population is over 4.5/Million
•
Over 100,000 Graduates at Masters and Bachelor are working in ICT sector
•
Software exports and services are over US$400/million
•
Over 100 call centers for overseas operations are working
•
E-Government projects under implementation are US$300/million, at federal and
provincial level
Mobile Subscribers vs. Fixed Line Subscribers
35
32
30
25
20
15
Mobile
14.5
3.66
1.7
3.98
2.4
2002
2003
5
3.25
0.74
2001
10
5.274
4.4 5.024.9
ALIS
2006
2005
2004
0
Years
Millions
After a slow start following
the transition from a regulated
state-owned monopoly to a
deregulated
competitive
structure, Pakistan's telecom
sector is now moving into a
period of what could well be
phenomenal growth. Fixedline penetration stood at a low
3.82% and there is plenty of
room for further expansion.
The government is continuing to pursue its targeted national teledensity of 7% (around
10 million lines) by 2010. To achieve this target, around 1 million additional lines need to
be installed every year. Pakistan's mobile sector, which had started to grow strongly over
the last few years, rocketed to 36 million subscribers (21% penetration) by June 2006 (41
Million: Oct 2006) and was gearing
up for further growth.
Wireless Local Loop Subscribers
The mobile population has been
increasing at a staggering 120%
annually. In absence of fixed line;
WLL has picked up sharply and
950,000 lines are working with
annual 30% growth in WLL sector.
These will increase to over 1.2
Million in the second quarter of
2007.
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649,385
700,000
600,000
500,000
400,000
267,000
WLL
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
2005
2006
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Telecom Infrastructure27:
Service
Telephone lines (including WLL)
Mobile phones
ISPs / DNOPS
PCOs
Cities connected through Internet
Internet users
e-Mail users
Cyber Cafes
Fiber Connectivity
% Digitalization
Landline Tele-density
NWD locations
Cellular Density
June-2004
4.94 m
5.2 m
130
200 k
1,700
4/m
5/m+
3,500
360 cities
100%
3%
1,750
3%
June-2005
5.4/m+
14/m+
150+
225/k
2100
5/m+
6/m+
4,500
400+ cities
100%
3.6%
2,000
7%
June-2006
6.0/m+
32/m+
170+
236/k
2339
5.5/m+
6.5/m+
5,500
500+
100%
3.9%
2,200
21%
Deregulation of Telecommunications and its impact
Pakistan telecommunication sector had
remained a monopoly for a very long time.
Telecommunication sector has been
liberalized and PTCL has been privatized
now. So far Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) has issued 12 LDI and 76
LL licenses in addition to 92 WLL licenses,
2 new mobile companies are in full
operation now, increasing number of
cellular operators to 5.
Investment in Telecom sector
Mobile operators have announced to invest more than USD 2.4 billion just in infrastructure;
Mobilink is investing around USD 831 million in next three years, Telenor and Warid, the
newly licensed operators are investing around USD 495 million and USD 325 million
respectively during 2005-07 in addition to the license fees. One of the cellular operators
Telenor is going to invest approximately USD 1billion in Pakistan in next 5 years. LDI and
WLL operators are also planning to invest USD 411.77 million during 2005-2007.
27
PTA website
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With six mobile companies operating
Grow th of Public Call Offices in Pakistan
in Pakistan, tele-density in mobile
236,166
250,000
225,000
sector has increased to 21%, although
most of the users are in urban areas
200,000
174,615
but rural areas has been benefited
from cellular revolution in Pakistan, as
150,000
compared to fixed lined tele-density of
100,000
3.82%.
There
are
further
opportunities for growth in fixed lines
50,000
and mobile sector. Local and
international companies are investing
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
in these areas and International calling
business as the VoIP has been
legalized. VoIP sector has increased tremendously during last two years; mainly due to large
number of overseas Pakistanis (5/m) living around the globe. Public call offices have
provided communication facility to a common man and are on constant increase.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL)
State owned telecom operator PTCL has been privatized now, 12% stake in PTCL is in the
hands of employees and private investors. Authorities have completed the sale of 26% of
PTCL controlling stock on the open market. The successful bidder for the stake was
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (ETISALAT) of the United Arab Emirates,
which paid US$2,570 million in partnership with Dubai Islamic Bank. Following are salient
features of the largest fixed line operator in Pakistan.
Fixed Line Capacity
6.0 (M)
Telephone Subscribers
5.3 (M)
Exchanges
3020
Countries on ISD
242
Customer Services Centers
155
Long Distance VHF PCO's
3101
Total Length of Main Fiber Optic Link
4591 KM
Optical Fiber Short Haul Links
159.1 KM
Optical Fiber Spur Links
4462.7 KM
Internet Services
2339 Cities
Digitalization
100%
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The core Networks have grown rapidly and new systems are in the process of being
deployed. Interestingly, the PTCL fiber goes down to the grass roots but has never been
deployed properly in the rural areas. With the Private sector fiber deployments (country wide
and in cities) the option for providing broadband in rural settings is very much possible now.
Pakistan’s Optical Fiber System in Complex
Geographic Layout of Ring of the new Operators
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Bandwidth both domestic and International continues to grow after the market opening.
The new undersea fibers (SMW 4 and TWA 1) provide a more resilient connectivity for the
Internet and LDI operators.
New Undersea Optical Fiber
International Bandwidth Demand
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Volume 1
Part 7
Telecenter Models 1: Best practices
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Best Practices
The Telecenter Model
The simplest Telecenters have one or two telephone lines, a personal computer with dial-up
Internet access, software for several functions, and a combined printer, copier, scanner, and
fax machine. Examples include privately run telephone shops (Senegal), a telephone
company’s public calling offices (Argentina), add-ons to fast food restaurants
(McDonald’s in Brazil and Israel), and cybercafés set up by small entrepreneurs in countries
at all income levels.
One step up the size range, standard Telecenters are small businesses with more equipment,
more sophisticated technology, dedicated Internet and facsimile lines, and a meeting room.
At the high end of the range, multipurpose community Telecenters provide more space, staff,
and equipment to support a wide range of uses, perhaps including facilities for local radio
broadcasting, distance education and health services, government information, and
electronic commerce.
The fundamental problem of many Telecenters is that they breach the paradigm of the very
technology that they are supposed to provide. The Internet is a networked technology; it
exists as a conversation among peers, or near-peers. It distributes control of functionality
and content to the edges of the network and works best when that process is replicated in
the organizations that connect to it. To the degree that Telecenters do not met those basic
criteria; they will be more likely to fail.
Telecenters – core issues
There is considerable experience in setting up and operating Telecenters across the world.
Telecenter is a very important tool to achieve universal access to telephone and Internet for
the community which has previously no access to telecommunication or poor members of
the community who cannot afford to buy telephone or a PC in his/her house. Telecenters
provide not only the basic communication services, but also many social, economic services,
such as e-learning, e- health, e-government and e-commerce, for the empowerment of the
community members. Such Multi-Purpose Telecenter is deemed as one of the most
important innovation in the world of development, similar to the micro-financing.
The following are excerpts from a presentation made by Motoo Kusakabe on this subject
and holds considerable knowledge for practical application. Many of these concepts were
considered in the creation of a sustainable plan for Pakistan.
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Scaling up Sustainable Telecenters?28
Differences between pilots and scaling-up
Scaling up Telecenter program is not simply identifying a sustainable model and replicating it.
There are fundamental differences between pilot project, which create several Telecenters
and scaling up program which creates more than hundred and eventually thousands of
Telecenters nation-wide. There is a different kind of challenges in scaling up Telecenters.
Individual Project Design vs. National Strategy
In the case of pilot projects, one worries about just the design of individual project, but in
the case of scaling up program, the project leader should much more concerned about the
national ICT strategy which addresses a comprehensive plan to develop various components
and policy prerequisites for the functioning of Telecenters.
Broad Stakeholders’ Support
In the case of pilot project, Telecenters may be created, if there is a support from a donor
and cooperation of a Line Ministry. In the case of scaling up, the range of stakeholders is
much broader; sometimes involve top governmental leadership to various levels of local
governments, community groups, civic organizations and private sectors.
Financial Sustainability
Major objective of a pilot project is to prove the concept of the Telecenter in specific social
and economic environment. In that sense, testing the nature and magnitude of development
impact of the Telecenter is the major objective and sometimes achieving the financial and
operational sustainability is a subsidiary objective. In the case of scaling up, because of its
large financial requirement, financial sustainability in some definition becomes an essential
prerequisite of the program. This is seen in the way the different models are described in this
document.
Capacity Building
Capacity building is the key component for the Telecenter program both in pilots and scaling
up. In the case of scaling up, the magnitude of training needs is so large that there must be
domestic institutions which can provide capacity building function continuously and much
broader scale.
Financial Mechanism
Creation of several pilot Telecenters can be easily funded by donors’ grants. Allocation of
such grants is often ad-hoc, without permanent system to prioritize Telecenter location, and
to select Telecenter managers. However, in the case of scaling up, Donors’ grant may be too
28
This part of the document has been adapted from a report by Motoo Kusakabe, Taipei, Jan 2005
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small to finance large scale operations. Therefore, there is a need for using national budget
or funding from Multilateral Financing Agencies to finance the Telecenter scaling up. For
this one needs legislation, policies and procedures to allocate public funding in a transparent
manner.
Four Players for Scaling Up Telecenters
Telecenter system consists of four players and one target client, community:
Community
Community is the target client of the Telecenters which originates demand for Telecenter
services and ultimate beneficiaries. Community members initially do not know what the
“Telecenter” is and what they provide to their life. But, once they become aware of the
potential benefit of Telecenters they know best what kind of services they want from
Telecenters. Community should be involved in the design of Telecenter services through
participatory demand survey. At the same time, community could be a strong patron of the
Telecenters. Through in-kind contribution of premises and human services, they support the
Telecenters.
Government
The government plays important functions in deciding over-all ICT strategy and setting rules
upon which Telecenters can operate, compete and survive and leadership role in securing
political support to the cause of Telecenters necessary for using public resources. In this case
the PTA operating through the USF Company be a very viable coordinator.
Telecenter Operators
Telecenter operator is the person who actually runs the Telecenter daily. In the entrepreneur
based Telecenter model he is the owner of the Telecenter, responsible for the performance
of the Telecenter and he enjoys the profit and takes the risk of losses. In other models, he
may be a manager or employee or franchisee of the larger organizations. Telecenter
managers play a crucial role in determining the success or failure of the Telecenter. So
usually the government will select the Telecenter operator according to a transparent criteria
and procedure. Then he was given a license (or some form of regulatory permission) and
responsibility. He conducts participatory demand survey and prepares a business plan for the
Telecenter. The proposed TAPS (Telecenter Association of Pakistan) can help in this regard.
Telecenter Support Institutions
Telecenter Operators selected from local entrepreneurs cannot create and run Telecenters
effectively and profitably without the assistance from experts who know the technical and
managerial know-how and resources. Telecenter is a relatively new business model and local
people do not know initially how to create and run it. Telecenter Support Institutions are
organizations such as public agency, NGOs, universities and private franchisers which give
such know-how to Telecenter operators. A TSI advocates for one specific Telecenter
business model, such as post office-base Telecenters, or school-based Telecenters or
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franchised Telecenter with ICT training services, etc. They play an important role in
awareness raining, capacity building and managerial support for Telecenters.
Rural Telecom Operators
Rural Telecom Operators are telecom service provider which specialized in providing
telephone and Internet services in un-served areas or un-economical rural areas. Due to
scarcity of population, low income level, distance from backbone transmission lines and
unfavorable geographic condition and these areas cannot attract private commercial-based
service providers.
Based on the government’s universal access policy, the government will provide provides
financial incentives (one-time subsidy) for telecom service providers who undertake to
provide certain service level to such areas. This subsidy is given to the USF participant who
is selected by the competitive auction called “Smart Subsidy Scheme”. In Pakistan this has
tentatively been called ‘negative or reverse auction’. These operators would provide a
connection to telephone and Internet to Telecenters with prescribed bandwidth, price and
service levels.
Government Roles
The government plays the important role in the Telecenters scaling-up. As we are basically
following the private sector-led approach to ensure efficiency and financial sustainability, the
government role is limited to three major aspects: G1. Setting national ICT strategy, G2.
Securing a political support, and, G3. Setting the rules and criteria within which the private
sector will collaborate and compete.
Setting National ICT Strategy for Telecenters
Many of the failure of the Telecenters in the past were due to the lack of supporting
economic and social environment for Telecenters. The necessary elements for the
Telecenters to be self-sustainable are the following:
(i)
Regulatory Framework,
(ii)
Telecom Infrastructure particularly in rural areas,
(iii)
ICT education in various levels,
(iv)
ICT Industries to support the Telecenters,
(v)
Content especially in local languages, and
(vi)
Job Creation to provide a direct benefit to the local people.
These success factors can only be developed through a comprehensive ICT development
strategy supported by the highest level of the government. A comprehensive Demand
Assessment survey should be conducted immediately so that the planning, design and call
for bids to set up Telecenters can be based on reality and actual needs.
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Viable Public Private Partnerships should be encouraged, where most of the operating risk is
transferred to the private sector, which will set up and operate these centers.
One important factor relating to the National ICT Strategy for Telecenters is that it should
be embedded in the National Poverty Reduction and Developmental Growth Strategies. As
the successful development of ICT depends on macro-economic conditions, social and
structural policies and related sector strategies, such as in education, health, rural
development and communication infrastructure.
Securing a Political Support
As the Telecenter scaling –up requires a support from wide range of stakeholders, and some
budgetary support, securing the political support is one of the essential tasks of the
government:
Involve diversified players and communities
Telecenters need a broad range of partners. Although the Telecenter managers will be mostly
local entrepreneurs, they need a support from NGOs who are much familiar with the social
development aspects of the Telecenters. Local governments, school community, universities
are also important. Political support for Telecenters will become much stronger, if we
include all the relevant players.
Universal Access
Telecenters’ benefits will never reach rural and remote communities, unless we work
simultaneously with the Universal Access issues.
Creating Jobs
The biggest economic and social issue in the developing countries is the under-employment,
particularly in the rural community. If the Telecenters do not create jobs in this area, political
support will not be strong enough to allow continuous government support. There are many
types of ICT-enabled businesses. They are not necessarily a very technology oriented
businesses, such as software house and hardware manufacturers. Telecenters themselves
create many small enterprises run by local entrepreneurs, and create associated job
opportunities through e-commerce and e-learning.
Setting Rules & Criteria
Another important government role in scaling-up Telecenters is setting rules and criteria for
selecting Telecenter operators, rural telecom providers and Telecenter support institutions.
Selection criteria should be different depending upon the functions, but there are some
common elements for the selection:
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Financial Sustainability
We have learned that the most frequent reason for the Telecenter failures is the lack of
financial sustainability so that, when the donor or government’s grant money is terminated,
Telecenters ceased to survive. Some Telecenters created by donors, were not even designed
to have revenues to from users to support their recurrent operational costs. In the event,
there is some form of operational cost subsidy at start up, the recurrent operational costs
should be met by operational revenues, such that even if government/donor support is
terminated, these Telecenters continue to operate.
Technical Sustainability
Another major source of Telecenter failure is the technical break down of equipments and
the lack of capacity to maintain PC hardware, software and network connections.
Credibility of the capacity building program is the essential part for the selection of the
Telecenter-related organizations.
Requirements to Provide Basic Services
Telecenters Operators, Support Institutions and Rural Telecom Providers all should be
subject to the obligations to provide clearly defined basic services to their clients. The quality
of the service agreement with such operators is the essential success factor for the publicprivate partnership initiatives. Definition of basic services should be technology independent
and allow more innovations with monitoring mechanism to be identified.
Definition of what are the Government Contributions
Construction of Telecenters in sparsely populated areas needs some governmental subsidies
to provide incentives to private sector operators. Competitive auction will be used to
minimize the amount of subsidy. However, subsidy tends to cause a distortion impact and
risk of abuse,
(i)
For example, there should be a fair balance between cyber café owners who do
not receive any government subsidy and Telecenters operators near-by.
(ii)
One-time subsidy may provide more discipline to the operators and prevent the
risk of abuse than annual operational subsidies.
(iii)
Sometimes subsidy may take the form of low-cost connection to the broad-band.
It may increase the equity of various villages whether it is located remote or near
from the telecommunication backbones.
(iv)
The government may allow Telecenters to deliver E-Government services and
allow its fee revenues to be retained by the Telecenters. It could be another form
of incentives for the Telecenters.
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Rules should be Technology Neutral
In the rural communications, optimal technologies depend upon the population density,
topology, income levels and type of services required. Telecom service providers will
compete in offering the best mix of technologies to provide services efficiently. Therefore,
rule for selection of service providers should be written in a technology neutral way to allow
such competition.
Rules should allow different business models
Many different groups created Telecenters based upon different business models. Some
models are:
(i)
Private entrepreneur model tends to be superior in terms of financial
sustainability than public sector model or NGO-based models.
(ii)
School or civic organization-based Telecenter also perform better:
(iii)
Private Franchises may prove to be sustainable and provide various services
effectively using their scale merits
(iv)
Village Phone Shop model supported by micro-enterprises
On the other hand, NGO-based model and Community-based model may prove to be
superior in their developmental impact particularly in empowering the rural poor. Public
sector model, such as Post Office-based Telecenters may prove to be efficient and
convenient as they utilize existing building and familiarity with the customers.
Learning from Past Experiences
Selection criteria and processes should be informed by the lessons from past experiences.
(i)
The most important lesson is that the “Bottom-Up” approach worked better
than “Top-Down” approach. Whenever possible, we start with awareness rising
at community levels, organizing support mechanism at community level, and
participatory demand survey at early stage of the Telecenter business plan
preparation.
(ii)
Local contents in local languages and locally relevant service availability is crucial
for the success. For this to happen, first creation of community information
system should be encouraged, e-government program should require all the
governmental agencies to create their portal and all major private organizations
and civic organizations should be encouraged to create their own portal. Also
small businesses in web-hosting services and web-design services should be
promoted by entrepreneur support mechanism.
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(iii)
Gender consideration should be incorporated to the design process of Telecenter
scaling-up. Lessons shows that women managers tend to perform better than
male managers. Social constraints of the female users should be taken into
consideration when Telecenter program will be designed.
Role of Rural Telecom Providers
In the case of pilot as well as full fledged roll out of Telecenters, connectivity to telephone
and/or Internet is usually designed individually to the Telecenter. Specific VSAT or
terrestrial wireless connection is created for the Telecenter pilot project.
Universal Access Policy
Objectives
Traditionally Universal Access obligation was imposed on the PTCL.
What is Universal Services Fund?
Universal Access Fund is a fund created by the government to subsidize the private sector
telecom operators who undertake to develop communication infrastructure in un-served
areas. Communication infrastructure may include rural telecom service, Internet and
broadband service and Telecenters. The fund is being funded by imposing a levy on all
telecom operators of a certain percentage of
(i)
Revenue
(ii)
License and spectrum license fees
The details are available in the USF documents of the Ministry of IT & Telecommunications.
Selection of Telecenter Locations
In the scaling-up of the Telecenters, the location of the Telecenters has to be selected
strategically to achieve the policy goals with least cost.
Selection Criteria
Telecenter locations should be selected to maximize the policy objectives, such as poverty
reduction and job creation. To achieve such goals, poverty and social indicators such youth
unemployment can be used as a major criteria. In addition to the objective economic and
social indicators, degree of buy-in from the village community should be incorporated to the
selection criteria. That will increase the level of community ownership and improve the
sustainability of Telecenters.
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In tangible terms this would be done by considering parameters which can ensure a level of
success in the initial phases so that the deployment can be practically considered for those
areas which may not be able to sustain these due their preoccupation with fulfilling their
other basic needs and services. Some parameters which may be used to determine the (initial
phase) locations for:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Population
Availability of basic voice telephony as a primary service
Availability of basic infrastructure like electricity, Post Offices, roads, etc
Level of education
Presence of a planned or deployed service delivery requirement of the public or
private sector (training of health workers, distance education, etc)
Need for these services (internet, e-government services, agriculture support
services) and the ability to pay for these according to need
However, these criteria have been elaborated for financial sustainability purposes. In case the
Government has social, political and other developmental parameters to support, some of
these may need to be revisited.
Selection Process
Selection process of the Telecenter location should be conducted in a participatory manner
so that it will serve as the community awareness raising and inclusion process. The following
would be done in some manner or form in the different Models being suggested in this
document. However, essentially they will follow similar criteria:
(i)
Identifying selection criteria and social and economic indicators to be used
(ii)
Collecting data village-by-village
(iii)
Preliminary selection based on social and economic data
(iv)
Village awareness meetings should be conducted to explain the Telecenter
objectives and measure community support for a Telecenter
(v)
Report should be submitted from villages on the needs and how the community
members support the Telecenter establishment and maintenance.
(vi)
Based on the objective and community buy-in data, selection committee will
select the final location of the Telecenters.
Smart Subsidy Auctions
In parallel with the selection of Telecenter locations, technical and feasibility study for the
rural telecom service should be conducted.
1) Economic & Social studies of un-served areas to identify priority and net-costs for
connectivity. Net cost is the total capital cost plus recurrent operational cost minus
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expected operational revenues from the services provided. As a rule of thumb, revenue
of the Telecenter can be derived roughly 2-3% of the income of the community which
the Telecenter will serve.
2) Identify optimal size of areas to be covered by a license for Telecenter operator and
rural telecom provider;
3) Combining several Telecenter locations, economical and un-economical to create a
balanced area for smart subsidy auction for rural telecom providers
4) Determine service level (bandwidth), locations and performance requirements for
the Rural Telecom provider
Auction Procedures
For those Telecenters where this is not driven by large organisations like the Pakistan Post,
PSO, Agha Khan Rural Support Program, etc an auction procedure which could be followed
s to conduct the smart subsidy auctions:
1) Request for Pre-Qualification: In order to avoid unqualified operator to bid with
excessively low prices, the government will conduct pre-qualification process before the
bidding. This process significantly reduces the number of bidders to truly serious and
capable ones.
2) Request for Proposal document to pre-qualified parties: RFP should describe detail
procedures for filing of proposals, format and contents of proposal and information to
be submitted, ‘licensing criteria’ must be provided under WTO Reference Paper
3) Evaluate proposals
4) Service Agreement: Service Agreement specifies Network construction milestones, and
service rollout, Technical performance requirements, including services to be provided,
quality of service, etc. and Penalties and remedies for failure to perform, Procedures for
certifying completion of phases of project & subsidy payments, and dispute settlement
provisions.
5) License/Registration
Role of Telecenter Support Institutions – the National Telecenter
Association of Pakistan (NTAP) and the Telecenter Information
Clearing house
In order to share experiences and resources, the private sector should be encouraged to
create a National Telecenter Association. This would enable the operators (mostly expected
to be the private sector) to share resources and support each other. In the initial phase the
USF Company could establish a Telecenter Information Clearinghouse which would
eventually give way to NTAP.
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The role of the government would then be to set the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
which would be monitored by a set of practical SLA (Service Level Agreement) parameters.
In order to make this work, the involvement of the community being served would be the
prime source of feedback on the achievement of these SLAs.
These are needed since a host of issues will confront small entrepreneurs and large
organisations. E.g. one of the challenges is to train Telecenter managers and staff in the rural
areas where there are no experience persons in maintaining personal computers or in
accessing to Internet. Even before the selection of Telecenter managers, somebody needs to
raise awareness of village people on the benefits of communication so that they are involved
in the initiatives from the beginning.
In the case of pilot projects, these tasks are usually conducted by consultants or project
implementation unit created ad-hoc for the project. But in the case of Telecenter scaling-up,
one needs to repeat such capacity building for hundreds of villages or districts. These tasks
are only be conducted by domestic institutions in a permanent basis.
In the Telecenter scaling-up major players are the local entrepreneurs. Local entrepreneurs
can create a business in an innovative way and manage efficiently, if the business is
traditional trading or crafts. But if the business model is totally new to them, somebody
needs to define the business model and creating manual and toolkits to train local
entrepreneur’s technical and managerial assistance.
Telecenters usually cover one village or several villages to have efficiently respond to the
local people’s demands. But Telecenter services, such as e-learning, e-health and e-commerce
services can be developed more efficiently for multiple of Telecenters, namely they requires
some economy of scale.
Roles of NTAP
In order to meet such demands, Telecenter scaling-up program needs local institutions
which creates a business model, provide capacity building, technical and managerial support
with diversified skill sets. Though this would be primarily a private sector driven model, but
in order to create a base for knowledge some support activity will be beneficial:
1: Develop a Specific Sustainable Business Model for Telecenter,
1) Develop Manuals, Toolkits for Telecenter Managers,
2) Create Pilot Telecenters
2: Implement Capacity Building Program
1) Train Telecenter Facilitators
2) Facilitate Awareness Raising Meetings for Villages,
3) Train Telecenter Operators
3: Assist Telecenter Operators
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1) Managerial and technical support, training,
2) Providing service contents
Selecting Telecenter Support Institutions
Selection criteria for supporting institutions should include:
a) Organizational capability and financial probity
b) Experience in successful entrepreneurship and/or in community development
c) Regional diversity, familiarity in regional culture and languages
d) Diversity in organizational type: Private, NGOs, Civic Organizations
Developing Toolkits
NTAP’s first task will be to develop Toolkits and manuals for Telecenter operators. These
toolkits and manuals will be specific to the different business models.
Common Guidelines for all types
a) Manual for Community Stakeholder Meetings and Demand Survey
b) Organizational Guidelines
c) Financial Management and Reporting Form
Manuals specific to specific types, including
d) Business Plan Development Tool
e) Manuals for Equipments & Maintenance
f) Manuals for Telecenter Services
Implement Capacity Building Program
Once the Guidelines, toolkits and manual have developed, NTAP will start the capacity
building programs. Considering the large demand for capacity building, the program will be
conducted in three stages: First to train the “Facilitators” within the FSIs. Second is the
community awareness rising and, Third, Telecenter managers’ training.
Training the Facilitators
Facilitators are the champions and trainers of the Telecenter initiative. They organize and
facilitate community awareness raising meeting and once Telecenter operators are selected,
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they will train them in a small groups. The government operating via the USF company, will
coordinate the facilitators training activities so that facilitators from different FSIs will create
a team and jointly conduct a training sessions in a region.
Village Awareness Meetings
Objective of the Village Awareness Meetings is to raise awareness for Telecenters by village
people and local entrepreneurs (potential Telecenter operators). Lessons from the past
Telecenter success and failures shows the utmost importance of the community involvement
from the designing phase of the project so that the community can express their specific
needs and opinions on the Telecenters.
Village awareness meetings will serve this purpose. Also this process is a road show of the
Telecenter program so that many local entrepreneurs become aware of the opportunity to
apply for the Telecenter operator’s position. Village Awareness Meetings are organized by
village leaders and facilitated by facilitators
Expected outcome of the meetings are:
a) Identifying a group of village leaders who will support the Telecenter initiative in the
village
b) Identify specific needs of the community for the service of the Telecenters with
different group of community members
c) Identify a local entrepreneur who can apply for the Telecenter operator
Training the Telecenter Operators
Next stage of the Telecenter capacity building program is the training of Telecenter
managers.
Objectives of the training of Telecenter operators are;
a) Provide Telecenter Operators necessary skills to establish and run the Telecenter.
They will learn how to organize community support groups, how to legally establish
Telecenters, how to create a good management team, etc.
b) Training program covers management, financial, technical and social development
aspects. They learn a basic knowledge of preparing business plan for the Telecenter,
how to raise and administer financial accounts, how to manage staff, and how to
conduct participatory demand survey, etc.
Management Support & Content Development
Management Support
After the initial capacity building program, Different organizations like PSO or the Post
Office or Telecom operators may agree with individual Telecenters with long-term
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management service contracts. The service contract is a voluntary basis and may take various
forms:
a) Franchise agreement: Telecenters may pay a franchise fee at certain percentage of the
service revenue and receive managerial and technical support services, including
some software for certain services.
b) Becoming a Subsidiary: Telecenter may accept equity investment from one of the
Telecom operators. These operators may acquire majority share or minority share
depending upon the mutual agreement
c) Service Agreement: Telecenter have no capital relationship but just agree on the
service contract where they pay certain service fees to get technical and managerial
support
Content/Service Development
Telecenter Support Institutions will play a major role in developing contents and services for
individual Telecenters. Some FSIs may develop e-learning system for ICT literacy training,
some may develop e-learning for job training for rural people, and some may jointly create ecommerce system can be developed by one of the FSIs to be utilised by local businesses.
Another important role of FSIs is to encourage community members to create local language,
locally relevant contents. For example, community portal should be developed with input
from the community members, health information system will be developed with input from
villagers on traditional health care know-how. Employment opportunities and job-seekers
information can be matched by a portal site. FSIs will play a role of information aggregator
for many aspects.
E-Government contents, such as down-loading all governmental agencies’ forms and on-line
application for various certificates, will be utilized free of charge by Telecenters to produce
fee income
Other service contents, identified by demand survey by majority of Telecenters should be
developed by NTAP/Telecenter Support Institutions.
Participatory Demand Survey
While a preliminary survey was conducted in order to define the current state of
Telecenters in the Rural Areas, a more comprehensive survey is needed to be conducted
by the NTAP.
Objectives:
a) Identify demand for Telecenter services bottom-up:
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Participatory demand survey is the core of the demand-driven bottom-up approach
to create Telecenters. The survey need to identify different groups in the target
community, such as gender groups, youth and aged people, the poor, farmers, ethnic
minorities, etc.
b) Create buy-in by village communities:
Objectives of the demand survey is understand the real needs of the different groups,
how they are more easily come to the Telecenters?, what are their constraints?
c) Define village contribution to Telecenter
This survey also identifies how the various community groups become the active
contributors for the Telecenter activities and contents. They can be represented in
the Telecenter advisory board. They can volunteer to provide service or contents to
the Telecenter.
Method:
In each District, Telecenter Operator and community leaders organize meetings.
Meetings may be separate meetings with different groups, such as farmers, SMEs,
schools, women, youth, the poor, minorities, etc. Facilitators from Telecenter Support
Institutions may provide advice on the organization of the survey.
Outcome:
Detailed demand survey identifying the needs for various Telecenter services,
segmentation of target customers, how the services will be delivered, how to market each
customer segments.
Telecenter Business Plan
After a participatory Demand Survey, Telecenter operators will finalize the business plan
for the Telecenter.
Objectives of the Telecenter business plan:
a) Define services provided by Telecenter and estimate demand for each services
Telecenters will deliver a basic communication services, such as public telephone,
Internet and emails. Then, gradually they prepare additional services, such as copying,
desk-top publishing, ICT literacy training, e-learning, e-government, e-commerce,
e-health, etc. The services, target clients and how to market the service should be
identified based on the participatory demand survey.
b) Estimate revenue and costs to create financial sustainable plan
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Based on the services to be provided, business plan should identify the capital cost
and recurrent cost to provide such services. Also they elaborate on the pricing of
such services to recover such cost.
c) Define human resources
Business plan should identify the role and specific name of the Board members, and
management team, and employees to ensure operational sustainability
d) Define monitoring and evaluation plan
Business plan will identify the monitoring and evaluation process, indicators to be
used, and benchmarks.
Approval:
If a government subsidy is involved, the Government Agency will check whether the
financial and operational sustainability and minimum service level is secured in the business
plan and, then, approve a grant to the Telecenter
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Sustainability
The following two excellent documents give a comprehensive view of how sustainability is
planned and implemented
Models of sustainability
Paper by Klaus Stoll (www.developmentgateway.org);
The vast majority of Telecenters of all kinds (which can also be cyber cafés or e-government
centres) are in fact not sustainable in the long term without long-term outside funding. But
there are some remarkable examples emerging that show that real sustainability of
Telecenters is indeed possible if some basic principles and rules are followed in the
implementation and running of a Telecenter.
Telecenters should aim to be financially sustainable if possible from day one of their
operation, even if this sounds like a rather utopian goal in the light of many Telecenters'
experiences. Because financial sustainability of a Telecenter is seen as crucial, many
Telecenters base their "business model" on the provision of ICT and related services to their
respective communities or customer base.
However, many have found out that this, on its own, is often not a sufficient basis for
financial sustainability, particularly if the Telecenter has as its aim not only the provision of
ICT services but also community development.
A solution for Telecenter sustainability emerges when one looks further than simple financial
sustainability and widens the understanding of sustainability in such a way that it includes,
besides financial sustainability, social, political, cultural, and technical sustainability as
elements of equal value. Those Telecenters that have integrated social, political, cultural, and
technical sustainability as vital elements in their planning and operation have found that
financial sustainability of a Telecenter can indeed be achieved on this basis.
Some Basic Principles for Telecenter Sustainability
Telecenter sustainability cannot be viewed on the basis of financial sustainability alone. In
order to reach the goals of community development and financial sustainability, communitybased Telecenters have to integrate social, political, cultural, and technical sustainability as
vital elements into the planning and operation of the Telecenter.
Social and Cultural Sustainability
For community Telecenters, if the activities of a Telecenter are to be lasting and viable, they
must take into account the social and cultural context in which the Telecenter operates, and
must respond appropriately to that context. If people in the community feel themselves
empowered by the Telecenter, they will be more active in seeking ways to keep it running.
Men and women have different needs when it comes to Telecenters, and different
possibilities and interests with regard to its use. Similarly, youth and adults have different
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expectations, and running a Telecenter in an urban setting is not the same thing as doing so
in a Rural environment. If the Telecenter cannot come to terms with these differences in its
management, it will be neither socially nor culturally sustainable.
Communities that feel themselves empowered by their Telecenter and feel the real benefits
for their community and the individuals of this community will ensure the sustainability
(including the financial sustainability) of a Telecenter because it is in their own vital selfinterest.
Political Sustainability
Political sustainability refers to the importance of securing a regulatory framework that will
protect, promote, and support community Telecenters and their activities, with special
attention to the specific needs of the poorest sectors.
Sustainable Telecenters follow a "down-up" and not an "up-down" dynamic.
As Telecenters and their sustainability are based on the community and its commons, the
role of government in a Telecenter dynamic is not to "impose" a Telecenter on a community,
for whatever well-intentioned reason (such as to bridge a perceived "digital divide") but
rather to create the conditions that allow community Telecenter dynamics to develop. The
same is true for international organizations active in the field of Telecenter development.
Technological Sustainability
Although Telecenters do not generally need to operate with the latest technologies, it is
important that they have a clear plan for ensuring their technological sustainability. This is
especially the case since digital technologies are changing so swiftly, which means that
equipment and programs rapidly become outdated. Connectivity and its related costs are still
a vital issue, in particular in rural areas.
No Telecenter can be an island. Telecenter sustainability cannot be achieved without
networking between Telecenters. In order for Telecenters to make their work more effective
and to reach their objectives, they need to organize themselves in overlapping national,
regional networks. This organization is important for three reasons: First, it allows
Telecenters to share insight and experience, increasing their effectiveness and chances of
success. Secondly, it allows them to share resources, and to get access to resources more
easily.
Being part of local, national, and international networks provides Telecenters with muchneeded scalability and the subsequent support to cope with these liabilities. One example for
this is the ability to achieve connectivity for a reduced cost through block deals between
Telecenter networks and the public sector.
This relates to the model of Government and NGO sponsored Telecenters.
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Financial Sustainability
Telecenters sustainability cannot be achieved on the basis of providing and selling ICT
services alone. Telecenter sustainability can be achieved if the provision of ICT services is
seen as the "tool" that complements the overall goal to achieve positive community
development. Community Telecenters are community commons with the element of ICT
support. The community and its needs and assets stand in the centre of a community
Telecenter, not the ICT.
The failure of any single Telecenter service (such as the provision of public Internet access
or ISP services) must not result in the Telecenter itself becoming 'unsustainable'. It should
simply mean that one particular service is no longer sustainable, which is then quite easily
managed.
Challenges to sustainability
Acknowledgement: Excerpts from a presentation by Kentaro Toyama, Assistant Managing
Director Microsoft Research India
When sustainable, IT may not be central. Especially for Rural PC kiosk with social
development goals, sustainability as an independent business is nearly impossible. It is
interesting that some enterprises sustain even in the poorest areas. This happens when these
are run as an adjunct business to
•
Petty shops
•
Construction
•
Tailor
•
PCOs
The impact of services is incremental improvements over existing means of performing the
same activities. e.g.
•
E-mail? - Incremental improvement over postal service
•
VoIP? - Incremental improvement over pay phone
•
Games? - Incremental improvement over physical recreation
•
Telemedicine - Incremental improvement over visit to town
•
E-Government - Incremental improvement over visit to town
•
Job search online - Incremental improvement over newspaper ads
Suggestions for experimentation:
•
Relax focus on financial self-sustainability
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•
•
•
•
•
Start with “CT”
Do server side first
Work through cybercafés
Try “featherweight” computing
Bait and switch with IT
Look for Public-private sector partnerships, like:
– e.g., school computer lab as after-school kiosk?
– e.g., village administrative office as weekend e-community center?
Possible action sequences for a sustainable and scalable model
„
Take Grameen’s Village Phone model
– Start with mobile shared-access phone
– Build capacity for entrepreneur
„
Then, add community centre
– Establish physical base
– Start accounting classes?
– Buy IT hardware?
– Continue upgrading…
Do Server Side First especially important for e-Government services
„ Ensure back-end is built first
– If it doesn’t work for wealthy urban users…
ƒ E-government services
– Online bill payment
– Commercial services online
– Telemedicine
– Why would it work for poor rural?
„ Then, value of Internet easier to demonstrate to villagers
Bait and Switch with IT
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„
Let PC attract attention
„
Then, pile-on profitable community activities
– Cooking classes
– Sewing classes
– English classes
– Entrepreneurship classes
„
New technology
– May be necessary, but does not contribute to sustainability
– E.g., connectivity by wireless networks – rarely cheaper than alternatives
„
Local language content
– Definitely necessary, but does not contribute to sustainability
– Who will generate fresh content?
What NOT to Do
– As a donor/funder, don’t demand scale and don’t fund scaling, unless pilots are bulletproof
– As an implementer, if it doesn’t work for 10 centers, why should it work for 100,000?
What to Do
•
Define clear development goals
•
Focus on kiosk operator training
•
Most important factor in success of kiosk
•
Education will last, even if kiosk closes
•
Involve community; listen to community
•
Summary
•
For a rural PC kiosk with social development goals, sustainability as an
independent business is nearly impossible.
Services which can be offered
Telecenters provide the public with access to and training on basic information and
communication technologies at affordable prices. These services are typically delivered using
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a common network infrastructure and software platform, such as the public telephone
network, and may be subsidized for development purposes. They allow people to:
1. Make and receive telephone calls and send and receive faxes and voice mail.
2. Use the Internet for email and Web browsing.
3. Use computers for a range of applications, such as word processing, spreadsheets,
small-business tools, CD-ROM searches, and printing.
4. Tech support services, such as printing, photocopying, and desktop publishing.
5. Become familiar with the technology through classes, tutorials, and other
assistance.
Telecenters also offer more elaborate services on a fully commercial basis, charging fees to
cover the costs of local add-ons to the basic network infrastructure and software platform
and additional human resources. Public or quasi-public agencies may become important
commercial clients or partners of Telecenters that can carry out some of the agencies’
functions more cost-effectively. Telecenters might also serve as community cultural and
entertainment centers, using multimedia services and production to bring people together.
An essential element is access to content relevant to the local community.
Language may be critical: the local dialect, not the official language, may be the one used in
day-to-day activities and transactions. Content is costly to develop and difficult to keep
current. To give users a tool to produce their own material, national or regional content
platforms could be developed and made available locally.
A variety of services are being offered by Telecenters around the world. A sample of the
international experience is considered along with what could be offered in Pakistan. A
consequence of the survey of the Rural areas in Pakistan showed that the experience in
Pakistan maps that in the rest of the world. For example, in many locations (see ‘Survey’)
there was no internet but computers were present there for a range of services like writing
applications and watching DVD movies!
Services offered by Telecenters
In some Telecenters, particularly in rural areas, services offered are the basic use of
equipment - telephones, faxes, photocopying machines. There are indications that higher
order services providing government information, for example, are not of key interest to
women. Issues such as the education of children, food and firewood are considered to be
issues of more concern to women than men.
One of the main services offered by Telecenters is the use of telecommunications
equipment. Only a few Telecenters are beginning to provide a range of information.
Research and discussions in Pakistan show that a variety of services can be offered in the
CRICs or Telecenters. These are in addition to the ones already outlined earlier. The
Telecenter/CRIC operator can create alliances and service delivery platforms in order to add
to their portfolio. The following is sampling of these services with relevance to Pakistan.
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Some feasible services to be offered in the Telecenters in Pakistan
PSO model
•
Access to phone, fax and IT equipment
•
Access to email and internet
•
Access to printing, typing and other PC related services
•
Telemedicine * Free perception
•
Farming * Free guideline, Weather forecast, Pesticide information, Livestock
healthcare, seeds information.
•
Access to photocopies.
•
Access to photography.
•
Access to get online admission forms
•
Access to get birth and death certificates.
•
Access to get basic education.
•
Access of Rural products to Global market
•
Prepaid cards.(Internet /Phone )
Telecard Model
Basic Model
•
PCO
•
Internet Access
•
Franchised pre-paid cards
•
Document scanning and printing
‘Matured’ Telecenter
For Businesses
•
Market Prices
•
Market Trends
•
Capital/Funding Information
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•
Supplier – Contact Information
•
News Papers
Agriculture and Farmers
•
Market Information
•
Supplier Information (chemicals, pest & disease control)
•
Indigenous Knowledge
•
Better Farming Methods
•
Training
•
Support Programs and Services
•
Government Agencies and Programs
•
Quality improved (Seeds and Animal Breeds)
•
Newspapers
•
Post Harvest Technology/Secondary Processing
Health Workers & Telehealth
•
Primary health care training
•
Newspapers
•
Telemedicine Information
•
CD ROM’s
•
Reference
Women
•
Small Business Development (Opportunities)
•
Capital/Funding Information
•
Health Related Information
•
Nutrition
•
Parenting – experience sharing
•
Home Economics & Management
•
Family Planning
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Political and local administration
•
Training (leadership skills, legal issues)
•
Community Development/ Empowerment Information
•
Donor/Funding Information
•
Statistical Information
Education
•
IT training
•
Training Information
•
Scholarship/Employment Information
•
Newspapers
•
Curriculum Support – Teaching Techniques
Extension workers
•
Government and Private sector training (e.g. Health, credits, etc)
•
Partnership opportunities
with Tele-center
•
Statistical Information
•
Sector Information
•
Government Programs and
related information
E-Community Center
What will it cost?
We recommend to use Govt. schools premises for this purpose
ECC would start from 4 pm till 10 pm and will remain close in nights
Infrastructure requirement
NGOs
E – Unit
•
Statistical Information
•
Management
•
Group Facilitation
•
Rural Development
Information
CDMA
Phone
Rs. 7,000
Personal
Computer
Rs. 25,000
Printer
& Scanner
Rs. 8,000
•Recurring Monthly Expense
•Internet usage Rs.2,000
•Voice usage Rs.2,000
•Utilities
Rs.2,000
•Total Month
Rs.6,000
Furniture
& Fixtures
Rs. 15,000
Rs. 5,000
Rs. 60,000
Youth and Students
•
Career Related Information
•
Reference materials
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•
Games
•
Scholarship Information
•
Training Programs
•
School Exchange Programs
•
Friends – chat, blogs, etc
•
Sports
In Telecenters in other locations of the world the type of services being
offered. These are quoted as a reference sample:
In Saksham, following services are provided:
•
Government to citizen services: land records and birth & death certificates
•
Health services: direct referrals to hospitals, online appointment requests, online
consultation requests
•
Agriculture services: vet consultancy services, agri-newspaper, online consultation
•
Commercial services: insurance, digital photography, astrology, matrimonial services
•
Communication services: chat, online telephony & e-mail
•
Entertainment content & services: web browsing, games, music & movies
•
Desktop publishing: typing, printing and designing
•
Education content and services: computer education, language literacy
E-Seva
ƒ Payment of utility bills
ƒ Certificates
ƒ Labor Department
ƒ Permits/Licenses
ƒ
Information
ƒ
Reservation
ƒ Internet services
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Nagymágocs
Services:
ƒ
Agricultural information service
ƒ
Almanacs, catalogues, encyclopedias
ƒ
Second hand book store
ƒ
Coffee, tea
ƒ
Blood pressure measurement
ƒ
Local advertising and information services
ƒ
Public Internet access
ƒ
Office services (office space, fax, computer, copy, etc.)
ƒ
Local stationary exhibition
ƒ
Public information service
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Financing of Telecenters
Telecenters range from Grameenphone’s ladies offering fee for call services from a cell
phone; to public fixed-line telephones; to cybercafés; to fully ICT equipped business centers;
to multifunction Telecenters offering telephone, fax, copying, computer rental, desktop
publishing, Internet, community radio, and ancillary services. Compounding these services
with the variety of mixes of financing results in a multitude of business models.
Resources are required to run a Telecenter, and those resources have to come from
somewhere. Mixed financing is appropriate for most Telecenters in rural areas and poor
urban areas in developing countries. That is, Telecenters should probably usually be financed
from several sources reflecting their varied client needs and social functions. Here are some
Sources of financing that might be considered
One successful way is to integrate the Telecenter with another, perhaps
preexisting facility:
There are many such models, including schools that offer access to ICT when not being
used by students, teachers and administrators, to post offices that offer email services in
addition to traditional postal services, to retail stores that add ICT services to their mix, to
agricultural cooperatives that offer ICT services to the local community using facilities
acquired to serve their members, to community radio stations that offer public access to the
Internet in addition to broadcasting.
Fee for services:
1. Fees for use of the Telecenter facilities
2. Fees for ancillary services, such as training or search activities.
In kind contributions, e.g;
1. Community construction of Telecenter facilities,
2. Donated services to operate the Telecenter;
3. Donated equipment.
Cooperative mechanisms, as with a consumer cooperative;
Cross-subsidies, e.g.
Telecommunications regulation make universal service requirements resulting in cross
subsidies from highly profitable services, to marginally profitable services to the poor. As the
case in Pakistan’s USF policy
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Public funding, justified by public goods aspects of Telecenter services.
Thus where the Telecenter is serving public health, education, and other public goods needs,
government financing may be appropriate, via:
1. Direct government funding;
2. Tax financing
Governmental and third party (vendors, NGOs, etc) in-kind contributions would be a mixed
form, as when a health center makes a room available without charge for a local Telecenter.
1. Special loan facilities, insurance, etc. for Telecenter operators;
2. Special funds, e.g. Donations of part of consumer purchases to schools for the
purchase of ICT equipment.
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Volume 1
Part 8
Telecenter Models 2: Examples from Pakistan
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The Models and the players
As a result of extensive discussions with key players ranging from large corporate entities to
individual entrepreneurs, six distinct models emerged:
1. Public Sector model
2. Public – Private sector model
3. Private sector commercial model
4. Private sector Telecom Operator driven model
5. Development NGO model
6. Private entrpreneur model
Each one of these has a different dynamic as well as focus. Financing and sustainability
however would be key in all these as all of them must have social and financial sustainability
regardless of the ‘owner’.
Those like PSO with CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) as core objectives can create a
variety of financing and operating models including franchising operations. This and other
related services would create the necessary impetus for sustainability of the locations where
these services have been created.
Those where this is an extension of services like the Telecommunications companies would
have a different thrust. While entrepreneur models need critical support for them to be
sustainable and be able to provide the collateral social services which are the heart of this
initiative to bring high quality access to the rural areas.
Since a lot of efforts are underway in different fora, we had the opportunity of meeting with
and discussing with different players. It quite possible that our interaction has actually
enabled the triggering of activity in different organizations, in order to set up sustainable
Pilots for some of these Models.
Models and Business Cases for Telecenters
Tele-centres are categorized by the organization that funds and/or manages it: for-profit,
government, or non-profit.
For-profit projects are set up by companies that aim to make a return on their investment.
Government projects are those that are initiated by a government or government agency and
may or may not aim to achieve sustainability/profitability on an individual Tele-centre level.
Non-profit projects include those set up by foundations, international agencies, NGOs, and
other civil society organizations. This category also includes those Tele-centres set up
through corporate philanthropy.
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The following entities embody these models and will enable the creation of the different
varieties of Tele-center models (government/semi-government, for-profit and not for
profit :
1. PSO – Pakistan State Oil who have set up over 1100 kiosks at the Petrol pumps all
over Pakistan and once their issues relating to connectivity etc are resolved, these will
expand to over 3000 locations.
2. Post Office - The process of using the base of over 13,000 post offices (majority in
the Rural Areas) has been discussed with the PO management and is a part of this
study and Pilot plans
3. PTA – has set up a few Tele-centers and are going to catalyze 50-100 more following
the same model
4. NGOs – providing single and multiple locations (Baluchistan, Kashmir, Karakoram
Area Dev)
5. WLL (Wireless Local Loop) programs e.g. Telecard
These six models can be mapped to real examples in defining Business strategies and Cases:
1. Public Sector model – Post Office
2. Public – Private sector model - PSO
3. Private sector commercial model – Telecommunications companies setting up and
operating these
4. Private sector Telecom Operator driven model
5. Development NGO model – AKRSP and KADO
6. Private entrpreneur model – Telecenters and cybercafes run by entrepreeuners
We have put in these and a comprehensive modeling excel sheet in order to enable specific
cases to be built as required. The following detailed examples will elaborate this point.
Comparison of set up with FOSS and Microsoft
An indication of the costs of setting up of the basic hardware, software and LAN for a 6 seat
Telecenter is also included in the last section on Business Modeling.
Typically the costs range widely:
1.
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) with refurbished hardware: Rs. 58,000
2.
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) with new hardware:
Rs. 143,000
3.
Microsoft SW with refurbished hardware:
Rs. 122,000
4.
Microsoft SW with new hardware
Rs. 207,000
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While at the first glance the FOSS solution with refurbished hardware looks very attractive,
one must consider all the issues involved in setting up and maintaining these centers. Also
the issue of using software which is available and used widely by the public at large has to be
considered carefully. Corporate and large scale deployments may consider new hardware and
MS software an acceptable solution whereas cost conscious entrepreneurs may opt for a low
cost FOSS and refurbished hardware solution.
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Pakistan Post
In order to stimulate the interest of the PakPost in the use of Telecenters, we had created the
following plan for discussions. This was accepted as a good Roadmap and defined the
initialization of the Tele-center plan. The Pakistan Post with 13,500 locations all over
Pakistan has great brand equity and is present in all parts of Pakistan as a part of the USO of
the Post Office. It is also the largest bank in Pakistan as well as huge insurance portfolio.
This can provide the platform for a whole array of services (their own current and future
defined ones) as well as that of others like AIOU for education, NADRA for ID cards and
bill Payment Kiosks, farmer crop, seed, weather, loan information, Land records issuance,
etc.
A concerted project funding may be needed to bring automation to the Pakistan Post as well
as set up several thousand Telecenters for service delivery.
Section 1: Concept paper for Future Directions
The Pakistan Post by its considerable outreach can help achieve goals of bringing equity,
economic and social growth, empowerment, education and the other fruits of modern
technologies to the most un- and underserved areas of Pakistan.
The goals of better governance, better communication and access to knowledge will not only
help in achieving political goals of connecting to the remotest of peoples for making their
lives better but will also ease the feelings of deprivation and the lack of progress in all
dimensions.
By setting up an independent Communications infrastructure which can be funded in a
variety of ways - institutional like the World Bank and other Multilateral Investment
Agencies or innovative like Public Private Partnerships with the rapidly developing Telecom
companies, the Post Office can deliver services which can bring modernity to the remotest
areas of Pakistan. It is the ONLY entity in Pakistan, which not only has a solid Brand Equity
in the masses but also the most acceptability and widest reach. It is in reality an integral part
of the Rural and Suburban cultural and economic DNA of Pakistan.
Once the complete system and network is rolled out, it will provide outreach to the remotest
outposts via the Pakistan Post system. This network will provide services ranging from voice
communications to data and internet. The service delivery will be via Post Offices and the
empowered employees who will not only provide the services but will also benefit directly
(financially) from this revolution.
The service delivery will assist the Government to provide services which relate to different
Ministries, Federal and Provincial.
Services to the end users will be via multipurpose Tele-centers which will provide a variety
of services for external as well as internal use. Amongst external uses would be:
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•
Voice (Telephone) and Internet access
•
Domestic and International E-mail to delivery of mail – e-mail prepaid web site for
International correspondence
•
Linking up the franchise operations for partners (Banking, funds transfer, package
tracking, etc)
•
Providing service delivery of services for Public and Private entities like NADRA,
Land records and revenue assessments
•
Tele-services like distance learning and Tele-medicine
•
Providing a Hub for small entrepreneur driven local telephone networks to be
funded via own, institutional or the USF (Universal Service Funds) for the
Telecommunications (PTA)
•
Collocation facilities to all Telecom operators
•
Delivery of prepaid cards and connections for WLL (Wireless Local Loop) and
Cellular companies
Internal operations will be fully converted to an IT base using software for, which will
enable:
•
Not only revenue growth but will also,
•
Increase the margins,
•
Become force multipliers (more people served by the same number of locations)
•
Better internal funds and operational management
•
Increasing transparency of cash and financial management and governance
This will be done by a comprehensive automation program for HR, Finance and Operations
using the appropriate tools for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP
(Enterprise Resource Management). These will be all linked back via the Postal Telecom
Network.
The system will comprise of a backbone network connected via satellite (VSAT) as well as
optical fiber where available connecting the Post Offices all over Pakistan. The core service
delivery will be via Tele-Centers where with the partnership of the
Telecom Players (Private and public sector players) services would be offered to the local
citizens.
Special Licenses will be obtained from the PTA (Telecoms) and PEMRA (for FM Radio)
either directly by the Post Office or facilitation for partners who will help deploys these
networks and systems.
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Initial work in this has been in process with discussions with:
•
Telecommunications Companies and the PTA (Telecommunications Regulator)
•
Partner entities like DHL, Western Union, Banks, ZTBL, etc
•
Service Providers like credit cards, Virtual University, Telemedicine groups,
•
Funding institutions like MIAs
•
End users, prospective end users
•
Internal employees and management staff
Different financial models can be worked on: franchising, revenue sharing, rentals for site
usage (collocation facilities in Post Office buildings, etc). The complete project will be
worked out in collaboration with own resources and help from institutions like the
Multilateral Investment Agencies from their Technical Assistance programs. This work will
yield a proper Vision document based on inputs of all stake holders as well as best practices
from practical application in similar economies in other parts of the world.
The Business Plan will be scaleable for rapid deployment after Pilots are tested out.
The time lines are planned to be short:
•
Initial plan: 2-3 months
•
Pilots:1-4 months (parallel activity)
•
Approvals: 1-3 months for different stages
•
Funding availability – collaborative, franchising, revenue sharing, institution, internal:
1-14 months
Section 2: PakPost Information Telecenters
Options for integrating Information Telecenters into core Pakistan Post activity
The Role of the Post Office in the development of Access of Services to the Citizens and
Businesses and enabling a host of services both internal as well as external is critical. This
would dovetail into the ‘Universal Service Obligation’ cornerstone of the Pakistan Post into
a vibrant self sustaining business model. This would also enable a host of services being
offered by Government and the Private sector to be delivered effortlessly to end users in the
remotest parts of Pakistan. These services would not just be PCOs for voice telephony but
also Internet and data for a host of content and VAS.
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This project would enable the fulfillment of new Government initiatives ranging from eGovernment services, Land Records, NADRA, and CBR to new plans of the Government
to develop the ‘National Logistics Corridor’ for speeding up the economic development and
flow of goods inland as well as export.
Pakistan Post’s own
plans for enhancing the
Banking and Insurance
part of the financial
offerings will be enabled
with Payment Gateways
which can enable epayments including a
launch of debit cards,
franchising debit card
PoS
for
different
Commercial banks via
these Telecenters located
in the remotest reaches
of the Post Offices.
DVB – S2 with WiFi Mesh for Rural applications in
Pakistan
512 kbps / 128 Kbps
Small Remote Site
Internet
Router
Voice Telephone NW
Cellular/PSTN
1 Mbps / 256 Kbps
Medium Remote Site
Router
2 Mbps / 512 Kbps
With 32 kbps CIR
Large Remote Site
Hub
•
Router
WiFi Mesh
is used for
Access
Each Remote Can Configured With a
Different Bandwidth
•
Increased Bandwidth to a Remote
through Configuration
•
Configure CIRs, Minimum and Maximum
Rates
•
MF-TDMA provides efficient Bandwidth
usage
This would need the
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development of an
independent Telecom Network which can carry Voice and Data and would be covered by a
special license from the PTA to enable these services to be offered. As an alternate to the
Licencing, an O&M relationship with an integrated LDI/LL operator to provide this service
on a Revenue sharing, or as a collaborative arrangement.
This telecom network is best served by a Satellite based (DVB-S2) type of a system which is
perfect for the cost of the Core (Hub. Gateway, NMS, NOC) as well as the CPE, Customer
Premises Equipment (VSAT terminal). Such a system would be optimized for IP type of
traffic which would enable both Voice and Data to be transported bi-directionally.
The delivery of the end services would not only be at the location of the VSAT Terminal
(Telecenter) but by using technologies like WiFi Mesh, provide a total coverage of the
complete Village for IP based Voice and Internet.
The interconnection of this systems Gateway would be with a partner LDI who also has LL
licenses in Pakistan. This will not only provide painless interconnect possibilities into the
public telecommunications systems at a very low cost but will be mutually useful for PakPost
as well as the Telecom operator. This relationship will also enable the Regulatory cove to be
provided without the Pakistan Post going through a long exercise itself.
Not only would the LDI/LL generate in and out bound calls with out the need to work with
difficult PTCL conditions like Operator pre-select, no inbound call revenue sharing, etc. For
the PakPost this would enable the complete Network to be available for its own functions
(Internal IT as well as Financial and Postal Services).
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This would also enable the enhancement of existing services like Courier with parcel tracking,
Financial Debit Cards based on the PO savings accounts, Pass books, etc. This vehicle will
enable the much desired e-Commerce and micro-payment services to function without
needing to be pushed into the corner with issues related to International Credit Cards (Visa
and Master card) due to no exposure – a comprehensive PoS network in the Post Offices
would ensure this.
The proper implementation would also need the back end processes and IT infrastructure to
be in place. However, for the first step one can launch the services since they most will not
need to interface with the PakPost services but for Pak Post to derive the maximum benefit,
this aspect would need to be looked into carefully. Funding for this can be foreseen from the
MoITT budget as well as the USF and PTCL R&D funding.
For the core support and funding of services various financing entities can be considered:
MIAs, revenue share and partnerships, BOO, BOT and BOOT and other models can be
followed. Once this system is in place different Government and commercial services could
be offered to existing entities like NADRA, CBR, Fertilizer, Pharmaceutical, Micro Finance
and other companies.
Additionally several e-Government services will be launched easily since the Access to the
facilities would be through a literate supervisor (the Post master in each Post Office). The
issue of placing access to the land record documentation would also possible in these
Telecenters.
At some locations these Telecenters would become Community Resource and Information
Centers.
An integrated plan integrating the delivery of electronic materials for the AIOU29 via these
Kiosks, Telecenters or CRICs has found solid support in the AIOU itself. As such the paper
post system would become electronic and scale upward as far as other services are
concerned.
Funding issues
While the Pakistan Post is excited about this vehicle for providing services, it is currently in
the process of trying to rejuvenate itself under a new Management. There is considerable call
on its resources in terms of manpower and funds needed for a host of activities which relate
to the core business.
In our discussions with the DG Pakistan Post (Mr. Arshad Khan) he was very enthusiastic
about the proposition, however, they need support both institutional (from the Ministry of
Communications) as well as financial (perhaps as a World Bank Project). The DG has
already initiated a dialog with the MoITT for prospective funding for this project.
29
Allama Iqbal Open University
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PSO (Pakistan State Oil)
PSO is Pakistan’s Largest Oil Marketing Company in terms of Assets, Volumes, Distribution
Network and Customer Base. Managing 80% of country’s oil storage, widest Strategic Oil
Distribution Network comprising of 29 Storage Depots / Installations throughout country
867,000 MTs of Storage Capacity 3800+ Retail Outlets from Karachi to Chitral. It has
2, 000+ Industrial Customers including Power Plants Fleet of around 6,000 Tankers
Numerous Pipe Lines Network (HUBCO, KAPCO, KESC & AES etc.) and an Equity
partnership in White Oil Pipeline Project.
80
72
71
47
Market share
50
69
70
66
45
61
60
59
60
61
60
59
30
24
25
29
31
30
30
42
44
38
39
42
39
40
40
18
18
18
Diesel
5
4
4
4
9596
9697
9798
8
9
11
45
45
42
35
39
33
31
35
25
28
26
25
23
20
18
17
17
17
15
15
20
10
27
42
40
35
50
30
43
41
60
40
44
45
10
9
8
8
14
13
13
Petrol
10
5
0
0
9899
9900
0001
0102
0203
0304
0405
0506
95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06
Even though it is a government company on the verge of being privatized, the Management
has turned it around in its efficiencies, profits and attitudes. It has won prestigious AIOUCommonwealth of Learning (Vancouver, Canada) awards for “Strategic Leadership” and
“Professional Excellence”. Received “Management Excellence Award” from Management
Association of Pakistan
FY06
FY05
FY04
FY03
FY02
FY01
(MAP). Rated as ‘AAA’ SALES REVENUE
352,514
253,777
195,130
206,376
182,323
195,039
company by PACRA.
GROSS PROFIT
17,207
13,746
9,191
8,955
6,777
6,372
Known for its Corporate PROFIT BEFORE TAX
11,654
9,191
6,263
6,209
5,137
3,451
Social Responsibility (CSR)
7,524
5,656
4,212
4,030
3,188
2,251
activities in the country. PROFIT AFTER TAX
43.87
33.0
24.6
23.5
18.6
15.8
PSO’s
remarkable EPS (Rupees)
performance
and DIVIDEND (Cash)
340%
260%
175%
160%
130%
100%
turnaround is cited in
various case studies local as well as international forums. The PSO made investment of Rs.
86.25 Million for setting up 1150 Internet Kiosks across the country with the objective to
facilitate access to the internet for the common man.
These Internet Kiosks provide phones and Internet services where connectivity is possible.
PSO plans to set up more of these in order to be able to transform these Kiosks into full
fledged Telecenters or CRICs in order to provide low cost telephone connectivity, providing
ICT training, basic telemedicine, e-mail, information about farming, weather, prices of crops,
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etc. The services proposed to be offered would also include business centre services internet,
telephone, photocopy, fax, e-mail as well as service delivery of services for public and private
entities like NADRA, Land records, e-Government and revenue assessments, etc. It would
help link up the franchise operations for partners (banking, funds transfer, package tracking,
etc)
PSO has installed over 1100 Kiosks as a part of the plan which was started 3 years ago. This
is governed by a special set of people within PSO head office at Karachi. They wish to
expand the process in order to reach out to over 3,500 locations. They are currently working
in cooperation with our team and the PTA, in order to create a comprehensive document
which can be also used internally by them. The feedback from the last three years is included
in the main body of this document.
PSO Tele-centers
Project Assessment and Business Model for the future
Background
The PSO have a business model where the Kiosks leverage off the existing Petrol pump
utility thereby has a lot of shared operating costs. In the centers which are well run, these
kiosks create additional value for the Franchisee.
Objective of this PSO study
A study was conducted has been made to direct it internally as well as for external audiences.
It is proposed by PSO to set up a series of ‘Information Tele-Center’ kiosks across Pakistan.
A part of this effort will be funded by PSO and for the rest it will be based on funding from
the USF (Universal Services Fund generated by the Telecommunications Operations).
The current models of kiosks will be enhanced to become ‘Information Tele-Centers’ and
will function as rural multi-service platforms optimized for services based on voice
communications and IP based solutions. In order to accommodate different locations and
demographic groups two or three models of varying size and depth will be created and
tested for sustainability. In this, a variety of services would be delivered including eGovernment services, Tele-medicine, etc.
The central aim of these centers is the provision of better governance, meeting social
obligations by spreading ICT services in the underserved areas. This will be done by
delivering internet services, low cost telephone connectivity, providing ICT training, basic
telemedicine, e-mail, information about farming, weather, prices of crops, etc. It is envisaged
that this will enable the economy to be stimulated so that the micro-economic gains can
translate to micro-economic impact on the common man.
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The PSO could also use this opportunity to position itself as the first to access this fund to
supplement its own efforts as well as overcome the issues (e.g. connectivity) which are
pulling the current initiatives back
The funding models for both CAPEX as well as OPEX are expected to be based on
different models such that ownership and sustainability can be assured as well as
encouraging entrepreneurship. These centers are may be expected to receive subsidies to
cover initial capital costs and a continued payment for a short start up time after which the
mix of services (not necessarily ICT) would be expected to kick-in, giving sustainability a
fighting chance. Indirect support in terms of subsidized interconnect and connectivity would
enable this to happen earlier then is usually possible.
PSO with their 1100 Kiosks, Internet centers, etc are well positioned in Pakistan to capitalize
on this model for a variety of objectives.
Case Study and Business Plan
PSO is putting together a Case Study for the Tele-Centers. This will serve several purposes:
a. An internal evaluation of the impact on its ‘good corporate citizen’ role
b. Impact on the people of the area
c. Cost analysis of Capex and Opex
d. Create a solid Business Plan to address sustainability, possibility of accessing funds
from outside sources (USF fund, etc)
e. Utility for PSO in its own operations with the efficient operations of the network of
these centers
This Business Plan would comprise of two parts:
1. Case study – lessons learnt
2. Business Plan
This study is invaluable for PSO for internalization as well as applications for the USF. This
is apart from the collateral PR advantage that should ensue.
Work plan:
•
Conduct a selective baseline research to determine the implementation of different
Tele-Center/Kiosk by PSO in the last few years and conduct a SWOT analysis of
their success or failure mechanisms.
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•
Create the story line as well as differentiated models and experiences from different
geographical locations. Collect the demographics of users, pictures, predominant
users, predominant usage, services asked for etc.
•
Work on two- three specific Kiosks/Tele-center access-center models (based on size,
depth of services, etc) likely to be adopted by the franchisees, geographical locations
in which these centers should be situated based on the feasibility of
telecommunications reach or suggest alternatives to bridge the gaps, the number of
centers needed, the funding relevant to each center and also what types and mixes of
services should be offered
•
Provide inputs to the selection criteria in case PSO will help in the creation of
entrepreneurs or will have its dealer to administer and run the whole series of
services as a profit center. Since the selection of the Information Tele-Center
franchisees may not be based on financial bids, it is important that the selection
criteria assess the technical, managerial and financial capabilities of competing
outlets;
•
The foreseen impact on social and economic growth of the locality served by these
centers.
Lessons Learnt from the initial deployment of Internet Kiosks at 1100 Filing stations
Pakistan State Oil, apart from its core energy business, PSO is also into non-fuel business
and is striving to expand its existing network of non-fuel activities. The New Vision Retail
Outlets provide the most modern equipment and facilities to the customers.
The facilities include Convenience Stores
branded as “SHOP Stops”, Business Centers
with Internet Facility, Auto Car Wash Plants
and a variety of PSO Cards fully supported by
State-of-the-Art Retail Automation System
offering the customers a unique and convenient
mode of payment of their fuel bills.
Currently PSO has a network of 171
Convenience Stores by the name of Shop Stop
and 33 Business Centres. Apart from this
Internet facility has also been provided to more
than 1100 outlets.
Internet Facility project was started in 2001 with the objective of providing Internet
connectivity solutions to the entire population of Pakistan. The aim was to provide an
internet facility at all the retail outlets of PSO starting from New Vision Retail Outlets; and
till now more than 1100 internet facility kiosks have been planted at various locations
throughout Pakistan. The task initially appeared to be quite simple but practically has not
been very easy.
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Main Challenges
•
Connectivity:
The main issue in this project is connectivity. In many remote areas there are no
telecommunication facilities available. There is not even a single telecommunication or
mobile network working in certain areas due to which internet facility cannot be
operational.
•
Internet Service Provision:
There are areas where telephone network exists but none of the ISPs have started their
operations in those areas due to which internet access is not available although computer
and other required equipments are available.
•
Electricity:
Another major issue has been provision of electricity. In certain areas there is no
electricity being provided by the government due to which computer equipments that
are available, cannot be used.
•
Placement of Internet Facility Kiosk:
The placement of internet kiosk is also an issue at some sites where the designated room
for this purpose is not available. There is only
one room available at certain stations which
are being used by the station manager, staff
and also for keeping the cash. The internet
kiosk is also placed in the same room due to
which the room looks crammed and does not
leave ample space to move around. It also
creates disturbance for the office staff to carry
out official work with outside people using
the same room for internet. They also don’t
consider it safe to let outsiders in the room as
the cash is also being handled in that room.
•
Delivery of Equipment:
The vendors appointed for delivering the
equipment try to avoid delivering it to very
remote locations due to unavailability of
proper roads and high costs involved in
transporting the equipment in single or less
number of units. Due to which it takes more
time to deliver it than what it should take as
PSO has to wait for a considerable number of
sites on the same route in order to curtail high
costs involved.
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•
Repair & Maintenance:
In rural areas where not many people are equipped with computer knowledge, there is a
very high probability that machines might incur some defect or fault due to improper use.
Once the machines are out of order, there are no expertise’s available to mend it or
remove the faults. In such situations PSO has to arrange expertise from cities, which
again is not very feasible.
•
Lack of Computer Education:
In Pakistan computer literacy rate is very low and making computers and internet facility
available throughout the country is of no use until n unless people know how to use it.
PSO has provided the equipment but does not have the resources to train people how to
use it. Due to which it is not fulfilling the purpose behind setting up the Kiosks.
•
Fear of Machine in Rural Areas:
The rural people who are living a very simple
life and are afraid of using machines and cannot
accept the idea of using a machine for their
everyday tasks. The computer is considered as
the most advanced technology by them and
being uneducated or having only basic
education, they are afraid of using it and
consider themselves incapable of using it.
Lessons Learnt
1. Proper information should have been gathered about the location including the
infrastructure and facilities available in that region.
2. The more successful Kiosks have been in the
relatively Urban and suburban environments
where the people frequenting these places
already have the need.
3. The utility of the Kiosks and Internet is not
known to the people around these pumps.
4. The Kiosks must generate new businesses and
cash for the Franchisees for them to effectively
use and expand these services.
5. Apart from providing internet facility to all
areas, focus should also be on increasing
computer literacy among the people in order to ensure full utilization of the facility. PSO
has also designed it E-Learning program to encounter this problem.
6. Connectivity is the main issue that needs to be overcome in order to make internet
facility operational.
7. Repair and maintenance facilities should be made available.
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Mobilink
It was suggested to them that Telecenters can form a very powerful front end for their
service delivery:
1. Marketing in Rural areas and creating a and supporting a franchise which is dedicated
to providing services that Mobilink offers as it addresses the vertical in delivery of
content, services and payment platforms for micro credits.
2. Create the base for the WiFi/WiMAX/DVB- RC deployment
3. Provide eGov Services – see my forwarded mail to PSO for NADRA
This could be a Franchise operation for deployment in the areas where Mobilink either
operate in or plans to go to shortly and where a WLL operator like PTCL or GoCDMA is
active
1. Decide on a roll out of say 50 initially based on drafts of various business plans
2. Use the vendors that PTA has short listed.
3. Use the Microfinance organizations, which have been brought on line for direct
financing by these to the Franchisee you select.
4. Have a standard ‘environment and furniture’ so that this stands out and is in line
with the Mobilink branding.
5. Create a useful Business Case for sustainability.
6. These locations will act as an advance party for Mobilink if it is getting there soon
and will add on the role of carrying cards, etc.
7. Plan on something useful in addition the usual outbound calls so that these stand out
and you become the leader. In this one could consider the suggestion of giving a few
paisas per inbound calls to the Telecenters operator as this will enhance your own
revenues manifold since these operators will be motivated not only to receive
incoming calls but also to add more phones. This money of incoming calls need not
be given in cash but in the form on free Jazz cards for making outbound calls.
8. Use the PCO GSM and CDMA phones from Comcept so that the call handling is
professional and precise with printouts etc.
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Telecard & GoCDMA
Telecard informed us that they were very deeply committed to this project. We would
eventually be happy to prepare a special suite for the Telecenter kiosk. In an overall and
bankable relationship, we could certainly consider giving "credits" to the Telecenter operator,
so well wait for hearing in greater detail before you can formalize this.
This was as a response to the following proposition:
Telecenters are proposed to be set up under Public and Private sector initiatives
across Pakistan and part of these are proposed to be funded via the USF (the theme of this
report). In all these, connectivity is needed in terms of voice and data. As these Telecenters
are going to be operated in a commercial manner and would need to have some form of
billing for calls (in and outbound as well as for the Internet) with possibility of having a
printout as well.
Normally, we believe one can get a WLL phone for Rs. 3000 of which Rs.2000 are prepaid
credits; hence the phone costs only Rs. 1000. As these phones are about Rs.5-6,000 originally
GoCDMA is subsiding these for selling these in the market. Comcept have developed the
GSM and CDMA fixed phones with a complete PCO facility including data and print
outputs, rating mechanism etc. These phones sell for Rs. 9000 and according to my
information have been tested on your Network as well.
We need to know your thoughts whether you are willing to give a similar amount of subsidy
to the people/organizations which buy the Comcept phone (for voice and Data applications
from GoCDMA) and ask you to integrate this into your network on mutually agreeable
terms using your cards for payments for Voice and Data calls.
It is suggested that if you subsidize at least Rs 4000 and give a Rs. 1000 credit then the cost
to the Telecenter operator per phone would be Rs. 4000 instead of Rs. 1000 now. They
would willingly pay for this since this gives them far more control on payment as well as the
ability to print out bills etc. Your prospective market would be all Telecenter operators to
whom you could provide this service to.
Some Questions and information:
•
Please also confirm that all locations would have data and voice coverage in all
locations and that you have dedicated time slots for data - not like GPRS in Pakistan.
•
Can you also create a bulk interconnect for organizations who need to create several
Telecenters and would like to aggregate their traffic for discounts.
•
What are the costs of the fixed phone with data cable
•
What is the cost of service for voice (domestic and international)
•
What is the cost of Data per MB?
•
Is Telecard prepared to do some level of revenue sharing on incoming calls,
especially international?
This information is needed in order to structure the Business Cases.
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AOS
Service Infrastructure Plan
“Telecenters”
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Disclaimer:
-
The financials provided within this document must be detailed and verified in a
second iteration
-
This project proposal does not represent any a guarantee for revenues or a
contractual obligation on the part of AOS.
Copyright Information
This report is solely for the use of the client personnel. No part of it may be circulated,
quoted, or reproduced for distribution outside the client organization without prior written
approval from AOS.
Service Infrastructure Plan
Definition
The Service Infrastructure (SI) is a plan to develop a common infrastructure for underserved
areas and lower the barrier to entry for services for underserved areas.
Background
Most of Pakistan’s population lives in rural areas that can be defined as underserved areas.
The e-Government initiative as well as private initiatives to use ICT to increase access to
services for the citizen is increasing the portfolio of potential services for citizens.
However, the parts of the public that can most benefit from these services reside in rural and
underserved areas. These persons are hardest hit by the digital divide and cannot access
these services due to the poor ICT infrastructure in their areas.
The building up of such an infrastructure as a part of a single service is too expensive to be
justified for that service alone. However, once put into the perspective of multiple services
and their benefits, the infrastructure required becomes an attractive approach from a
business as well as governmental view.
Objective
The objective of the Service Infrastructure (SI) is to allow for an ICT infrastructure to be
built in phases to serve underserved areas of Pakistan. It is inherently based on the concept
of shared usage, i.e., that the infrastructure is built a single time and is used by multiple
services and service providers.
It is built around a concept to involve different parties, including the government, MDBs
(Multilateral Development Banks), private companies and most importantly the local
businessman to create an attractive value proposition.
Scope
The scope of the Service Infrastructure is focused on underserved and unserved areas and is
illustrated in the following figure:
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Concept
The concept for the service infrastructure is a three tier model:
1. Service Dissemination: Tier one is the actual service dissemination from a
Telecenter to the citizen.
2. Service Aggregation: Tier two is the communications provider that connects the
Telecenter to the service providers
3. Service Provision: Tier three is the service providers as well as any regulatory or
other institutions that monitor the service provision.
This model is illustrated in the following figure:
The Tier Value Proposition
Each tier is provided with a value proposition that allows for a fast development of the
service infrastructure while allowing for its future reuse as a service platform for new
services. This is shown in the following illustration and defined further in the following
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Subsections: Service Dissemination Tier
This tier includes the end consumer as well as the Telecenter.
Telecenter is defined as a physical center in which computing resources and high bandwidth
internet connection as well as a secure connection for usage of services requiring security is
available.
Telecenters are operated on a franchise model. A local entrepreneur signs a franchise
agreement to set up a Telecenter. The Franchisee is given exclusivity for the particular
region for a period of 5 years. The staff of the franchisee is trained in the usage of the
Telecenter and required government staff is assigned to the Telecenter as well, e.g., for the
provision of land, e-justice, etc. Also, nurses and instructors will be trained for services such
as telemedicine and Teleeducation.
The Franchisee earns money on a transaction basis. The fee schedule is part of the
franchisee agreement. The franchisee is financed by banks and a subsidy is granted through
the government or other development institutions.
In future phases, the franchisee can also provide wireless connectivity to citizens and
businesses requiring such services.
Service Aggregation Tier
This tier includes the communications infrastructure as well as the service aggregation portal.
Communications Center is defined as the center providing the communication connections to
the Telecenters. It also provides for a data center that hosts the portal and database for
reconciliation purposes
All services are then accessed through the communications center. This part is built on the
PPP business model. Private companies are invited to invest in the communications center
with the ability to charge service providers for the services provided over the infrastructure.
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Service Provision Tier
The service provision tier encompasses all service providers wishing to provide their services
over the service infrastructure. For this, they are charged a per transaction and a basic fee
paid to the communications center.
This approach lowers the barrier to entry and usage for services and will allow for many new
services to be developed and deployed due to the following:
-
Lower barrier to entry into a larger market
-
A higher addressable market
Initial Services Portfolio
The initial services portfolio includes the following and is based on available services and
critical services:
Area
Service
e-Government
Land Record Management
e-Government
e-Justice or access to courts
e-Government
e-Police or access to police
e-Government
e-Farmer or access to prices, etc.
e-Health
Telemedicine with video conferencing and onsite nurses
e-Education
Teleeducation with instructors based modules
Infotainment
Broadband Internet connections and Video on Demand
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KADO & Regional Development Programs
Information and Communication Technology for Development Project (ICT4D) of
Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO). KADO has implemented ICT4D
project in two and half years (from January 2004 to July 2006) in Hunza with funding
assistance from the International Development Research Center (IDRC) Canada.
The project components included: creating internet
access, establishing E. Village Resource Centers (for
village level development), School Resource Centers
(for improving quality of education through ICTs), IT
related HR development, promotions of rural business
through ICTs and distance learning. The results of the
project have been very encouraging and were
appreciated by the communities and other stakeholders
in the area including the Government of the Northern
Areas. In the year 2005, KADO became member of the
Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) and also
participated in WSIS Tunis last year. The following document describes another useful
initiative which can not only couple with the AKRSP but actually become a model for other
developmental entities in the Government and NGOs.
Context: Why is this project important?30
The Northern region of Pakistan is remote and generally under-privileged in relation to the
rest of the country. The region’s rugged, glacier-dominated landscape makes communication
and travel difficult. Approximately one million people inhabit the region, scattered across
more than 600 rural villages. Most of the residents still survive through subsistence
agriculture, though about 80% of the land is not suitable for cultivation. Landholdings are
small and yields are low.
Lack of political representation at the national level means the region remains neglected and
under-developed. The female population is doubly disadvantaged, due to a strict gender
hierarchy. Literacy is low, especially among women, and female participation in the public
sphere is severely limited. The poor quality and high cost of existing communications
technology limits the economic and educational opportunities available to this isolated
population. For many of these people, quality health care, agricultural information, and
formal education are simply out of reach. Development agencies have established a strong
and active civil society, but much remains to be done.
30
http://www.idrc.ca/panasia/ev-51829-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
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The Project: How does this initiative address the development problem?
With previous IDRC/PAN funding, the Commission on Science and Technology for
Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) has provided an Internet Service
Provider (ISP) facility in Gilgit, Pakistan since 1999. This project aims to expand on these
previous efforts to broaden economic and educational opportunities through the application
of ICTs. Key areas of contribution include medicine (telehealth), education (distance
learning), agricultural extension, and promotion of rural business, conservation of natural
and cultural heritage, and village-level planning and development.
The project is being implemented in three northern Pakistani communities: Gilgit, Hunza,
and Baltistan. ICTs are enabling members of these communities to access specialized,
gender-sensitive, higher quality education, information, economic opportunities, and health
care services. The project makes special efforts to improve the livelihoods of women in the
area, through the provision of specialized health services and more accessible education.
Three separate institutions in Pakistan - COMSATS, Karakoram Area Development
Organization (KADO), and Baltistan Health and Education Fund (BHEF) - are working
together in collaboration with the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) to test the
viability of the above-mentioned services and their contribution to socio-economic
development in the region. The findings will help organizations to develop a replicable
model of ICT for rural development in remote rural areas both within Pakistan and globally.
Objectives:
To promote sustainable livelihoods and extradition of extreme poverty in the remote areas
of Pakistan through action research in the application and integration of ICT. More
specifically, the project aims to:
•
Provide access to relevant information through ICTs and the Internet for the remote
populations living in Hunza and Baltistan
•
Document the action research experiences of all the partners while implementing the
project so that the successful experiences can be replicated in other areas of the
region, as well as other parts of the country
•
Promote ICT benefits experienced in this project among governments, donors, other
policy makers and stakeholders by sharing and sending recommendations on best
practices to the appropriate parties
•
To introduce ICT as a possible means of providing employment exchange services in
the remote Northern areas of Pakistan
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Development Impact
As a result of the IDRC-funded COMSATS ISP and facility set up in 1999, 500
people/organizations/enterprises are now connected to
the Internet and more than 100 students have been trained
in computer skills. The students in the photo to the right
are participating in a training course on basic computer
skills. Internet connectivity has helped boost tourism, and
other businesses can now communicate more easily with
their clients in the South of the country and abroad.
The project has also raised awareness among Pakistani
women and men about the uses and benefits of ICTs.
COMSATS’ ISP facility has demonstrated that such facility can be made sustainable, if there
is competence, long-term commitment and effective promotion.
As of July 2005, computers and networking facilities have been installed in two schools.
Students, teachers, and school management of these schools have started using information
and communication technologies to access low cost, effective, and high quality learning
material. In addition, 270 people have benefited from training in ICTs. Local youth are
taking an especially keen interest in the training sessions.
E-village resource centers have been established in two villages (as of July 2005), and Evillage resource persons have been trained to ensure that the village organizations have
necessary capacities to run these centers on their own.
The capacity building that has resulted from this project has been recognized by the
Pakistani government. As of August 2005, the government plans to hand over the
implementation of the second phase of its IT awareness project in Northern Pakistan to
COMSATS, in collaboration with other non-governmental organizations that are also
involved in the current project funded by PAN/IDRC.
Scalability
In order to scale this initiative, Javed Iqbal, the person who guided and brought this project
to reality was asked by us to create a model for use by different developmental agencies
(Government or NGOs). This report follows.
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Karakoram Area Development Organization
(KADO)
Using ICTs for Rural Development
in Hunza and Nagar through Community
Based E. Resource Centers (CBERCs)
(A pioneering and innovative project for rural development and poverty reduction)
A Concept Paper
Prepared by
Javed Iqbal
Afghanistan Rural Microcredit Programme (ARMP)
Former CEO of KADO and currently in Afghanistan as
Program Manager
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1. Background
The important role played by the information and communication technologies for socio
economic development is widely acknowledged and therefore several countries including
Pakistan are putting major emphasis to use ICTs for achieving economic growth. ICTs
interventions for poverty reduction are a recent phenomenon and their results are very
encouraging with visible change in the lives of the people, who have access to such services.
Moreover, they can be used to build the capacities of the local communities to take charge
for their own development.
Recently ICTs have received specific attention to help facilitate poverty alleviation efforts,
through employment creation, capacity building, raising farm productivity, micro-credit,
education and healthcare. Since ICTs can help enhance sharing of expertise and knowledge,
particularly for people living in remote areas, the government of Pakistan has recognized its
complementary role in the crucial sphere of poverty alleviation, sustainable livelihoods and
improvement of social sector service delivery especially of education and health. The current
government has given very high importance to promotion of ICTs and ICTs related skills in
the country and due its efforts several IT related universities and skills training centers have
been established all over the country and internet facility has reached more than 200 cities
and town of Pakistan. However, majority of the rural poor still do not have access to ICTs
and their benefits.
The main difference between the under-developed and developed countries is the level of
access and ability of the people in those countries to generate and use knowledge and
information for themselves and for the benefit of their societies. Increasing access to and
spreading knowledge is central to economic development, poverty reduction, eliminating
ignorance and improving governance at all levels. Therefore, there is a need for concerted
efforts to enable rural people to generate and use knowledge/information, achieve equitable
socio-economic development at a very fast pace and to ensure the benefits of ICTs reach
every household.
Therefore, the Government, NGOs, private sector and the communities have to join hands
to use information technology as a tool to increase the literacy rate, human resource
development and institutional development and to improve the governance systems at all
levels to lay a strong base for a knowledge-based society and transform the destiny of the
country. The Government can provide the resources, infrastructure, provide an IT and
business friendly policy environment, ensure peaceful law and order situation and contribute
towards human resource development.
As development partners, the NGOs and communities can facilitate smooth implementation
of IT related interventions, ensure community ownership and ensure that benefits of such
interventions reach majority of the households. While the private sector brings investment,
technology, ideas and expertise and converts development ideas into real benefits to the
regions.
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In order to enable the remote rural communities of Hunza and Nagar, KADO has planned
to establish Community Based E. Resource Centers (CBERCs) to use ICTs for rural
development. CBERCs will serve as a secretariat, umbrella and catalyst to drive the village
development process. CBERCs will use ICTs for: village level development planning
(agriculture, education, health, physical infrastructure, culture, etc); poverty targeting; village
data base development, information sharing; knowledge management; communication;
capacity building; creating access to government services; improving governance at all levels;
creating linkages between the village and development actors such as Government,
development agencies, NGOs and others.
2. Rationale
KADO31 is implementing a project- Information and Communication Technology for Rural
Development (ICT4D), with the aim at demonstrating the use of information and
communication technology for the promotion of sustainable livelihoods and extradition of
extreme poverty in the remote mountainous villages in Hunza. KADO has supported
establishment of two E. village resource centers to enable the village people to use ICTs for
their own development and facilitate coordination of the development efforts at the village
level. Although this is a research initiative, it is making a significant impact on the lives of the
village people and there is a demand from other communities to extend this initiative to their
villages. Moreover, the current resource centers need further up-gradation in terms of
resource and capacity to turn them into full-fledged village development resource centers.
However, due to the resource constraints the current resource centers could not be
upgraded and the initiative could not be replicated in other villages in the area.
Therefore, KADO intends to upgrade the current E. Village Resource Centers and plans to
establish Community Based E. Resource Centers in 40 more villages in Hunza and Nagar. It
is an innovative project that can contribute towards speeding up development process in the
region and provide alternative development options. It will also contribute towards
developing replicable models for rural development for other parts of the country. There is a
strong justification to establish CBERCs on the following grounds:
31
KADO is a “not for profit” organization working in Hunza and its surrounding areas
with a mission to improve the socio-economic base and living conditions of the rural
population in the region. It has taken a number of successful initiatives including: a)
creation of income and employment opportunities for women and other disadvantaged
groups of the society through handicrafts development and promotion of home based
micro-enterprises; b) revival and promotion of traditional festivals, arts and music; c)
rehabilitation of people with disabilities; d) capacity building of local institutions; e)
using information and communication technology for development and e) dealing with
environmental issues.
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First, it is important to build the human and institutional capacity of the villagers to take
charge for their own development and to ensure sustainable development. The Village
Development Organizations (VDOs) will be promoted with wider representation of the
community to run and manage the centres. Through the resource centres human and
institutional capacity of the villagers will be built and strengthened to enable the
communities to carryout their own development.
Second, the centers will maintain the village data base that can be used for village
development. The data base will also provide socio-economic data that can be used to assess
the socio-economic situation of the village such as: how many children are out of the
school? And what are the reasons? What is the health situation? What is the maternal and
child mortality rate? How many people are unemployed? What is the literacy rate
(male/female)? What are the key skills in the village? What is the level of farm productivity?
What are the main crop related diseases? Etc. This data will be made available to the
Government and other development agencies. Government and other development agencies
will be able to use this data for their development interventions in the villages.
Third, the centers will facilitate and coordinate village development activities effectively,
efficiently and in transparent manner through maintaining and sharing information about
resources, sources, type of project, funding agencies, implementing agencies, progress/use,
beneficiary base and impact on the local communities.
Fourth, these resource centers can play a key role in promoting livelihood opportunities
through providing market information, job related information, skills training, creating
access to microfinance and through creating linkages. Moreover, it can create market
linkages, provide business and market information to rural businesses and farmers.
Fifth, Hunza and Nagar due to their spectacular geographical and natural settings have been
amongst the major tourist destinations in the country. The centers can play an important role
in promoting the tourism industry in the area through using village websites containing
information about the major tourist attractions, flora and fauna of the village and culture
activities. Village level tourism related businesses can use the ICT facilities at the centers to
promote their businesses.
Sixth, the resource centers could be used for education (distance learning), skills and
providing access communication services such as internet, email, phone, photocopying, and
word processing, typing services and printing.
Seventh, the centers can provide information on livestock management, agriculture inputs,
crop-diseases, cropping patterns, best available options for the year and pasture management
to the farmers.
Eighth, the centers can facilitate access to microfinance for the village people and their
businesses. It is unprofitable/uneconomical for banks and the microfinance institutions to
set-up their branches in every village and therefore majority of the rural households do not
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have access to microfinance. These centers could act as branches or intermediaries between
the microfinance institutions and the village people and their businesses. Microfinance can
play a very important role in poverty reduction, promoting income, employment and
business opportunities in the earthquake affected areas.
Ninth, the centers can provide weather information and information about natural hazards
and their mitigation through Meteorological Department of the Government and other
organizations by using ICT-tools. As a result of the non-availability of this information,
farmers have to incur huge losses due to weather conditions such as heavy rains can damage
the crops at the time of harvesting if the farmers do not know beforehand.
Tenth, tthese resources centers will create access to various Government services such as
agriculture, livestock, health, education and registration related services.
3. Objectives:
The overall objectives of the project are village development, improving access to education,
skills training, poverty reduction, distance learning, promotion of rural farm and off-farm
business, e. governance at the village level and conservation of cultural and natural heritage.
The specific objectives of the project are as follows:
1. Promote use of ICTs for village development and improving governance systems at the
village level;
2. Increase access to various Government services;
3. Increase productivity and profitability of farming, handicrafts, cottage industries and
other rural businesses;
4. Promote access to microfinance through these centers;
5. Reduce the digital gap between the rural areas and developed areas of the country;
6. Contribute towards poverty reduction;
7. Increase the number IT skilled workforce;
8. Contribute towards achieving the millennium development goals;
9. Provide access to education (distance learning) and skills training for both men and
women;
10. To help towards developing replicable models of using for ICTs for rural development
and poverty reduction in the rural areas.
The beneficiaries and stakeholders will include men, women, farmers, students,
businesspersons, development activists, teachers, students, businesses, associations, NGOs,
Government agencies, tourists, artisans, community leaders and donors.
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4. Methodology
CBERCs will have multiple functions at the village level. With every CBERC, a community
based institution (Village Development Organization-VDO) will be promoted and
strengthened in every village to manage the resource center. The project will strengthen
existing institutions, if there are institutions with majority representation of the village people.
The project will promote/facilitate establishment of new village based development
institutions in villages where such institutions do not exist.
At least 40 Community Based E. Resource Centers (20 in Nagar and 20 in Hunza) will be
established each equipped with 15-20 computers with networking, access to internet with fax,
phone, and typing, photocopying, scanning and printing facilities. Resource persons, who
will be responsible for day to day management of the centers, will be trained in running and
managing the centers. A Governing Body with the name of CBERCs Board to provide
strategic and policy guidance to the centers. The members of the Board will consist of the
VDO representatives, schools/colleges representative, local government representative and
representatives of the active NGOs in the village.
Main service of the centers include: coordination/facilitation of the development activities at
the community/village level, provide a meeting place, internet access and email, access to
computers, telephone access, fax services, applications writing, give access to Government
forms and information, scanning, access to exam results, typing services, market and weather
information, printing, important announcement related to important events, job related
information, creation of market linkages, job application assistance, tourist related
information, data entry, notice boards, project proposals, village development plans, training
activities in computer, internet, agriculture, management, livestock rearing and use it as a
channel for resource mobilization and resource utilization.
The center will act as a development secretariat for the village. It will maintain
information/data base of the village: profiling of the village culture, history, NRM,
institutions, village governance, socio-economic status etc. Information about the status of
poverty at the village level will also be collected. The center will prepare integrated village
development plans and approach various funding agencies including Government to
implement those plans. The centers will provide basic ICT skills training (in English and
Urdu) to both literate men and women of the village so that they are able to access and use
the required information related to farming, business and other areas of their need and
interest. The centers will provide information about employment opportunities to
unemployed youth. They will facilitate linkages between the village institutions and social
welfare organizations with regional, national and international development organizations by
using ICTs to address development issues of the area;
The information on livestock management, agriculture inputs, and crop-diseases, cropping
patterns, best available options for the year and pasture management will be made available
to the farmers. Moreover, they will provide business information to farmers. Timely
availability of market information about farm products is vital for commercial growers of
farm products. Presently this information is not available to the farmers in the earthquake
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affected regions. After the establishment of the resource center, this information will be
downloaded and provided to the resource centers and the price list will be displayed in the
center for the benefit of the farmers.
The centers will facilitate provision of microfinance to village level micro and small
enterprises- farm as well as off farm enterprises. It is unprofitable/uneconomical for banks
and the microfinance institutions to set-up their branches in every village and therefore
majority of the rural households do not have access to microfinance. These centers could act
as branch or intermediaries between the microfinance institutions and the village people and
their businesses. Microfinance can play a very important role in promoting income,
employment and business opportunities in the earthquake affected areas.
CBERCs will provide weather information and information about natural hazards and their
mitigation through Meteorological Department of the Government and other organizations
by using ICT-tools. The Meteorological Department collects regular weather information.
However, this vital information is generally not available to the rural communities. As a
result of the non-availability of this information, farmers have to incur huge losses due to
weather conditions such as heavy rains can damage the crops at the time of harvesting if the
farmers do not know beforehand. This information, after downloading will be available to
the rural communities to enable the farmers to be prepared for unfavorable weather
conditions.
The centers will provide training courses to villagers on handling emergency relief activities
during natural disasters and emergency situations. Information on wild life, flora and fauna
of the villages will be developed and digitized in collaboration with the communities. The
information will be used for conservation of wild life. The centers will be helped in
developing the village Website to tap the potential of tourism and for promoting village
enterprises, income generation, job creation and poverty alleviation activities.
Teachers and students of the local schools and colleges will also use the resource centers for
learning and education purposes. They will also be trained in basic computer literacy. In the
resource center, where the internet is available, the villagers can use the facility for accessing
the internet, sending and receiving emails.
5. Sustainability of CBERCs
The centers will be set up with active participation of the communities. The equipment and
furniture will be funded from the external funding assistance and the communities will be
responsible to provide the building space to establish the centers. After establishment of the
centers the community will be responsible for their day to day running and management
through their own resources. KADO will provide technical assistance and capacity building
services during implementation of the project.
The running expenses of the centers will be met from the sale of its services (email, internet,
phone, typing, printing, CD burning, photocopying, fax and other computer services), the
centers will receive 10 % of the approved development projects for the village as a fee for
proposal development and charge a fee for other services such a training and
market/business information.
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As the centers will work as a development secretariat of the village and therefore they will
have a share in the development resources from the various sources received by the village
every year. Government and development agencies pay for the use of the village data base
and other services they use at the center. On the basis of the experience in the two villages, it
is expected that majority of the centers will be financially self-sustainable in 1-2 years time.
6. Implementation Mechanism:
KADO will be responsible for implementation of the project in both Hunza and Nagar
valleys. KADO will implement the project through community based organizations (CBOs)
and local development organizations (LDOs) in collaboration with the Government and
other development organizations such as AKRSP and IUCN.
7. Monitoring Mechanism:
The following monitoring and evaluation processes are proposed for the project:
KADO will be responsible for regular monitoring of the project activities. KADO will
submit 6 monthly and annual progress reports to the funding agency. KADO will keep
track of progress on the project activities and share lessons learnt with all the stakeholders.
In addition the funding agency may like to use its own system and procedures of project
monitoring. The project will be evaluated in the light of the project objectives and output
agreed by the partner organizations.
KADO Board and AGM will provide policy and strategic guidance to the project.
8. Project Results
8.1 Short Term Results:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Establishment of 40 CBERCs each equipped with 15-20 computers with networking,
access to internet with fax, phone, typing, scanning, printing facilities and photocopying
facilities;
Establish and strengthen 40 local community based development organizations at the
village level to handle development issues of the community;
Detailed data base of about 40 villages developed;
40 village development plans prepared and implemented;
40 village websites developed and uploaded;
Create on line access to various Government services;
Creation of 40 microfinance access points through the resource centers;
1000 men and women will be trained every year in ICT and income generation skill at
the resource centers;
200 businessmen/women will be trained in ICT application in businesses every year;
Reports on 40 CBERCs documenting the effectiveness of the centers as a mechanism
for total village development and poverty reduction.
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8.2 Long-term Results
Major long-term outputs of the project would be the following:
ƒ
Establishment of sustainable and strong community based, community owned and
community managed institutions effectively carrying out development activities
reflecting the needs and aspirations of the local communities;
ƒ
Creating access to information and communication technologies and capacity building
will contribute towards effective management of the village development efforts;
ƒ
Contribute towards employment, income generation and enterprise development;
ƒ
Sustainable provision of microfinance to the communities;
ƒ
Create job opportunities for the people by teaching them the application of ICTs for
village and home based enterprises;
ƒ
Create market linkages for agricultural products, promote tourism, handicrafts, cottage
industries and other rural businesses and thereby increase incomes, reduce poverty and
contribute towards growth of the local economy;
ƒ
Contribute towards total village development through implementation of integrated
village development plans;
ƒ
Contribute towards poverty reduction through implementation of poverty targeting
initiatives;
ƒ
Contribute towards improving governance at the village level by capacity building and
improving governance systems through using ICT tools;
ƒ
The project interventions would be implemented in such a way that benefit poorest of
the poor and women.
ƒ
Contribute towards minimizing the digital divide between the remote regions of country
and the cities;
ƒ
Contribute towards overall productivity, prosperity and socio-economic development of
men and women and poverty alleviation in the areas;
ƒ
Creation of awareness at the community level will lead to creation of demand for
provision of government services;
ƒ
It will have impact on the Government and regional and national level development
agencies;
Creation of a replicable model for using ICTs for total village development to be
implemented at the country level.
•
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9. Socio-economic context
Hunza and Nagar valleys are sub-divisions of Gilgit district. They are geographically remote
and economically destitute valleys located in the Karakoram Mountains in the extreme
North of Pakistan, having their boarders with China and Afghanistan. Total population of
these valleys is around one hundred thousand people residing in 80 villages, sparsely
scattered in an area of around 15,000 square kilometers. Due to the tough terrain, life is
extremely difficult and vulnerable to a number of natural calamities, while geographic
remoteness makes the life further difficult. Agriculture and tourism are key sources of
income of the people.
Due to rapid increase in the population, per capita land has decreased, while, after the
unfortunate event of 9/11 the tourism industry in the area has suffered from a drastic
decline. Moreover, due to long distances from the major markets, climatic and seasonal
conditions, fragile resource base, week infrastructures further constrict economic and
business opportunities.
During the last twenty years, the Northern Areas of Pakistan has experienced rapid socioeconomic change. As a result of the development efforts at several fronts and increase in
economic opportunities per capita income of the Northern Areas has grown to 60 % of the
National Average. However, still poverty is widely prevalent in the area and if we take the
poverty line of one dollar a day, about half of the population of Hunza is still below poverty
line (NACIHS, 2003)32.
Although, an overall economic development has been witnessed over the last few decades in
social and economic sectors even the livelihood of those is not yet secured who came out of
poverty trap in the recent past. Further income distribution is also inequitable as the top
20 % had earned 46 % share of the total income and the lowest 20 % earned 7 % share of
the total income in Hunza (NACIHS, 2003). This indicates that over the years the economic
growth has created different economic classes in the society with wide income/economic
gap between the rich and the poor, advantaged and disadvantaged.
Those with access, capacity, resources and competence (ACRC) were able to get greater
share from the economic opportunities and those who lacked ACRC remained behind in the
economic race. In addition, the poor face socio-economic and institutional constraints
resulting from the way markets, institutions, policies and processes influence their use of
assets to develop livelihood strategies33.
One of the major contributors to the visible change and progress in the socio-economic field
has been the construction of the Karakoram highway, investment by the government in
infrastructure, education and health sectors. Another major contributor in the development
of the Northern Areas has been the Aga Khan Development Network, which contributed in
the fields of education, health, culture, rural development, community, mobilization and
fostering of civil society organizations. As a result of the development efforts at several
fronts the literacy rate has increased and the local economy has transformed from
32 AKRSP: Preliminary Results of Northern Areas and Chitral Integrated Household Survey (NACIHS),
conducted in 2002. Policy and Research Section, AKRSP, 2003.
33 Pakistan Poverty Assessment Northern Areas Report September 2003, page 105
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subsistence farming into a semi-commercial economy with volatile tourism sector businesses
and trade activities within the area and with China.
However, as a result of development and change new problems and challenges are emerging
and these require new solutions. Some of the current key challenges are widely prevalent
poverty, high unemployment/underemployment, and marginalization and gender imbalances
in the society. Pakistan Participatory Poverty Assessment Northern Areas Report
(PPPANAs) found that women generally had low status, low access to assets and resources,
low access to justice and low influence34. Moreover, the same report says that at both
community level and within the households, being a woman in the Northern Areas generally
meant having less access to resources and fewer rights than men.
Due to cultural restrictions women’s mobility is limited and therefore they cannot migrate to
cities down country to find jobs, while men can migrate. Therefore, 66 % of the total male
workforce of Hunza is engaged in off-farm income earning activities as compared to 7.5 %
for women (NACHIS, 2003). While according to the figures for 1997, women’s participation
in the labor force in Pakistan is 13.6 %35. Due to mass education in the area, the educated
youth coming out from universities and colleges each year are mounting a huge pressure on
the weak economic infrastructure of the region. High unemployment rate amongst educated
people, who have higher expectations, can create serious problems in the society in the form
of frustration, drug addiction, social unrest and they can fall prey to undesirable elements
unless unemployment problem is addressed.
There is no industrial/commercial activity in Hunza and Nagar in which educated people
particularly women can get employment; therefore unemployment among women became a
critical issue. The high literacy, particularly university level education including in
information technology provides a fertile ground for promoting self-employment by
establishing technology companies and working for technology companies. Further these
literate people, both men and women, could be trained in marketable technology skills so
that they get employment in the technology companies.
Majority of the people of Hunza and Nagar depended and still depend upon subsistence
farming activities to support their livelihood and derive 47 % of their income from farming
activities (NACIHS, 2003). Women of the area still play their traditional role in the
agricultural activities such as looking after livestock, weeding, irrigating and harvesting crops
and fruits at the farm level. Their efforts at the farm level contribute towards the rural
household economy and well being of the families.
However, due to primitive farming and processing techniques the household cannot benefit
to the maximum extent from the potential offered by the farming activities particularly fruit
development. Further due to long distances from the major commercial centers, farmers
cannot export all of their marketable agriculture produce and therefore their earnings from
farming activities do not generate enough income to bring them out of the poverty trap.
Hunza and Nagar are famous for their natural beauty and attract many tourists to area and
the tourism industry provides significant employment to educated people (men) of the area.
34
35
Pakistan Poverty Assessment Northern Areas Report September 2003, page 16
Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan by Nabeel A. Goheer, ILO Islamabad 2003 page 4
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Aga Khan Foundation
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AGA KHAN FOUNDATION
(Pakistan)
Application of Information & Communication Technology (ICT)
to Community Development Initiatives in Northern Pakistan
Proposal
March 2006
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Background
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a group of development agencies
working in health, education, culture and rural and economic development, primarily in Asia
and Africa.
The "Unlimited Potential" (UP) is a global initiative of Microsoft (MS) designed to help
narrow the technology skills gap and aid global workforce development by providing
technology skills through Community-Based Technology and Learning Centers (CTLCs).
The current Project Concept follows initial contacts between Aga Khan Foundation (AKF),
USA, a unit of AKDN, and MS to collaborate in a range of community-based ICT initiatives
in Pakistan, with a particular focus on the remote and isolated mountain communities living
in the Karakoram-Hindukush region of northern Pakistan.
DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA
The Karakoram-Hindukush region of northern Pakistan is one of the most isolated parts of
the world, bordering on Afghanistan, China, and the Indian-held Kashmir. Historically, the
entire region was ruled by a collection of feudal rulers called Mirs and Rajas. Currently, it is
part of a region that is in dispute between India and Pakistan. About 1.2 million people,
belonging to six ethnic groups live in these valleys. The entire population of the area is
Muslim, belonging in roughly equal proportion, to Sunni, Shia and Ismaili traditions of
Islam, in addition to a small (5,700 in number) Kalash, a pre-Islamic community, tracing its
origins to the soldiers of Alexander the Great.
AKDN agencies working in six out of seven districts cover roughly 80% of the population
with services in rural development, microfinance, primary health, primary and higher
education, drinking water, sanitation and culture and heritage management. Under its Rural
Support Program, AKDN has created and channeling its support to 4,200 Village and
Women’s Organization (V/WOs). These community organizations work with public and
private sector agencies to promote a full range of rural development services, including small
infrastructure projects, such as roads, irrigation systems, agricultural technologies,
microfinance, schools, dispensaries and health centres
The area known as the Northern Areas and Chitral (NAC for short) of Pakistan presents a
unique development challenge due to its geographic remoteness, political deprivation,
underdeveloped private sector, and poor social and physical infrastructure. While many factors
are held responsible for this overall underdeveloped, geographic isolation is considered to be
the single most important explanatory factor. The area has experienced centuries of isolation
largely due to tall mountain walls limiting the possibilities of any kind of communication with
outside world. Consequently, small sized subsistence economies have evolved in these remote
mountainous valleys representing heavy dependence on meager natural resources.
In the last three decades, the development picture in NAC has started to change largely due to
construction of the Karakoram Highway and other investments by Government and AKDN.
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The once highly subsistence economy has started to transform into a monetized economy
showing varying degrees of diversification into other sources of livelihoods such as tourism,
trade, and employment in the government and private sector. Similarly, increased access to
social sector facilities such as health and education has also improved the overall standing of
human capital over the last couple of decades.
However, the challenges of economic insecurity, underdeveloped private sector, and poor
human capital represented by poor educational and health attainment are far from over yet.
Even the so called developed and diversified regions in the area present significant challenges
in the form of growing unemployment, under developed private sector, and unsustainable
non-farm enterprises where people have diversified. Women in particular seem to have
benefited least from any developments of recent past. The problems of underdeveloped
human capital, unemployment, and non-involvement in private business sector are more
applicable to women.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In the recent past, there have been some important developments on the Information and
Communications Technologies (ICTs) front (especially internet-based technologies) in some
parts of NAC, mainly in Gilgit district where COMSATS has started to offer the Internet
services to local communities. Even though these services are limited to only three towns,
namely Gilgit, Chitral and central Hunza, and the quality of connectivity and service is
considerably poor and unreliable, this landmark development has increased the speed of
communication with the rest of the world and benefits have already started to accrue to all
kinds of users including businessmen, students, teachers, and to the flora of civil society
institutions. Similarly, in a recent development, the International Development Research
Centre (IDRC) has signed a contract with COMSATS and two local NGOs from Northern
Areas—Karakorum Area Development Organization (KADO) and Baltistan Health and
Education Foundation (BHEF) to start internet services in two other locations (Hunza and
Skardu) and use ICT to find innovative technological solutions for development challenges.
AKDN foresees some key opportunities and risks emerging from these new technological
developments. On the opportunity front, ICT promises a fundamental change in all aspects
of lives of the local communities, including knowledge dissemination, social interaction,
economic and business practices, political engagement, media, education, health, leisure and
entertainment putting the region in the midst of a revolution. At the same time, AKDN also
fears that these technological developments may exclude women and other disadvantaged
groups creating a divide, as does many other development interventions, if a deliberate
attempt is not made to facilitate their inclusion and participation in the electronic
information era.
Against this backdrop, AKDN agencies serving in the area will draw upon their experience
and expertise in participatory techniques, bridging two disciplines; ICT and community
development, engaging communities, public and private sector players and local NGOs in
fostering access to information and opportunities created by digital world that are critical to
enable people create a better future for themselves. AKDN will focus on a framework that
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uses technology as a means to achieve specific development objectives such as literacy,
building the capacity of potential providers of ICT services and civil society, improving
healthcare, promoting gender equality, employment generation through various training that
offer flexible learning environment and support for a range of career opportunities and
technology skills. Furthermore, AKDN agencies will also build their own internal capacity and
the capacity of other intermediaries, and the private sector providers, in selected sectors such
as health, education, cultural services and social development programmes so that these
services are more efficient, relevant and accessible to all particularly women and low income
group of the society.
The specific proposal is to integrate ICT tools in a well-established community-centered
development support system, spearheaded by AKDN agencies in the northern parts of
Pakistan. Major components of the project include creating remote broad-band access;
introduction of computer literacy in schools; professional skills development, and developing
information and knowledge based products and services for communities, business people,
and service providers in the public, NGO and private sectors.
CORE SERVICES:
i.
Community Technology Learning Centres (CTLCs):
The primary goal of CTLCs is to take ICT to every village in the region so as to provide
a wide array of opportunities for development and facilitate the building of constructive
social capital.
Major components of the CTLCs include the following:
ƒ
Community information networking
ƒ
Capacity building and skills development
ƒ
Facilitation of economic activity and employment generation
ƒ
Social preparation for sustainability of ICT service
The CTLCs are proposed to have two different structures; 1) Regional CTLC and 2) Local
CTLC
-
Regional CTLC
The regional CTLC would act as a hub for the local CTLCs and would contain
facilities that can enable the centre to offer a set of core services at an advance level.
The regional CTLC would provide all technical support to the local CTLCs and would
be the gateway of communication. The centre would host advance training and service,
facilities such as software development, media, design and architecture. Data and
information will be based in the regional CTLCs which will be updated on frequent
bases and will be updated at the Local CTLCs periodically. Apart from support
functions the regional CTLCs would also do the marketing arm for the local CTLCs.
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Local CTLC
Local CTLC is the publicly accessible facility that will provide access to wide range of
computer facilities and digital resources. Local CTLCs will also market, encourage and
motivate the use of technology to the communities and target groups. It will follow a
path to serve the local geographic community to respond to its needs and build
solutions to its problems, a model of identifying ways in which technology can advance
the interest and needs of the community. Local CTLCs will be equipped with
computer facility, archive of relevant digital resources including media, text and
graphics, data and information relevant to the local community including education,
health, agriculture, economics, environment and culture, broadband internet
connectivity, full range of messaging and collaboration tools, and training facility. The
services that will be offered by the CTLCs include:
ƒ
Digital library that contains material and large data and information on
maximum areas
ƒ
General office and business service such as phone, fax and copying
ƒ
Training programs including basic computer trainings to more advance
trainings in computer programming and software development
ƒ
Trainings on management, office automation and job oriented skills
training
ƒ
Internet and e-mail
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Online education
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Telehealth services
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Agriculture, weather and information on environment
ƒ
Disaster management
ƒ
GIS
ƒ
News, views and cultural activities
ƒ
Meeting space for community
ƒ
Banking and financial services
ƒ
E-commerce, micro-enterprise services and business incubation
ƒ
Human social and cultural services
ƒ
Access to local information and communication of local information
ƒ
E-government
ƒ
Research and development to explore local resources, needs and other
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ii.
Social and Economic Development
Over the last 20 years, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has been
running a very successful integrated social development programme in the area that
has resulted in multiplying the per capita income of the people in this remote region
and has also instrumental to the establishment of various development and financial
institutions including the First Micro Finance Bank Ltd, Pakistan (FMFB-P). Building
on AKRSP’s experience of mobilizing communities to addressing their issues through
a process of community participation in conjunction with a strong collaboration
between the private and public sector institutions, a similar bottom-up, capacityfocused approach will be followed, recognizing the skills, talents and gifts of local
communities to bring positive changes in their lives through ICT. AKRSP will be
having a key role in the CTLCs and will workout on three major phases:
-
Community Mobilization and Technology Awareness:
A lot of work has already been done in mobilizing communities to take charge of
their stake, whereas significant efforts need to be done for creating technology
awareness among the communities and organizations. AKRSP would use its strong
communication link with the communities in educating them about the benefits and
uses of technology within the local environment.
-
Capacity and Asset Mapping
Assessment will be made of the capacity and resources available with the
communities so that programs and activities relevant to the needs of the local
communities are devised for the CTLCs. The mapping will include information on
demography, Education, health, use of technology, individual skill levels, community
and other organizations, public places such as schools, health centres, financial and
other institutions and setups, businesses, socio-cultural and economic activities.
Communities would be encouraged to identify problems and suggest technology
solutions. The information will be publicized and shared to promote adoption of
new ideas and solutions. AKRSP will seek out research and development directed to
address the problems of the communities through CTLCs. This research and
development will provide first-hand solutions to CTLCs in setting its priorities in
meeting the ICT needs of the communities.
-
Capacity Building and Networking and Knowledgebase
The CTLCs will act as a hub of networks for service level organizations. The
interconnectivity will enable the people to access maximum information from a
single access point and similarly each organization connected to the network can also
have access to local as well as global information resource, technical and professional
support. Substantial capacity building of the service organizations will made so that
they can make better use of ICT tools. Database and digital library of the research,
local content, global links, updated information and training material will be created
targeted towards CTLCs, the local community, and organizations connected to the
network.
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iii. Education:
The Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKESP) has a long history of serving the
people of NAC in the sector of primary and secondary education through its network
of over 100 schools where majority of the students are female. AKES follows a
strategy that is not only focused around students but is also targeted in enhancing the
capacity and skills of the teachers as well as educating the parents and society at large.
In view of the positive experience of ICT in education worldwide, AKESP through
this project anticipates use of ICT to support pedagogic practices providing learning
environment that are more Learner-centered, Knowledge-centered, Assessmentcentered, and Community-centered. Interventions will be made in the following areas:
ICT Integration in Learning Environments
Students
-
Use of ICT to develop skills and capabilities of students to a level where they
become more engaged with their own learning and achieve learning
outcomes across the curriculum at a higher level.
Provision of online material and learning resources to students so that they
can get broader knowledge on various subjects and fields.
Teachers
-
Building capacity of teachers in using ICT tools for teaching, research and
effectively integration of ICT wherever appropriate, into constructivist
learning environments, and contributing to relevant learning communities.
Enable teachers to accommodate the varied learning style and paces of
learning within the classroom and make available individualized instruction
techniques that are a proven factor in student achievement
Learning Communities
-
-
Using the potential of ICT in learning environments to support dialogue,
enhance interaction and help students to share and revise ideas.
Provide a knowledge-centered classroom environment, and an ongoing
assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and
students are essential. They permit the teacher to grasp the students’
preconceptions, understand where the students are in the “developmental
corridor” from informal to formal thinking, and design instruction
accordingly. In the assessment-centered classroom environment, formative
assessments help both teachers and students monitor progress.
Building of an environment which is supportive and not limited to school
going students and teachers but is open to all community to make use of ICT
built on a shared, community-based vision that prepares students to learn,
work and live successfully in a knowledge-based, global society.
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Distance Education
The Aga Khan University–Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) has
been offering distance teacher education programs since 2002. The main aim is to
provide increased access to programs for teachers and educational leaders who, for a
variety of reasons, are unable to attend full-time courses at AKU-IED. While the
content is delivered through print-based resources designed and developed by AKUIED faculty and staff, online learning components are also integrated through the
Virtual Learning Environment, IEDOnline. The online learning is also used to
address learner isolation and to provide greater interaction and feedback
opportunities through Email and websites. Currently due to poor Internet
connectivity and computer access school teachers (mostly female) in the Northern
Areas and Chitral are unable to benefit from online learning. Access to computing
facility would make it possible to train teachers and educational leaders in using ICT
for learning and teaching purposes.
-
-
-
-
iv.
The community learning resource center (CLRC) will be used as Regional
Study Centers where school teachers, mostly women, who are enrolled on
AKU-IED’s will access computers and Internet for distance learning at
CLRC. These centres will also house a range of digital learning resources
(interactive CDs etc) together with associated hardware required for the use
of these resources. Teacher educators and students will be provided accessed
to digital libraries and learning repositories to keep pace with the changing
world knowledge.
Computer Literacy programmes will be organized for teachers and
educational leaders so that they can use computers for their professional and
personal use particularly integrating ICTs with subject areas such as English,
Math, Science and Social Studies.
Qualitative and quantitative research studies on the use of ICT for learning
and teaching and teacher education in Northern Areas and Chitral (NAC)
will be conducted by AKU-IED’s faculty, professional development teachers
and Master of Education students. These studies will help developing
strategies and plans for future growth of ICT in education in this region.
Development of information literacy skills is necessary to bridge the ever
increasing ‘digital divide’. Workshops and training programmes will be
conducted on developing information literacy skills of school children.
Health:
Aga Khan Health Services, Pakistan (AKHSP) is providing health services to the
communities in Northern Areas through it 50 health centres. The health services
have the potential to provide much sophisticated health services more efficiently
and can be made more accessible through use of ICT. Following ICT
interventions would be of great benefit for AKHSP to achieve its goals of
providing excellent heath facilities and services in a timely manner.
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Virtual Meeting Software
AKHSP has virtual software through which it can conduct virtual meetings and
trainings remotely and with a dedicated connectivity of 28.8 kbps. Due to nonavailability of connectivity facilities AKHSP has not been able to get advantage out
of this system, though in some of the locations where internet facility is available it
has been used By the Information System Department (ISD) for monthly review
meetings. With the availability of required connectivity in the Northern Area and
Chitral meetings and trainings can be conducted remotely, similarly Doctors and
health experts can discuss patient details and medication. It can save time, cost,
enhance the capacity of the organization and provide access to expert opinion in
resolving health related issues of the communities.
Telemedicine
Usually it is very difficult for any country to provide health facilities to all patients
physically, because the population is increasing day by day but physician in that
country are not increasing with that ratio. The only best option to serve a patient is
through telemedicine where patient can talk with physician through a video
conferencing features.
Telemedicine base on three things:
Connectivity (DSL or ISDN with high bandwidth)
Tools
(Telemedicine software)
Training
(Physician and paramedical staff)
AKHSP is looking forward to establish telemedicine setup at remote areas
throughout its health centre networks, as it is difficult to provide quality health
service at all locations, but it can be achieve by connected health centres, where
expertise available at one end is available at the other. AKHSP, through this project
will connect maximum of its Health Centres and put the appropriate setup in place
to prove telemedicine facility.
Health Informatics
Most of the locations where AKHSP has its health centres are geographically
dispersed and isolated hence, if a patient referred for advance testing or medication
to a higher level of health facility centre, patient records are physically carried and
there is little coherence among the various levels of health services. Similarly there is
no proper means to share overall health statistics and information which is very
important in deciding about patients and providing health services
For an organization as geographically dispersed as AKHS, P it is essential to have a
sense of coherence amongst various levels of health services. Often the patients
have to go through another round of tests and assessments because of the
unavailability of on line record system.
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AKHSP has implemented a health statistical application in all its regional centres,
which contain comprehensive health information such as morbidity patterns,
demographic information and is updated by regional paramedical staff on timely
basis. If this information is promptly accessible to AKHSP management,
government and other relevant agencies, they can be in much better position to take
decision and to provide safety measures in terms of medicine and other living aids to
these communities. Hence connectivity can bring substantial improvement to the
operations and services of AKHSP and enable the communities to better health
services.
v.
Cultural Services
AKCSP works with communities with twin goals of preserving the cultural heritage
and built environment while on the other end build the capacity and improving the
economic conditions of the communities. ACSP has vital interest in building the
capacity and skills development of the local communities that are increasingly relevant
and needed in the market place.
Skill Development:
1. Software Usage and Competency:
i.
AutoCAD and others for technical drawings and representations.
ii.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) related software and
layered mapping, including hazard and risk mapping, and eco-systems
and inclusion of satellite maps in information systems.
iii.
Database usage for inventory and filing and recording.
iv.
Accounting and financial skills.
v.
Access to online services such as www. Archnet.org
vi.
Conversion of analog drawings and documents into digitized
versions.
vii.
Archiving of materials such as images, documents, drawings.
2. Usage of and competence in digital imaging and Total Station and other
equipment for mapping and documentation.
i. Distance learning through access to various online programs nationally
and internationally.
ii. Basic architecture skills. For those women who have shown good
aptitude for technical documentation, impart training in basic
architecture skills, which could then be used to meet the huge demand of
architectural services in the area. (This is planned for Altit initially where
there is an emerging pool of women who could progress to this stage.)
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Connectivity Solution
The overall connectivity will be a combination of fiber optic, wireless and satellite
technology. Regional CLCs will be connected through fiber optic while villages
where Local CTLCs are established having line of site with the Regional CTLCs,
wireless WAN will be setup and for isolated valleys the only feasible option is
satellite communication with meshing option. Before selection of a particular
technology a feasibility study will be conducted.
Project Objectives:
The main objective of this project is to improve the economic, social, political and personal
lives of the isolated mountain communities of the Karakoram-Hindukush region through the
use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Focus would be on building a
network of Community Technology Learning Centers (CTLCs), aimed at the social use and
appropriateness of the technological tools and information that can be accessed as part of a
social change to improve the living conditions of these digitally excluded communities.
1. Establishment and operation of viable, sustainable CTLCs, to promote use of ICT
and its application at grass root level with particular focus on female.
2. Facilitate and accelerate, through multi-stakeholder collaborations, the provision of
knowledge-based livelihoods and income-generation opportunities for the people.
3. Creating a secure and reliable ICT infrastructure with wider connectivity at
affordable costs with integrated technological applications that are relevant to the
day-to-day lives of people including agriculture, education, health, rural
entrepreneurship, microfinance, employment, trade, and commerce.
4. Use ICT to identify and harness local skills and talents in a collaborative partnership,
sharing knowledge and trading together for a sustainable future.
5. Support school activities and promote informal education, transforming schools and
training centres into open centres of learning for all by exploring the potential of
ICT in developing new instruments of learning.
6. Creation, processing, dissemination, conservation and wide spread use of local
contents for better flow of information and promotion of global understanding on
cultural diversity, management of natural resources, mobilizing external resources for
specific social causes and promoting ecotourism as a viable source of livelihood in
the area.
7. Conduct literacy, basic education and continuing education activities for the
disadvantaged community and making educational, cultural, and business resources
available through use of ICT in an accessible, affordable and sustainable way for the
development of the people
8. Facilitate access to information about diseases and treatments, preventive medicines,
alternative treatments, hygiene and health education.
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PROJECT OUTPUTS:
Connectivity Infrastructure:
Connectivity is a critical enabling agent building a global information society where everyone
can participate on an equal footing. The Karakoram-Hindukush is mostly isolated
mountainous region with poor communication infrastructure hence connectivity would be
of satellite based backbone and broadband LAN and WAN systems in three locations,
linking 100 schools, 50 health centres and 200 CTLCs.
Installation and setup of reliable, cost effective hardware compatible with local needs and
environment at each selected locations.
Awareness and Education:
Ability to use and adapt Information technology is one of the critical factors and can be
addressed through relevant training and awareness. The project impart wide range of
awareness and training programs including both formal and non-formal ICT skill
development programmes, computer literacy, work related learning programs, educational
applications, teaching and training tools, local relevant content development and
dissemination.
Mentoring and empowerment of women and disadvantaged groups through employability
skills and lifelong learning
Training covering academic enrichment, youth development, enrichment, youth as well as
adult learning
Organizing leader awareness programmes.
Technology-Led Economic Development
Considering the impact of technology, it becomes evident that the economic development is
very much dependent on ICT. Job creation and income generation is now closely
intertwined with information technology. Whether communities are striving to attract new
industries, retain and expand existing businesses, inspire entrepreneurship, or manage
growth, computers and the internet play a vital role in the development agenda. This reality
is the foundation of information technology-led economic development and CTLCs play a
vital role in exploring the potential of economic development of the area through application
of ICT.
Technical backstopping
Establishment of Technology Support Network (TSN) for CTLCs, Schools and Health
Centres that can provide high tech solutions, problem solving and facilitation skills, create an
environment of collaboration for AKDN institutions, Community, Government
organizations and private institutions.
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Professional Development
Development of comprehensive and forward-looking capacity building Programs, which
would enable people to acquire the skills necessary to benefit from the potential of the new
economy.
Building capacity for training of specialists in ICTs.
Basic and advance education in ICT creating a mass of skilled workforce.
Expected Benefits
1. Partnership Building and Resource Mobilization
Bridging together relevant actors from the AKDN, civil society, private sector and
government to build partnerships in planning and implementing ICT and related
development initiatives and activities. It would be a new form of partnership where all
stakeholders actively and responsibly contribute in planning, implementation and
decision-making process of ICT related as well as other development activities.
2. Employment and Micro enterprises
Fostering new skills and knowledge that will open doors to jobs or self-employment and
help to strengthen micro enterprises by improving their management, marketing,
purchasing and advertising
3. Health
Facilitating access to information about diseases and treatments, preventive medicine,
alternative treatments, hygiene. Capacity building of health professional and access to
advance professional health services
4. Education
Supporting pedagogic practices in school activities and promoting informal education
within communities, particularly among female, children and youth.
5. Community organization
Organizing communities and building their capacity to manage their resources, fostering
new forms of neighborhood organization, and strengthening individual and collective
capacities, encouraging new leaders, and helping to resolve concrete problems and needs
in the community.
6. Helping marginal groups:
Providing tools to strengthen marginalized groups, women's groups, to help themselves
in improving their living standards and to improve people's perceptions of themselves,
of their own abilities and their prospects for the future, enhancing creativity, self-esteem
and teamwork.
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7. Urban planning
Helping to organize community input into the planning and execution of housing
projects, disaster prevention and mitigation, and improving public services and
community facilities.
8. Productive Networking with Institutions and Government Organizations
Enabling communities to communicate and network with organizations, local
government and administration to collaborate on development projects, reinforcement
of procedures and enhance communication for exchange of ideas and promotion of
innovation and learning.
Information and Knowledge
Offering access to new and more diversified sources of information, and giving
communities their own voice; strengthening the exchange of experiences and
collaboration with groups and networks at the national and international level, and
facilitating communication with emigrants and displaced persons.
9. Communication and culture
Creating awareness about their culture and facilitating preservation of cultural heritage,
creation and use of different forms of artistic and cultural expression, and supporting the
use of other communication forms and technologies for the benefit of the community.
Partners and Partnership contribution
Following is a summary list of main partners and the proposed roles and responsibilities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Microsoft: Technology leader in ICT would supports the project through its
philanthropic programs aimed at improving the lifelong learning of young people and
adults providing technology skills through community based technology and learning
centres. The support would be in terms of software, and hardware assistance, financial
support for training and capacity building
AKDN units in the developed countries: fund-raising and financing of infrastructure and
bandwidth provision, and exploring partnerships with other players, such as HP France,
Telesat/ INFOSAT and Comsats, etc.
Telecenter.org: capacity support and networking with other players of similar kind
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): sharing resources, knowledge and tools,
assisting in research (impact of ICTs in education/ Model of a CTLC/ICTs in rural
development)
AKDN units in Pakistan: Take the lead role in organizing and engaging partners and
fundraising to establish and support and Management of the project including research,
product and services development, implementation and management, training, outreach,
monitoring and managing partnerships with government and communities
Communities: local ownership and management, cost-sharing, ensuring equity of access
and opportunity to women and other disadvantaged groups and promoting public
awareness
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Management Structure
Lead organizations of the project would be:
1. AKDN
2. CTLCs
3. AKDN Units
Steering Committee
The management would comprise of a Steering Committee where ideally, majority of the
members will be appointed by the lead organizations with AKDN as chair the committee.
The SC will provide direct oversight of the overall project including fundraising,
relationships, contracts and marketing.
SC would also be responsible for strategic planning and provide leadership and direction on
key aspects of the project and will also serve as a channel of communication and information
between the stakeholders.
Executive Committee
The executive committee will be responsible for implementation and day-to-day activities of
the project. The committee would mainly comprise of experts on ICT use in development
and other relevant field experts nominated from the partnering organizations and will be
headed by an Executive Director.
Sustainability
The CTLCs and the connectivity solution to the service organization would initially depend
on external funding but in the long-run i.e. in 5-8 years the setup will become self sustainable
and would require little or no input.
The main sources of income to make the project sustainable will be as follows:
-
Most of the services offered by the CTLCs will be subsidized for the local
communities in the initial years but gradually the fee for services will be
enhanced and in 5 years time maximum of the services provided will charge
the actual cost.
-
The connectivity charges will be recovered starting from the first year from
all organizations connected to the network.
Programs will be developed for government and private sector institutions
and organization for which fees will be charges at market rate to generate
income for the CTLCs.
Services for tourists and researchers will be available at affordable cost that
will generate income for the CTLCs.
-
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The AIOU: Allama Iqbal Open University
The following is an excerpt of an ongoing initiative of SATC with AIOU for its
Technological transformation from paper based Distance Learning to an electronic mode of
delivery.
Introduction
This is a summary of our discussions with the Vice Chancellor and his team on the possible
strategies to transform how the AIOU conducts its business internally and with its
‘customers’. This also shows how the Telecenters can be used for delivery of course content
and transforming the paper based, postal system into an interactive CD based Internet study
and examination system for the current 750,000 students. It is expected that with the
introduction of automation, the enrollment will reach over 2 Million by 2008.
This can lead to a more comprehensive Road Map with clear mile stones defining progress
and any corrective measures need to achieve the goals and vision outlined in the initial
AIOU document.
The process of Technology Transformation has to be in two directions. One is internal MIS,
Administration, Finance, HR, logistics, etc. This element will not have direct bearing on the
Educational content and delivery but will make the internal processes more efficient and
cost effective.
The other area is external. Modern technologies will be used to transform business and
educational processes and the way these are delivered and conducted.
Both these can proceed independently with inter-dependent linkages evolving in a
coordinated manner.
The Flow
The sequence of activities needed in such a transformation is outlined below. Some areas
may have been addressed:
1. Clear articulation of the Vision and goals for the next 10 years in one year targets
coming down to 6 months for year 2-3 and monthly for year 1. These must be
quantifiable as well as intangible ones but would serve as KPIs for setting up a
monitoring system
2. Set up PC2 projects for a series of consultancies and seminar
3. Set objectives of an internal automation system: MIS, Finance, Administration, etc.
This will lead to a set of initial ToRs for a software development consultancy in two
phases – Requirement and Gap analysis for setting up the application development
4. Create a Advisory Board for AIOU: These comprise of people from the Private
sector – IT, Education, Civil Society, Government, HEC, MoE, Specialists, Telecom
experts, Project Management specialists, financing institutions like UNDP, DFID
and WB, CIDA
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5. Set up a series of structured and formal Brain Storming sessions for a series of
direction like:
a. Areas for DL programs, blending in and supplementing the MoE and HEC
b. Telecom sectors in partnership with organizations like Cisco, Microsoft,
Telecom Training
c. Diploma level support – similar to what VU does for the graduate level
6. Decide on the areas to be outsourced for a BOT type of process and what to be
done by AIOU itself.
7. Structure a 2 day high profile seminar covered extensively by co-opted media
(Geo/The News/Jang) with participation and presentations from:
a. Process Re-engineering in DL program
b. VU/PERN
c. HEC
d. MoE
e. Financing institutions like World Bank, DFID, UNICEF/UNDP, CIDA
f. Beacon House Univ.
g. DL programs in India, Pacific Islands, England, US
h. Telecommunications Vendors and Operators
i. Educational and MIS/ERP IT companies
8. We will give a suggested list of topics later for this conference
9. Set up a Consultancy for change management and Attitudinal and cultural change
management
10. Set up a key 3-6 member knowledge coordination committee from within AIOU
11. Discuss with PERN and VU on shared resources needed – uplinks of , Internet
receive only, connectivity, linkage between AIOU and VU broadcasting node
12. Study the content generation process in VU and get assistance form them to set up
the back end for VU
13. Set up a Task Force for content development and management.
a. An essential part is an assessment of how the ‘Business Process’ change has
to take place in how the content is to be delivered via TV and Web and
actual Text Books.
b. Understand the impact on how the course materials are created and delivered.
c. Do not just translate the paper into IT – sure invitations for disaster.
14. Study and see how the Web based DL systems set up with VU/PERN for
Asynchronous learning would be able to work for AIOU
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15. Determine the requirements for Telecommunications for the learning centers
16. Consider using a DVB-S2 type of a VSAT network for core delivery of classes and
course interactivity. This is a fast start process.
17. Consider the use of Telecenters either set up by AIOU or using those from third
parties for delivery of course materials.
18. Determine the projects which give immediate short term (3-6 months) visible results.
This will help create support for the programs
19. Set up a series of Business Plans for the total project with actual RoI in financial
Terms. There are intangible RoIs which can also be created.
20. Set up a team to generate a Master plan and in this to generate individual PC1s for
DDWP, CDWP and ECNEC level
a. Get a concept clearance from HEC and Planning Commission to this plan
and a buy-in for these individual programs
b. These will be dove tailed to get a multiyear approval.
c. Try to get fungible, non-lapsing funds if the approvals are for a large size
projects
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Volume 1
Part 9
Telecenter elements application in the current situation in
Pakistan
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Content
The issue of services and content was also comprehensively analyzed for the various
practical and usable elements. These range from e-Government services (some available and
some as yet to be rolled out), Agriculture information, Community development etc. For
organizations like the Post Office the type of services are huge and very profitable. However,
the one type of service holding most promise are training and educational services. These
would range from Health worker training and Telemedicine support to agriculture
information (all required by the respective ministries with already plans for such service
delivery) and general education.
Currently there is no coherent e-government related content which could easily be ported on
this platform. There are however, several initiatives of service delivery in the public and
private sector which when collected together via a portal established for this purpose can be
a useful starting point.
A draft report 36 from the World Bank to the MoIT defines how some of most needed
services can be blended into the e-government program
A portal having possibly of linking to relevant sites and services (public and private sector),
blogging, feedback, development results, tool kits, etc should be established as a first step of
forming a community (or Association) of Telecenter operators.
Education and Training content
This ties in a very timely manner with major plans of the existing AIOU (www.aiou.edu.pk)
Allama Iqbal Open University to undergo major transformation from paper based delivery
of materials to electronic means. With a current student base of over 750,000 scattered all
over Pakistan, AIOU will use franchised outlets to deliver materials and support the various
training (vocational, K1-12, specialized) that it will deliver via TV and DVB-S2 satellite
systems. They have a clear understanding from the Ministry of Education in this regard.
It may be useful to study funding for the AIOU to set up Telecenters across Pakistan as they
have the same potential of reaching across to the remotest areas, have a mandate for
providing content and a sustainable model can easily be created for them. This can be a
serious contender for funds from Multilateral Investment Agencies as this as meets major
developmental and social objectives as well.
Some practical aspects of Sustainability, actions and interim results
Sustainability of the different type of Centers has been examined and this ranges from purely
commercial phone/internet type of ‘latter day’ rural cyber cafes to sustainability based on
community ownership. Several initiatives are underway, which will be useful in helping
create a sustainable environment.
‘20 most important services and e-government assessment’ report to MoIT, Kareem Abdel Aziz, World
Bank, Oct 2006
36
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Some key enablers for provision of viable and scalable service in the rural
areas:
Some of these are key to making the Pakistan Telecenter program a success, which ever
model is chosen for implementation. As such we singled these out for focused attention.
1. Vendors of Hardware who would supply and maintain machines in these remote
areas. This has been made possible by the work done by the PTA for their own
programs for Telecenters.
a. There are a range of prices available for installations with new computers
using MS Office and operating system or using PII machines using Linux
and Open Office supported by FOSS by UNDP APDIP-IOSN and locally
by FOSSFP. The software to be used:
b. Microsoft for Telecenters support and subsidized software
c. Open Source (FOSS) usage and interaction with APDIP on their FOSS
initiatives in Africa for Telecenters
2. Urdu Language software interaction with the developers for MS Office plug-in as
well as comprehensive local Urdu language software development and support.
3. Training partners – Intel and Oracle: Intel by virtue of their corporate programs are
willing to support the process by utilizing the skills they have used in training over
50,000 school teachers in IT. Oracle has done considerable work in the relevant
e-Government space in the region and is willing to replicate the process in Pakistan.
4. Content – Ministry of Agriculture and Health: Considerable work is going on as
Pilots in the pubic and private sector for training, information to the farmers, Teleconsultation and telemedicine programs in the public and private sectors. Once these
are developed for reliable delivery, these will one of the most important and useful
services areas for service delivery through these Telecenters. The same Telecenters
can be used for potential financial and retail services.
5. E-Government applications – e-Government Directorate, MoITT. Detailed analysis
shows that a more focused and achievable set of e-Government projects is needed,
to be able to set the basis for successful government delivery programs. In case this
is not driven by the e-Government directorate/MoITT, different organizations
within the government will develop (as they are currently doing) their own
uncoordinated efforts.
6. Provision of special phones with PCO type of metering in the CDMA/WLL and
GSM fixed phones
a. Interaction with developer of special GSM/CDMA multipurpose payphones
as well as with operators of WLL networks
b. Currently, a WLL phone is marketed for Rs. 3000 of which, Rs.2000 are
prepaid credits, Hence the phone costs the end user about Rs. 1000. As these
simple fixed, phones actually cost about Rs.5-6,000 originally, the WLL
operators subsidize these for selling in the market.
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c. Comcept has developed the GSM and CDMA fixed phones with a complete
PCO facility including data and print outputs, rating mechanism etc. These
phones sell for Rs. 9000 and have been tested on all networks
d. We have suggested (and have a positive feedback from at least one WLL
operator) that they give a similar amount of subsidy to the people who buy
this Comcept phone (for voice and Data applications on CDMA) and
integrate this into the network on mutually agreeable terms using the WLL
prepaid cards for payments for Voice and Data calls.
7. Provision of special Telecommunications gear, specially VSAT based DVB-S2 and
similar technologies
8. Vendors for Power supply (GenSets, UPS, etc): It is easy to pre-qualify vendors for
this equipment or these can be made the responsibility of the Computer hardware
vendors for supply and maintenance.
9. Telecommunications operators who can provide Interconnect into the
Telecommunication networks at low costs and are willing to co-invest into the
infrastructure for this. This includes the LDI and WLL operators.
Some enabling elements for a comprehensive support program for this
initiative:
2. Language software and systems development for Urdu and Regional Languages.
Already supported in part by the UNDP APDIP-IOSN and IDRC. Especially for
integration into Open Office (by FOSSFP & Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan Team) and
Microsoft Office. The work done by the National University funded in part by
IDRC, APDIP and MoITT is comprehensive and readily usable.
3. Consider setting up a DVB-S2 type of a satellite backbone and provide this as the
voice and data connectivity for Telecenters coming under the program. In this the
subsidy and support would then be tangible and clear. CPE for CAPEX and
subsidized interconnect for voice communications. However, operators will have to
make the determination of what type of connectivity is best suited for them under
the circumstances they are operating in.
4. Fund and drive 6-8 focused high value e-Government citizen service delivery
projects by developing the backend servers and processes and the delivery means via
Telecenters.
5. Considerable support for publicizing and providing institutional support for
prospective Telecenter operators/entrepreneurs.
6. Support the setting up of Telecenters for e-Government service delivery. A
comprehensive model from AOS (the organization which is doing land records in
different districts and urban societies) is included in this report.
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Actions and interim results
1. A comprehensive physical survey was conducted across Punjab and NWFP in about
60 locations in the target Rural Areas covering PCOs (prospective Telecenters) and
current cyber cafes with a specially designed questionnaire in order to have a
practical relationship to the base demographics, local culture and base for the local
economy.
2. A parallel survey was done by PSO on lessons learnt on the 1100 kiosks already
installed. This is being coordinated by us and a complete report will form the PSO
model as a prospective optimum recipient of MIA Funding since it will meet almost
all the requirements.
3. Discussions and details are being worked out on the payment schemes for the
Facilities to be offered in these centers. These range from using stored value cards to
prepaid cards of the LDI operators for telephone and internet use as well as other
services.
4. Coverage maps for WLL operators are being created (PTCL and World Call are sill
to respond). With this a good Road Map can emerge for the roll out of Telecenters
using the business plans which use WLL for Voice and Data. There is a buy-in from
Large Cellular operators like Mobilink for such an option for an integrated
Telecenter.
5. Considerable primary and secondary research and meetings on content and utility of
the Telecenters. These include meetings with NGOs and Provincial and Federal
departments with a developmental agenda for the rural areas.
6. Blend in education (e.g. Open University content development and delivery – see
later in this document), training and vocational development via these centers
7. Discussions with AIOU (Allama Iqbal Open University) indicate that AIOU
Management is considering using these Kiosks for delivering their materials to the
end user.
8. The Pakistan Post option is also being dealt with in detail with the PakPost
Management as well as with the MoITT.
a. This is the biggest opportunity area for Pakistan. Pakistan Post with 13,500
locations in all over Pakistan including the remotest rural areas.
b. It has a very systematic structure, confidence of the people in its reliability,
personnel on the ground and the possibility of using these centers for their
Banking and Insurance operations makes this a key entity which the
Multilateral Investment Agencies should focus on.
9. Initial meetings have been held with PEMRA to consider granting of low power/low
cost FM licenses to eligible Telecenter operators. FM station complete, costs less
than US$ 3,500. These can broadcast local content and can get centralized news and
information feeds via satellite distribution system (DVB).
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10. Discussions with HEC and Barani (Agriculture in rainfall areas) University for
funding the Agriculture touch screen Kiosks. Models and Pilots are already
operational. These would be an add-on in the Tele-center model for the areas where
the Ministry of Agriculture needs to address and would also pay for service delivery.
11. Detailed Technology platforms have been studied and costed for the Business cases.
These include DVB-S2, WLL, GSM, WiMAX, WiFi Mesh, SIP phones on the LDI
and DVB networks. This is being integrated into the study, based on different
operator roll out programs.
12. Discussions and the ‘evangelism’ has already triggered off several events:
a. NADRA is putting up their Bill payment Kiosks in the PSO Telecenters.
b. Saudi Pak bank is putting up their PoS terminals for debit cards in the PSO
locations.
c. Microsoft and Intel have promised funds, training and support not only for
the software but for Pilots and have agreed to work in tandem with the
program.
d. The local language delivery software has been put on fast forward and the
MS office version is ready and work has been accelerated for mainstreaming
the Lexicon as well as Text to speech open source software.
e. The PakPost is putting a plan for the Prime Minster for creating the space
for funding a large scale roll out of these Centers
f. NADRA Bill payment kiosks to be placed in the PSO Telecenters: NADRA
has developed automated kiosks for various day-to-day transactions
involving the banking as well as the service sector. The Online Payment
Kiosk is designed to enable utility bills payments as well as perform
electronic banking after proper authentication from biometric and online
verification systems using the computerized national identity cards.
i. This Kiosk offers a convenient, low-cost alternative to bill payments
and other financial transactions without compromising customer
convenience.
ii. These kiosks can be installed at public places and are connected to
NADRA's National Data Warehouse through secure internet
connections. High level encryption ensures protection of an
individual's data being transmitted to the warehouse for verification.
Funding support by Multilateral Investment Agencies for some possible
entities.
Some candidates for funding support for Telecenters are the following. Details are
elaborated elsewhere in this document:
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1. Pakistan State Oils (PSO) – conversion from non-functioning kiosks (out of the
original 1100 Kiosks about a 100 were functioning satisfactorily) to a comprehensive
Telecenters roll out in all 3500 locations
2. Post Office – planning for a comprehensive rollout of Post Office related services
including e-Government, Banking, insurance, Agriculture extension – ultimately
reaching 12,000 locations across Pakistan
3. Agha Khan Rural support Program – over 200 planned in the short term
4. KADO – Karakorum Development Authority – over 100 targeted
5. AIOU - Allama Iqbal Open University. There is a plan to initially set up over 500
sites across Pakistan, scaling to 2000 in the second phase
6. Telecard, Mobilink, Telenor – over 250 sites
The basis for support would range from developmental support of processes and systems
which are utilized not only for Telecenters but also for a more global utilization across the
economy. A clear financing model and portfolio risk analysis and framework needs to be
developed for other micro-financing institutions (or those like the National Bank of
Pakistan) to participate in this Project in a synchronized manner.
Funding organizations frequently demand significant accountability and compliance
verification, because of this, there is a minimum size of installation below which those
reporting costs become prohibitive. That will tend to exclude installations that might be very
beneficial in a local community but are too small for the financial infrastructure that is
supposed to be supporting the process.
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Volume 1
Part 10
Enabling Support Infrastructure
1. Rural Telecommunications
2. Hardware and Software
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Rural Connectivity for voice and Data for the Telecenters and
Community Resource and Information Centers
In order to create an integrated infrastructure for the delivery of materials and services to the
Telecenters and CRICs, a resilient, economical and location agnostic connectivity model is
needed. The Telecenters would not only need remote sites to be ready with the core
infrastructure (site preparation computers, TV, printers, HR, electricity) but a means of
creating interactivity for voice, video and data.
Voice could be handled within the IP (Internet Protocol) domain of the connectivity or via
separate telephone or cellular lines.
Cellular BTSs currently cover over 80% of the demographics where these Telecenters will be
deployed. WLL systems are overlaying these areas generally and are able to do more because
of the wider RF coverage distances at 450 MHz. In the next 12-18 months, apart from the
uninhabited swathes of the desert, forests, mountains and very sparse habitations (less than
3-500 people in very remote areas) almost 85% will be illuminated.
The other band of frequencies for the WLL is 3.5 GHz which is primarily WiMAX type of
deployments. A few of the licensees have announced roll outs of the 802.16g (nomadic and
fixed) the others are holding out for the ratification of the final specifications of the 802.16e
(full mobility). This delay will cause the roll out of WiMAX to be sluggish, especially in the
urban areas.
Data and Internet connectivity
While the remote areas may have access
to dial up internet of various degrees of
reliability the issue is of having access to
PTCL copper land lines. Several
Telecenters or small size Learning Centers
can be covered by dial up connectivity
from over 2300 locations (theoretically).
This would be at the cost of a local call at
single metered unit via dial up to several
ISPs and a low hourly charge of use.
All expansion for the access network by
Etisalat (the new owners of PTCL) is
being done almost exclusively on the
CDMA Wireless Local Loop. This is similar for the other two large WLL operators
(Telecard and World Call). Between the three operators the coverage is patchy and as yet not
so reliable. This is due to a variety of Regulatory, financial
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Cellular & WLL Coverage
Oct 2006
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The Cellular and WLL coverage already overlays 75% of the populated
area of Pakistan. This coverage will expand to 85% by 2007
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And poor business case models. The total number of WLL subscribes touched 1.12 million
across the country and predictions are that another one million customers could be added by
the end of June 200737. In absolute terms the total number of WLL subscribers stands at
1,120,439 (PTA figures). PTCL 704,617 WLL customers followed by TeleCard, 247,751,
WorldCall 138,071 and Great Bear serving 30,000 connections by the end of last financial
year.
Generally the data services on CDMA networks are better then the cellular since not only are
the charging schemes better but the reliability of services is higher because of the way the
CDMA system operates as well as a low loading of these networks as opposed to cellular.
This situation may change
Transport
with time since companies
like Telenor have clear
Optical
Wired
Solutions
Access
objectives of rolling out
EPON
GiBE
EDGE and reliable GPRS
PLC
xDSL
where needed.
WPAN / BAN
Short
Range
IrDA
Sensors
IEEE 802.15x
RFID
Bluetooth
WLAN
HiperLAN2
IEEE 802.11x
Proprietary
solutions
LAN
ADSL
ADSL2
VDSL
Ethernet
HomePlug
Home
Plug and Play
WiMAX 3.5 GHz WLL
HDSL
SDSL
licensees have as yet to
launch services. This is
Broadcasting
Cellular
MBS 60
Mobile
DAB
basically because of the
MBS 40
IEEE 802.20
DVB-T
uncertainties caused by the
Fixed BWA
UMTS
CDMA2000
Satellite
EDGE
MVDS
HIPERACCESS
controversy between the
Broadband
PDC
GPRS
Satellite
DECT
LMDS
DVB-S
Fixed (802.16e/g) and the
IEEE 802.16-2004
GSM
CDMAOne
S-UMTS
mobile
versions
(802.16e/WiBro) and the
Types of Wireless Broadband systems
costs
of
the
CPE
Customer Premises
Equipment (between US$250-600). This would prove to be an excellent technology to
spread Broadband to the rural areas because of its design specifications of 30 Km radius
from cell site. However, for practical reasons, this is not an option which can be factored in
at this stage.
IEEE 1394
Other
Wireless
Access
HomePNA
Narrow/
Broadband
Wireless
Access
EIB
Powerline
Quasi Cellular
IEEE 802.16e
One option which could serve a huge utility for a national Telecenter initiative would be to
have some organization setting up a DVB-S2 type of a VSAT system.
VSAT systems come in a wide variety of flavors. All of these types have been deployed in
Pakistan in some measure. Predominant amongst these are:
SCPC – Single Channel per Carrier
MCPC – Multiple Channels per Carrier
DAMA – Demand Assigned Multiple Access
TDMA – Time Division Multiple Access
37
June 2006
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The key elements of cost in VSAT systems are:
The Hub
The end user equipment
The cost of bandwidth
The DVB S2 systems address all these areas very well as the subsequent cost calculations will
show.
DVB-S2 38
There are already many millions of DVB-S IRDs deployed all over the world. DVB-S2 is
designed to benefit from technology advances to meet the more exacting requirements of
satellite broadcasting today. This system is optimsed to efficiently use costly satellite
bandwidth as well as transport IP packets for voice, video and data with low latency and
optimum compression.
Costing of systems
The Telecenter/CRIC DVB S2 VSAT system design
512 kbps / 128 Kbps
Small Remote Site
Route
1 Mbps / 256 Kbps
Medium Remote Site
Route
2 Mbps / 512 Kbps
With 32 kbps CIR
Large Remote Site
Hub
38
Route
http://www.dvb.org/documents/white-papers/wp06.DVB-S2.final.pdf
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Since different sizes of remote sites will have to be catered for the system will be
dimensioned for a mix of high bandwidth and low band with sites. These are shown above.
Following the next section on technical characteristics, is the costing of the system foreseen
for the initial deployment.
Configuration and Basic parameters
AS an example, the initial configuration has been made for a Hub which can handle 500
remote sites. This can easily be upgraded to handle higher number of remotes. The
indicative prices are also given in the table of costs, below:
Configuration
Parameter
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type D
Type E
Number of Terminals
200
125
125
38
12
Data Rate Per Terminal
64
128
256
512
1024
Total Occupied bandwidth
Units
kbps
13.59
Table of Costs
The costs are reckoned in US$ and are converted in the end to Rupees:
Cost for Hub 500 CPE
Cost per CPE
$625,000 US$
1,200 US$
Cost for Hub 1000 CPE
$720,000 US$
Cost for Hub 2000 CPE
$810,000 US$
Aux equipment cost
BW Cost per KHz/Month
100,000.000 US$
3 US$
HR and other OPEX
HR/month
Utilties, etc/month
TOTAL HR+Misc OPEX
10,000
3,333
13,333
US$
US$
US$
Estimating monthly operating costs accounting for depreciation and normal operations
including the human resource requirements. No account for customs duties and other taxes
has been made.
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Terminals
Total Hub technical operating
cost/month
HR and Operating cost
Bandwidth
Total OPEX/month for Hub
500
13,333
40,772
54,105
$
$
$
Monthly Costs
Amortised Hub+Aux/CPE
27 $
Amortised CPE
40 $
Opex/month/CPE
108 $
Total Monthly cost per site $
Total Monthly cost per site Rs
175 $
10,518
The impact of these has been taken over in the Business Plan Models. The cost per month
given here is to give a feel for the cost of ownership per month per site.
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Hardware & Software support
The issue of selecting the right hardware is tightly linked to the software selected for the
typical Telecenter, the funds available and the thrust of the services to be delivered from this
center.
These Telecenters should not use pirated software for reasons ranging from ethical to
practical. Most new pieces of software from larger software houses like Microsoft will have
critical new features but will need to be genuine for them to be activated or receive the local
language support and updates.
In those instances where the offer from Microsoft for reduced prices is still not attractive
enough, Open source software is proposed. Details are given in the chapter on FOSS.
The size i.e. number of PCs on the LAN will determine the issues related to connectivity and
hardware needed for the purpose.
The hardware needed is not just limited to Computers but also should account for support
equipment like UPSs, LANs, printers, cameras, etc. For all these, it will be important to
determine the suppliers, the people/vendors who will maintain the hard and software conduct
training as well as supply consumables like spare hardware (e.g. keyboard and mice), toners for
laser jet printers, paper, etc.
Hardware support
The key issue of hardware (PC, UPS, LAN, Printers, etc) and their support is critical in the
rural areas. The PTA has come into an understanding with three local vendors who will
supply the equipment and maintain it as well. Each Telecenter operator is free to choose
from these or buy on their own.
The second and equally important issue is that of the type of machines used. In the case of
FOSS, because of being less resource hungry, these can be Pentium II and IIIs. Refurbished
PCs are as low as US$ 100 complete. For the Microsoft software, these machines should be
of the latest variety since the software is feature rich and needs a large RAM and HDD.
Software support
The PTA through its initiatives has created a base for computer procurement and microfinancing of these Telecenters. This needs to be followed through. Hardware requirements
for Microsoft or Open source oriented deployments are radically different and are factored
in the suggested Telecenter models. It was important to blend in the use of legally procured
software as this has considerable merit for support and growth. E.g. the Urdu language plug-
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ins for Microsoft Office is best used in non-pirated software and local languages are key for
success in the underdeveloped areas where English education is limited.
In this context, we have had extensive discussions with the FOSS (Free and Open Source
Software) program. This is being pushed aggressively by UNDP/APDIP who was engaged
in detailed dialog via telephone calls and e-mails. The same was done with Microsoft.
They (FOSS/FOSSFP and UNDP APDIP-IOSN) have both agreed to provide support for
this program. Both were suggested support for local languages as a part of the initiative.
Their input is quite comprehensive and is a part of this document. This also includes
spreadsheets for the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) modeling for different scenarios. This
also forms the basis of some of the Business Cases for the different types of Community and
Telecenters which can be set up in Pakistan.
Microsoft offered to give software at a subsidized rate with several free sets of software
thrown in. They have also promised to consider a deeper involvement in this project.
In both cases, the support costs are to be negotiated. For the FOSS however, this would not
be more than local expertise for free upgrades
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Software Support
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Microsoft
Discussions with Microsoft yielded the following proposals from them:
With reference to our discussion regarding availability of Windows XP and Office 2003
Urdu Language Interface Pack (LiP), please find below the URLs for download. The
availability of these LiP can help a lot in the Telecenter project where English only software
would not serve the purpose in remote areas. These Language Interface Packs are available
for free for customers who own Windows XP and Office 2003 licenses.
Windows XP Urdu Language Interface Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0db2e8f9-79c4-4625-a07a0cc1b341be7c&displaylang=ur
Office 2003 Urdu Language Interface Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ccf199bc-c987-48f5-9707dc6c7d0e35d0&DisplayLang=ur
Office 2003 SP2 for Urdu Language Interface Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=db080de8-8193-4c32-90199980ecd6874a&DisplayLang=ur
The following was queried from Microsoft:
If this software interfaces with what has been already done in Pakistan by Dr. Sarmad (on a
funding by UNDP PAN R&D Fund and MoITT) for the lexicon, text to speech, etc., then
this is a good way of ensuring that people migrate to non-pirated software as this would then
have good value as long as this is not expensive. In this context it will be important to see if
this integrates the Urdu software and databases existing (e.g. NADRA, UZT1.0).
Since the FAST software and lexicon development has been under government funding and
will be freely licensable and available as some form of an Open source model to enable
future development in different universities, especially for different regional languages.
The document is being prepared on behalf of the Telecenter project, providing guidelines
for Tele-center establishment based on partial funding via the USF (Universal Service Fund)
is not limited to the Government of Pakistan. On this model anyone can use the Business
Case and use funding from a variety of sources (Multilateral Investment Agencies) being key
players for large scale funding to eligible large users). Organizations like the Post Office and
PSO are ones which are starting this off.
Hence, if MS does have plans to so something in this the GoP is obviously an important
element in the implementation process but as you will study this all over the world this is
primarily driven as Public-Private sector or totally Private sector model for issues related to
sustainability. Perhaps we could enable a set of Pilots with the Post Office and PSO.
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Responses from Microsoft indicated that they suggested the establishment of two types of
Tele-centers with the objective to:
a) Deliver services and
b) Impart IT awareness/education (bridging digital divide)
If we are looking at some of those centers to train community members on utilizing ICT in
their own development (Women empowerment, capacity building for youth, entrepreneurs
and teachers) then two PCs / center is definitely not enough to conduct training activities.
Our suggestion is to have maybe 200 (or whatever number is feasible) Tele-centers housed
within Government, municipality or NGOs in communities. Suggested average number of
PCs is 10 - 12 PCs depending on the needs of that community it is housed in. Each of those
200 Tele-centers should be linked to 50 kiosks around the same area (total of 10,000) where
1 or 2 PCs are available for e-government as well as other e-services.
These kiosks can be housed at Post Offices, PSO outlets or elsewhere as indicated in your
proposal already. In case of having Tele-centers with more than 2 PCs, Microsoft can look
into establishing IT academies where we can offer certifications on Office applications for
teachers, students, entrepreneurs and others. We can provide ICT curriculum, Junior
Developer curriculum etc for training needs.
Please have a look at following link for Jordan initiative: www.ks.gov.jo
On the issue of pricing:
The regular price of Windows Professional Operating System and the Office Suite of
Application alone would come to about $565/- . However, Microsoft would be able to
subsidize this considerably for the Telecenter project, and this price can come down to
about $185/. This is a saving of approx. 67%.
In addition to this, Microsoft is also considering the bundling of the following products
within this price. This will add more value to the knowledge acquisition in these remote areas.
1. Microsoft Encarta - To be used as an encyclopedia to access information
2. ICT curriculum – which can used to impart basic IT training (computer concepts,
usage of Windows, Office, Internet, Email etc) at the Telecenters
3. Junior Developer Curriculum – For students starting 8th grade upwards, so that they
can initiate their developer training
4. VS Express Edition – This is a set of .NET developer tools which can be used by
students as well
5. Funding – Microsoft will also try and get some funds per PC, which can be reinvested by the relevant authority back into the project with some specific predefined
guidelines from MS (e.g. training, skill development, etc.)
All of the above is contingent on the project, quantities involved, and us getting the required
approvals from the Region. However, it would be our objective to get these approvals in the
larger interest of the project.
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FOSSFP AND APDIP-IOSN
FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (FOSS) FOR
TELECENTERS IN PAKISTAN
Authored by Fouad Riaz Bajwa (bajwa@fossfp.org)
FOSS Advocate - FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan
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Revision History
This section describes the revision history of this document.
Date
Version
Description of Change
Author
26 Aug 2006
1.0
Initial Draft
Fouad Bajwa
28 Aug 2006
1.1
Second Draft
Fouad Bajwa
29 Aug 2006
1.2
Third Draft
Fouad Bajwa
Fourth Draft
Service Provider List Updated
9 Sep 2006
2.0
New case study added
Fouad Bajwa
Addition of various topics
Most content moved to Annexure
12 Sep 2006
2.1
Fifth Draft with data from CATIA including attached
spreadsheet and documents covering FOSS and
Refurbished Computer
Fouad Riaz Bajwa
Distribution List
This section describes the distribution list for the recipients of this document.
Recipient
Role / Designation
Office
Contact Details
Salman Ansari
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CONTENTS
FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (FOSS) IN TELECENTERS
CHAPTER SUMMARY:
196
201
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 203
TYPES OF ICT SERVICES PROVIDED BY TELECENTERS ............................................................... 203
THE CASE FOR FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE VS. PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE
IN TELECENTER ENVIRONMENTS 204
WHAT IS FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE? ......................................................................... 204
FOSS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE ............................................................... 205
FOSS BENEFITS FOR PAKISTAN ................................................................................................... 205
AFFORDABLE COMPUTING FOR PAKISTAN .................................................................................. 206
ACCESSIBLE COMPUTING FOR PAKISTAN .................................................................................... 206
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN PAKISTAN............................................................................. 207
ICT AS A BASE NECESSITY FOR PAKISTAN ................................................................................. 207
RELIABILITY OF SYSTEMS DEVELOPED BY PAKISTANI IT INDUSTRY ......................................... 208
FOSS NATIONWIDE RESOURCE MOBILIZATION.......................................................................... 208
EXTENDING URDU COMPUTING TO ALL CORNERS OF THE COUNTRY: URDU LINUX
LOCALIZATION EFFORTS ............................................................................................................. 208
BUILDING THE CASE FOR FOSS IN TELECENTERS
209
TCO TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP FOR FOSS VS PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE ...................... 210
TCO CONSIDERATIONS ............................................................................................................... 211
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR EVALUATING FOSS VS. PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY ................... 211
TCO SUMMARY WORKSHEET ..................................................................................................... 213
A NEW GENERATION OF FOSS TECHNOLOGY: ....................................................................... 216
BENCHMARKING THE USE OF FOSS FOR TELECENTERS BY ESTABLISHING A PILOT LOW-COST
FOSS/LINUX LAB ........................................................................................................................ 217
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN A TELECENTER ENVIRONMENT . 219
SUMMARIZING THE ADVANTAGES FOR USING FOSS IN TELECENTERS IN PAKISTAN .......... 219
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUPPORTING TELECENTER INITIATIVES IN
PAKISTAN 220
1.
UNDP-APDIP ASIA PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION PROGRAMME
TELECENTER EXPERTISE SUPPORT TO PAKISTAN .................................................................. 220
APDIP PROGRAMME STRATEGY ................................................................................................. 220
APDIP DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................... 221
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TELECENTRE EXPERTISE SUPPORT TO PAKISTAN ....................................................................... 221
IFOSSF INTERNATIONAL FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION
2.
FUNDING AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SUPPORT TO PAKISTAN ......................................... 221
IFOSSF MISSION ......................................................................................................................... 222
IFOSSF PURPOSE......................................................................................................................... 222
IFOSSF STRATEGY ...................................................................................................................... 222
TELECENTRE FUNDING AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER SUPPORT TO PAKISTAN......................... 222
CASE STUDIES SUPPORTING THE FOSS RATIONALE IN TELECENTRES
223
CASE STUDY 1: USING FOSS IN TELECENTERS ....................................................................... 223
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — THE TELECENTER PROJECT................................................................... 223
ADDRESSING A VARIETY OF COMMUNITY NEEDS ...................................................................... 223
THE RATIONALE FOR USING OSS ................................................................................................ 223
THE TECHNOLOGY....................................................................................................................... 224
TELECENTERS, CITY MANAGED, ALONG WITH PRIVATE PARTNERS ........................................... 224
LESSONS LEARNED ...................................................................................................................... 224
CASE STUDY 2: USING FOSS TO EDUCATE AS WELL AS COMBAT SOFTWARE PIRACY: ........ 225
GOA (INDIA) SCHOOLS COMPUTER PROJECT .............................................................................. 225
THE PROJECT ............................................................................................................................... 225
USES OF THE SYSTEM .................................................................................................................. 225
THE TECHNOLOGY....................................................................................................................... 225
RATIONALE FOR OSS USE ........................................................................................................... 226
CURRENT STATUS ........................................................................................................................ 226
LESSONS LEARNED ...................................................................................................................... 226
CASE STUDY 3: TELECENTERS USING FOSS WHERE THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY OR
TELEPHONES .............................................................................................................................. 227
LAOS — THE JHAI REMOTE VILLAGE IT SYSTEM....................................................................... 227
THE SOLUTION............................................................................................................................. 227
RATIONALE FOR USING OSS ....................................................................................................... 228
LAONUX — LOCALIZED OSS...................................................................................................... 228
STATUS OF THE PROJECT ............................................................................................................. 228
LESSONS LEARNED ...................................................................................................................... 228
CASE STUDY 4: ENHANCING SERVICE DELIVERY, SOCIAL PROTECTION AND LIVELIHOOD
SUPPORT FOR THE POOR THROUGH ICT .................................................................................. 229
ANNEXURE 232
PAKISTAN’S CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITH FOSS....................................... 232
LESS DEPENDENCE ON IMPORTS ................................................................................................. 232
LOWERED COST OF PURCHASE .................................................................................................... 232
FLOURISHING ICT PRODUCTION WITH LOCAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT................................ 232
INTEROPERABILITY AND AVOIDING MULTINATIONAL VENDOR LOCK-INS ................................. 232
THE CASE FOR PREFERRING FOSS OVER PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE IN PAKISTAN ............ 233
THE FOSS ECOSYSTEM IN PAKISTAN ...................................................................................... 233
FOSS COMMUNITIES OF LEARNING AND PRACTICE ................................................................... 233
LINUX USER GROUPS .................................................................................................................. 234
CIVIL SOCIETY ICT FOUNDATIONS ............................................................................................. 234
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT THROUGH UNDP-APDIP-IOSN AND IFOSSF ................................. 234
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GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN INITIATIVES ................................................................................... 235
THE FOSS BUSINESS CASE ........................................................................................................ 235
LOCAL FOSS VENDOR SUPPORT NETWORKS ............................................................................. 235
THE HUMAN RESOURCE DEMAND AND SUPPLY SYSTEM ........................................................... 237
FOSS SKILLS AND HIGHER EDUCATION INTEGRATION .............................................................. 237
TAKING PAKISTANI FOSS SKILLS INTERNATIONAL ................................................................... 237
FOSS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ........................................................................... 238
INTERNATIONAL FOSS PARTNERS AND SUPPORT PROVIDERS FOR
TELECENTER PROGRAMMES IN PAKISTAN
238
LOCAL FOSS PARTNERS AND SUPPORT PROVIDERS FOR TELECENTER
PROGRAMMES IN PAKISTAN
238
FOSS COMMERCIAL VENDORS AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT PROVIDERS IN
PAKISTAN 239
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Chapter Summary:
With the influx of Information Technology in a globalize world, developed nations have a
far exceeding advantage in both sustainable development and socio-economic stability as
compared to nations of the developing world. This advantage has formed a divide that is
commonly termed as the Digital Divide meaning the visible gap that exists between those
who have and those who do not have access to technology including telephones, computers,
Internet access and related services. An important part of the digital divide that is usually
hidden from the bare eye is computer software. Software is the program or set of
instructions that controls the operation of a computer and distinguishes from the actual
hardware of the computer.
Today there are various forms of Software that differ from each other in the way or through
the process that they are developed, distributed, modified and licensed under the copyright
laws and intellectual property protection regimes. The most prominent types of software are
Proprietary Software, Free Software, Open Source Software and a combination of the last
two, Free and Open Source Software usually termed simply as FOSS. Most proprietary
software is protected by global Intellectual Property and Copyright Patents which are the
methods intended to protect intellectual property of the people who actually invented the
software and many legal aspects of computing. These licenses carry high per computer or
per user costs which may become unbearable for the citizens of developing countries when
compared to the developing world per capita income. A solution to this has emerged in the
form of FOSS thus making the clear differentiation between free (FOSS) and non-free
(Proprietary or Closed Source) software and their implications to the software end-user.
Most non-free software in the world today is not sold, it is licensed. From complex
operating systems to tiny games or screen savers, the end users of the software have a license
to use it under conditions laid out in an End User License Agreement. This agreement lists
out the conditions under which the user can use the software – often restrictions are
imposed on the use to which the software can be put. In almost all cases, users are explicitly
prohibited from "taking the software apart" to study how it works, cannot modify or
improve it, are only allowed to make a single copy of the software (for backup purposes) and
are strictly prohibited from giving copies to other people[39].
The Free Software Foundation has introduced the Copy left as a general method using
copyright law for making program free software and requiring all modified and extended
versions of the program to be free software as well. The simplest way to make a program
free is to put it in the public domain, un copyrighted. This allows people to share the
program and their improvements, if they are so minded. But it also allows uncooperative
people to convert the program into proprietary software. They can make changes, many or
few, and distribute the result as a proprietary product. People who receive the program in
that modified form do not have the freedom that the original author gave them; the
39 FLOSS Concept Booklet at Wikipedia details the concept of FOSS in a very pragmatic manner clarifying any
misconceptions in its ideology related to both usage and software licensing.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FLOSS_Concept_Booklet
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middleman has stripped it away. Also the developers of free software will be forced to
compete with improved versions of their own software.
Copy left says that anyone who redistributes the software, with or without changes, must
pass along the freedom to further copy and change it. Copy left guarantees that every user
has freedom, and ensures that somebody does not remove the freedom from free software.
To copy left a program, first state that it is copyrighted; then add distribution terms in the
form of a license document – they comprise a legal instrument that gives everyone the rights
to use, modify, and redistribute the program's code or any program derived from it but only
if the distribution terms are unchanged. Thus, the code and the freedoms become legally
inseparable. According to the FSF, "Proprietary software developers use copyright to take
away the users' freedom; we use copyright to guarantee their freedom. That's why we reverse
the name, changing 'copyright' into 'copy left'."
The most popular copy left license is the GNU General Public License [40].
This chapter aims at illustrating the benefits and challenges related to using FOSS as an
alternative to other software. It also presents examples of FOSS activities from Pakistan as
well as case studies where there has been successful use including best practices of the FOSS
option in developing countries like Brazil, India etc. This chapter should not be considered
as a bias in favor of a single type of Operating System and associated Software like Free and
Open Source Software (FOSS) as opposed to Proprietary Software, but as a pragmatic
approach to building a business case based on informed choices and ICT software freedoms
that Pakistan has when taking steps towards ‘bridging the digital divide’ through employing
Telecenter strategies. This text aims to help ICT decision makers in understanding why and
where to make the choice between FOSS and Proprietary Software.
The opinions stated in this chapter do not necessarily reflect the views of either FOSSFP:
Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan, Ubuntu-Linux [41] Pakistan Team,
UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Software Network (IOSN) and the International
Free and Open Source Software Foundation (iFOSSF), though it can be concluded that
these organizations shall assist Pakistan in the future by facilitating capacity building,
awareness raising, localized content development,
infrastructure and connectivity
development, evaluation and surveys, overall results and trends of this activity.
40
41
Free Software Foundation, GNU General Public License. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
Ubuntu Linux-Distribution, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28Linux_distribution%29
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Introduction
A telecenter is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet and other
technologies that help them gather information and communicate with others at the same
time as they develop digital skills. While each Telecenter is different, the common focus is
on the use of technologies to support community and social development — reducing
isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic
opportunities, reaching out to youths. Telecenters exist in almost every country on the planet,
although they sometimes go by different names (e.g. village knowledge centres, infocentres,
community technology centres, community multimedia centres or school based Telecenters).
[42]. In a discussion on the WSIS telecenter caucus mailing list [43], an attempt was made to
provide a definition for Telecenters. More or less, the discussion also summaries the
definition provided by Wikipedia.
Types of ICT Services provided by Telecenters
The definition of a telecenter only varies in terms of the type of services and activities it
offers to the community in which it operates. Telecenters can provide telephone services,
basic Internet services and can be further extended to include access to fax, phone, and
photocopying. Telecenters can also supplement in education and training, health related
services such as telemedicine, e-commerce related services including provision of up-to-date
farming guidance including weather forecasts and agri-market rates, e-government services
including access to information about government funded agricultural and equipment loans
etc.
Some Telecentre models may also incorporate information kiosks and Internet stations.
Schools may also use their computer labs as Telecenters after school hours commonly
termed as School-based Telecenters (SBTs). Other forms of Telecenters have also emerged
where they are not restricted to one location and are housed in trucks or large vans that
travel from a remote rural village to the other. This telecentre mode is called Mobile
Telecenters (MTs). Regardless of their location, model or different configurations, all
telecentre models have feature in common that they use ICTs Information Communications
Technologies to provide a range of electronic services leveraging a shared and inclusive
access model for communities in which they operate. Most of the services provided by a
Telecenter will consist of provision of computer hardware with servers networked to
desktops installed with software to operate the hardware and access to the Internet to
maintain and upgrade the software as well as provide communication services to the
stakeholders.
Wikipedia, 2006, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecenter
Greennet Mailing List, http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/telecentres/2004October/000245.html, until now there is no one clear definition for Telecenters and the details on the types of
ICT services that can be extended through them, this also various from LDC to Low Income Countries as well
as there are examples from the developed world where Telecenters are still be deployed in marginalized
communities.
42
43
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Summarizing, Telecenters aim to provide one or more of the following services [44]:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Access to telephones and faxes
Access to e-mail
Access to the Internet
Other information services
Other developmental support services to meet basic needs
Education in “Information Age’ skills.
The Case for Free and Open Source Software vs. Proprietary Software in
Telecenter Environments
What is Free and Open Source Software?
Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) or Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) is software
for which the human-readable source code is made available to the user of the software, who
can then modify the code in order to fit the software to the user’s needs. The source code is
the set of written instructions that define a program in its original form, and when it’s made
fully accessible programmers can read it, modify it, and redistribute it, thereby improving
and adapting the software. In this manner the software evolves at a rate unmatched by
traditional proprietary software.
For many years FOSS has been building momentum. Beginning amidst the technical cultures
that produced the Internet and World Wide Web, it is now causing quite a stir in the
commercial world as large software corporations are finding themselves competing against
commercially available open source software. This new demand for free and open source
software has generated great interest among the scholars and researchers in disciplines
ranging from sociology to economics to social psychology, and has raised questions in fields
of application ranging from innovation processes to strategic management.
This interest has helped in advocating the usage of FOSS in the both Public and Private
sectors mostly benefiting the non-for-profit sectors in developing countries. The United
Nations has initiated various programmes promoting FOSS in member states including the
launch of the UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network IOSN [ 45 ] as well as
exploring the opportunities to adopt FOSS within its own system [ 46 ]. UNESCO has
extended FOSS resources to member states by partnering with Free Software Foundation [47]
Jensen, M and Esterhuysen, A (2001, pg. 11). The Telecenter Cookbook for Africa, How to Establish a
Multi-purpose Community Telecentre in Africa. CI-2001/WS/2. United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organization Paris, 2001.
45 UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network, http://www.iosn.net
46 UN 2005. United Nations Joint Inspection Unit. Reports on Open Source Software for Development and in
the Secretariats http://www.unsystem.org/jiu/en/reports.htm (07/09/06)
47 Free Software Foundation FSF, USA. http://www.fsf.org.
44
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providing an online portal [48]. UNCTAD has developed a FOSS Partnership programme
and has signed MoUs with the Government of Brazil and FOSSFP The scope of the MoUs
will focus on developing human capacity to use, customize, localize, develop and service free
and open source applications. Establishing new and contribute to existing conduits and
structures for collaborative software development and distribution, and improving the
quality of national and international policy formulation on the issues related to free and open
source software are important issues as well [49]. Today various organizations continue to
promote initiatives supporting the adoption, development and use of FOSS for humanitarian
development around the world.
FOSS an alternative to Proprietary Software
Due the positive activity over the last few years FOSS has emerged as an alternative to
Proprietary Software. It is also being presented as a viable solution to Pakistan's digital divide
issues. FOSS comes with a number of rights that distinguish it from proprietary software,
including access to the source code in order to make modifications; the right to use and
share it freely; and is usually available without license costs.
A variety of global interest groups such as the Information Communication Technology
industry, multinational software vendors and industry associations, academia and civil society
are increasingly lobbying their governments to take action. The suggestions that are being
put forward range from mandating the exclusive use and procurement of FOSS to a
completely unregulated free-market approach, and they watch every government decision
and statement closely.
The international Free and Open Source Software groups including the United Nations
International Open Source Network UNDP-IOSN [50] and FOSSFP: Free and Open Source
Software Foundation of Pakistan [51] have urged the Government of Pakistan to define its
position regarding the inclusion of FOSS in to the activities of the Public and Private Sectors
leading to the provision of software ICT freedom for the citizens of Pakistan. The
Government of Pakistan has taken in to account a large number of steps to promote FOSS
and prevent software piracy by providing FOSS to the general public as an alternative to
pirated proprietary software.
FOSS benefits for Pakistan
The interest in FOSS for Pakistan comes from the freedom and independence to use
software, contribution to making computing affordable (in terms of cost), and accessible (in
terms of usability), there are also the advantages of providing more options for the user, the
UNESCO Free & Open Source Software Portal. A gateway to resources related to Free Software and Open
Source Technology movement. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=12034&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
49 UNCTAD FOSS Partnership. http://r0.unctad.org/ecommerce/fosspart/partnersfp.htm
50 UNDP-APDIP IOSN International Open Source Network, http://www.iosn.net
51 FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan, http://www.fossfp.org
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ability to leverage local and global expertise for solution development, and being able to
contribute back to the international community our own developments.
Free access to source code also enables collaborative development (including testing and bug
fixing) - a methodology that has become characteristic of open source developer community.
Individuals and their ideas are more visibly recognized in the open source model. Almost all
major free and open source systems have an associated 'inventor', unlike the proprietary
systems, which are known essentially by the name of the vendor. Many feel that this adds to
the strength of the FOSS model by recognizing the individuals for the contributed
intellectual property. This opens the path for Pakistan to develop solutions according to its
regional requirements and per capita income affordability of its citizens.
Affordable Computing for Pakistan
For the common man as well as the academic, public and private sector institutions, the
interest in the FOSS model, is primarily because of the perception of a low cost of
ownership. Two major factors translate to substantial reduction in cost of building software
solutions, namely, that much of the FOSS is available free of cost, and that one could modify
or adapt them to one's requirement without violating any conditions from the
developer/vendor. When purchased, the basic software for any computing system, such as
operating system and office suite cost many times the annual income of an average citizen in
Pakistan.
Once these costs are reduced to almost nothing through the use of open source software,
the computing cost reduces to primarily the hardware cost. The Free and Open Source
Software community has been able to show convincingly that despite being free, the
software achieves a reliability and usability rating as high as commercial software of a similar
nature. Even mission critical applications are today running on Free and Open Source
Solutions. This feature also provides the Government to promote cost effective computing
within its infrastructure to direct savings from software to extension of better services to its
citizens.
Accessible Computing for Pakistan
As computing technology plays a utility role as an essential component of a good quality of
life, it is important that cultural and language barriers do not prevent proper use of such
technology. This requires software like e-mail management, word processors, browsers,
spread sheets, entertainment tools, etc to provide a comfortable interface that suits its users.
All software developers, today, recognize the need for tailoring (localize) software to
linguistic and cultural requirements.
Commercial developers and vendors can afford to do this only for large communities.
Localization efforts have borne more fruits in the case of Free and Open Source Software
systems, compared to proprietary solutions. For example, while Windows offers support for
about 20 languages, the popular FOSS desktop environment Ubuntu-Linux is today available
in over 40 languages and more in pipeline.
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Similarly the FOSS Office suite supports over 30 languages with more in the process of
being supported. These include some of the rare languages spoken or used by small
communities - unlikely targets for proprietary developers. The access to source code and a
wide community of developers knowledgeable about the source are major factors in enabling
large scale efforts to localize the system for various communities. Even relatively small
communities are able to enter into such efforts, which would not be viable for commercial
vendors to undertake.
Bridging the Digital Divide in Pakistan
A combination of accessible and affordable computing for Pakistan shows relevance of
FOSS in bridging the digital divide. Even at the best price in the market, computing systems
will be beyond the reach of majority of Pakistanis due to our low income. Free software
reduces cost of computing systems significantly. Coupled with movements towards low-cost
PC, we can now aim to have computer systems which are affordable.
Pakistanis speak many different languages, all quite different from English. The English
speaking community in Pakistan is not even 10% of the population. Reaching out to
communities who are using less common languages is possible only by localization efforts
put in by volunteer groups like FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of
Pakistan through Ubuntu-Linux in Urdu [52] Language [53]. This has only been possible by
using FOSS.
Along with languages, the cultural diversity in Pakistan is also high. Conventions (including
symbols, gestures, etc) in one part of the country may convey a different interpretation
elsewhere. These impact the use of messages, icons, and interaction in software systems.
While localization efforts are yet to address such cultural variations on a larger scale, this is a
strategically important emerging area, as information and communication technologies are
reaching out to the masses.
ICT as a Basic Necessity for Pakistan
Information and communication technologies are gradually becoming an essential ingredient
in one's life, irrespective of one's education, career and life style. As an important enabler for
quality of life, it needs to be available widely without restriction. One could, perhaps,
compare this to utility infrastructure such as roads. It is important that these are available
easily and at affordable terms. Proprietary vendors, with business and profit as the bottom
line, can not be relied on to provide this. FOSS model is, so far, the only viable model. It
also encourages volunteer efforts to develop the resources further to meet short falls as and
when they are noticed.
52
53
Urdu Support, Wikipedia, http://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Linux_Localization
Ubuntu Linux Urdu Localization, Wikipedia, http://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Linux_Localization
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Reliability of Systems developed by Pakistani IT Industry
FOSS model contributes to the general security of systems in two significant ways. Firstly
the deploying organization has access to the source code, and hence can, if needed, study the
same to find out possible risks and unauthorized modifications. There is also the option of
modifying the source code, if adequate competency is available, to correct any potential risks.
Secondly users are not dependent on a system owned and controlled by one particular
vendor. A wide community of knowledgeable people ensures more reliability and
sustainability for the system than would be possible in the case of proprietary software.
At a national level, this can be viewed from a broader angle. Having much of its critical
computer systems work on proprietary platforms, makes the entire infrastructure vulnerable
to the corresponding vendors. As new versions of software are released, old [ 54 ] [ 55 ]
[56]versions are no longer supported, and users often have no option but to migrate to the
new version irrespective of his/her interest in the new version, for fear of losing support.
While they may provide localized versions of their products today, there is no guarantee of
all their future offerings continuing to do the same. With FOSS, one has the option of
undertaking this work, on one's own, if required.
FOSS Nationwide Resource Mobilization
FOSSFP has devised a nationwide program as an immediate way to engage in FOSS
development by creating volunteer Linux and FOSS user groups within universities, colleges,
schools, companies and online mailing lists to share personal experiences by contributing
information and case studies regarding the use of FOSS in various business and community
environments and list them as FOSSFP chapter programs [57]. Secondly, since Ubuntu-Linux
is freely available by ordering online from [58], everyone irrespective of their location can
order CDs and share them with their family members, friends and colleagues since it is free,
has free online technical support and documentation including 6 month upgrades and three
year continued support by the FOSS community worldwide.
Extending Urdu Computing To All Corners of the Country: Urdu Linux
Localization Efforts
Apart from operating systems and general business applications, FOSS has immensely
contributed to human and social development through applications that empower
individuals, promote economic growth, reduce inequality, support human rights, gender
empowerment, microfinance development, employment creation, news sharing, information
and knowledge dissemination etc. [59]
RULE,Run Up-to-Date Linux Everywhere, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule-project
Rule Project official website, http://www.rule-project.org
56 Xubuntu is a derived from Ubuntu and runs on low specification desktops, http://www.xubuntu.com
57 FOSSFP Chapter Programme, http://www.fossfp.org/chapters
58 Ubuntu-Linux, Free CD Shipment, http://shipit.ubuntu.com
59 Bajwa, F. Tune Your Brains. SPIDER. September 2006. http://www.spider.tm/sep2006/cstory1.html
54
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Along with the low-cost and free-of-cost models of FOSS, its greatest benefit particularly for
Pakistan is that FOSS can be localized into the 70 regional languages spoken in Pakistan.
The Urdu Language is spoken globally by 60 million people and localization means making
available versions of FOSS that use Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pushto, Sariki, Himalaya
as an alternative to the widely available software interfaces in English linguistics. Similarly,
the availability of localized Graphical User Interfaces or visual display can be further worked
upon to develop localized computing and programming in Urdu including typing in domain
names in Urdu (Localized DNS) into web browsers to access localized web resources over
the Internet.
Urdu localization efforts are being carried out by Pakistanis online [60] from virtually global
locations. The most widely accessible and usable tool to localize the Linux Operating System
Ubuntu distribution is called Rosetta available at [61] with more information about this effort
detailed at the public wiki [62]. Pakistanis are volunteering by donating their time and efforts
to share the translation activity covering over 1168 localization translation tasks. An available
set of documents that describe the step by step localization process for any Linux
distribution into Urdu Language are available at [63].
At a regional level, to support localization, the regional BytesForAll FLOSS Localization
Consortium [64] gathers and brings together FOSS resources for carrying out localization
efforts for various regional languages spoken in South Asian countries similarly extending
this support out to other regions. These resources are engaging the Pakistani academia,
researchers, civil society and business and industry to adopt FOSS development and
technologies for ICT based production.
The strategy is to embrace the innovation opportunities that FOSS extends. With source
code in ones hand for every FOSS program available today, Pakistan can develop extensive
and highly marketable products at virtually no software costs for global markets. Similar
business opportunities are available for extending the software freely without any licensing
costs while charge for supplementary services built around the product including hardware,
networking, consultancy, training, trouble-shooting, debugging, maintenance and upgrades
through patches.
Building the Case for FOSS in Telecenters
With a growing and nurturing FOSS Ecosystem in place within the country, Pakistan can
extend FOSS and computing to all the rural regions in the country. This will not only
provide digital access and reduce the digital divide between rural and urban regions; it will
add to a new wave of innovation with poverty alleviation through education and ICTs. It
will also help in reviving Pakistan’s sluggish IT Business and Industry through providing
more opportunities to the industry to engage with rural Insourcing activity and vice versa.
Launchpad, https://launchpad.net/people/ubuntu-l10n-ur
Rosetta, Online Translation System, https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/dapper/+lang/ur
62 Ubuntu-Linux Urdu Language Distribution, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuUrduTranslators
63 Urdu Linux Downloads, http://www.fossfp.org/ullpdownloads
64 BytesForAll, FLOSS Consortium, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_floss
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Adopting FOSS, developing commercial grade products for foreign markets, disseminating
world class FOSS education and research will position the country in the future as the most
experienced FOSS knowledge workers and product developers worldwide as well as bridge
the digital divide and create value addition to the nation’s IT struggle.
TCO Total Cost of Ownership for FOSS vs Proprietary Software
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate designed to help consumers and
enterprise managers assess direct and indirect costs related to the purchase of any capital
investment, such as (but not limited to) computer software or hardware. A TCO assessment
ideally offers a final statement reflecting not only the cost of purchase but all aspects in the
further use and maintenance of the equipment, device, or system considered. This includes
the costs of training support personnel and the users of the system, costs associated with
failure or outage (planned and unplanned), diminished performance incidents (i.e. if users are
kept waiting), costs of security breaches (in loss of reputation and recovery costs), costs of
disaster preparedness and recovery, floor space, electricity, development expenses, testing
infrastructure and expenses, quality assurance, incremental growth, decommissioning, and
more. Therefore TCO is sometimes referred to as total cost of operation [65]. In short, TCO
represents a calculation of how much technology costs to implement and maintain over time.
The case to determine the TCO benefits on FOSS over Proprietary or Closed Source
Operating systems and software applications depends on a number of factors.
This document presents two TCO considerations. First a simple TCO consideration from
NOSI Nonprofit Open Source Initiative [ 66 ] and a second more complex TCO
Consideration including a detailed case study an calculation spreadsheet developed by Open
Source Research, South Africa [ 67 ] for “Catalyzing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA)”
programme [ 68 ]. The CATIA study, entitled "Paying the Price?", considers the key cost
differences in owning new and refurbished PCs over five years in a small business, NGO or
school in Africa. It discusses issues that set the context for a TCO consideration - such as
PC quality, brand position in Africa, pricing, distribution, and specifications - before
isolating the key drivers or factors that are likely to make a difference in ownership costs. By
considering these key comparative TCO drivers, it provides a guideline for organizations
facing a technology choice between new and refurbished PCs. A comparative TCO
calculator has also been developed for calculating projected costs. The TCO study forms
part of Component 2a (Open source software and low cost computers) of the Catalyzing
Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA) programme. CATIA is a three-year programme of the
Department for International Development (DFID) in close collaboration with other donors
and role players.[69] [70] [71]. Due to the nature and breadth of the CATIA documents, the
items are available for both download and accompanied with this document as attachments.
Total Cost of Ownership, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_cost_of_ownership
Nonprofit Open Source Initiative. http://www.nosi.net
67 Open Source Research, South Africa. http://www.openresearch.co.za
68 Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA) programme. http://www.catia.ws
69 Open Source Research, South Africa CATIA TCO study (.pdf 560kb) http://www.openresearch.co.za.
TCO_Study_Open_Research.pdf
70 Open Source Research, South Africa CATIA TCO study (.pdf 560kb).
http://www.openresearch.co.za/TCO_Appendices_Open_Research.pdf
71 Open Source Research, South Africa CATIA TCO calculator (zipped 174kb).
http://www.openresearch.co.za/TCO_Calculator_Open_Research_Zipped.zip
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TCO Considerations
According to (NOSI, 2004) [72], TCO is a calculation of the entire cost of implementing a
technology solution. This includes the initial cost of acquiring the software (purchase price
or license fees), hardware costs, installation costs (staff time or consultant costs), end-user
training costs, and the cost of maintaining the software (annual maintenance fees, support
costs, and upgrade costs). This entire spectrum of costs should be considered when
comparing any two solutions, whether one, both or neither is FOSS.
The most obvious places where FOSS has an advantage in terms of costs are in the software
acquisition costs, maintenance costs, and upgrade costs. FOSS is almost always freely
available, usually has no license fees or annual maintenance fees (there are some exceptions,
although they are not mandatory fees – they are generally for support) and upgrades are also
generally free. However, the acquisition costs of many kinds of software packages are far
outweighed by the other kinds of costs (consultant time, staff training, administration, etc.),
so software that is free is not necessarily less expensive in TCO terms than software that one
has to pay for
Key Considerations for Evaluating FOSS vs. Proprietary Technology
NOSI provides the following questions to consider while evaluating the TCO of FOSS vs.
Proprietary Technology:
Compatibility
•
What are the software applications critical to your organization?
•
What operating systems will they run on?
Software Acquisition Cost
•
With a proprietary solution, how large will software acquisition costs be relative
to other costs?
•
With a proprietary solution, how easy will it be to get discounted software?
Implementation Costs
•
What is the ease of implementation in terms of resources needed (time and
money)?
•
What kind of expertise might be needed for this software, whether it is
proprietary or open source?
•
What kind of expertise do you have available?
72 Michelle, M, Cowan, R, Silvers, R, Schneiderman, A, Hickman, A and McClelland, J. 2004. Choosing and
Using Open Source Software. NOSI Nonprofit Open Source Initiative: 6-10.
http://www.nosi.net/primer/NOSIPrimer.pdf#search=%22nosi%20primer%22 (06/09/06)
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Hardware Costs
•
Is this a situation where you may need multiple servers?
•
Does the proprietary software being evaluated have any special hardware
requirements? Does it require vendor-certified hardware?
Training Costs
•
Will implementing this software (whether OSS or not) require end-user training?
•
Will you rely on in-house staff to support this solution, and if so, what is their
current knowledge of the solution?
Maintenance Fees
•
Does the proprietary alternative require annual maintenance fees?
Upgrade Fees
•
How often might you need to upgrade this software?
•
Are upgrades available at a nonprofit discount, and if so does your organization
qualify?
Administration & Support
•
What sources of support are available for the open source option?
•
How would they fit into your overall IT support strategy?
•
How important a factor is reliability in your choice of solution?
•
Are viruses and other security problems common with the proprietary option?
The answers to the above questions are subject to the strategic partnerships and value that
the Telecenter project in Pakistan will develop in accordance with support from local and
global partnerships.
This is considerable significance since Telecenters of all varieties are expected to come up in
very large numbers in places like the Pakistan Post, adjunct to existing businesses like PSO
petrol pumps, set up by Telecommunications companies under the USF (Universal Service
funds). A majority of these will be in the Rural areas where funding for a large number of
these for CAPEx and OPEx, will be hard to come by.
Service delivery of e-Government will be done via these Telecenters and will need
considerable compatibility in terms of language support, etc.
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TCO Summary Worksheet
NOSI provides the following worksheet to facilitate calculating the TCO of a FOSS vs.
proprietary technologies
Proprietary Solution
FOSS Solution
Software Costs
Hardware Costs
Installation Costs
Training Costs
Upgrade Costs
Maintenance Costs
Support Staff
NOSI Example: File/Mail/Web Server providing mail for 25 users with a 4 year
investment period
Proprietary Solution
FOSS Solution
(Windows 2003 server with Exchange)
(Knoppix, Debian, Suse or Fedora Linux)1
Windows 2003 Server: $30.
25 client access licenses: 25.
Software Costs
Symantec Antivirus:
20.
(These rates available only to nonprofit groups
0
purchasing via Discount Tech)
Hardware Costs
1,304
1304
4 hours = 300
4 hours = 300
Training Costs 2
0
0
Total Installation Cost
$1,679.
$ 1,504.
Upgrade Costs 3
$ 55
$0
Maintenance Costs 4, 5
$3,600. /yr x 4 years = $14,400.
$1,800/yr. x 4 years = $7,200.
(Consultant at $75/hr.)
(average of 4 hours/month)
(average of 2 hours/month)
Total (over 4 years)
$16,134.
$8,804.
Installation Costs
(Consultant at $75/hr)
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1. There also exist commercial distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise or SuSE that
range in cost from $80 upwards depending on levels of support and inclusion of
proprietary high-end features. However, for the purposes outlined here, any
distribution listed above will have the necessary features.
2. Since this is server software, there will be no training implication for end users.
3. Based on the assumption that upgrading the OS in 2 years or so will cost the same as
the acquisition cost – which is not always the case.
4. This estimate is based on the assumption that regular, scheduled maintenance will
take place.
5. The assumption that Linux maintenance will take fewer hours than Windows
maintenance is based on the information in one of the case studies, and is borne out
by the experience of four of the authors of this primer who have experience with
both operating systems.
This worksheet may be customized according to the prices of hardware and software
licensing prevalent in a region. In the scenario of Pakistan, there is an option to choose from
four types of computer hardware available from urban markets including:
1. Branded expensive hardware from multinationals such as IBM, HP and ACER etc.
2. Branded less-expensive hardware from local assemblers such as INBOX, Jaffer
Brothers etc.
3. Non-branded imported less-expensive hardware available throughout the country
4. Refurbished branded low-cost hardware available in the form of import edcontainer
lots.
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Pakistani Example: File/Mail/Web Server providing mail for 4 users with a 4 year
investment period
Proprietary Solution
FOSS Solution
(Windows 2003 server with Exchange)
(Ubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu Linux)1
Windows 2003 Server: Rs. 6000.
Software Costs
4 client access licenses:
4000.
Symantec AntiVirus:
4000.
0
(These rates are an estimated amount yet to
be confirmed)
Hardware Costs
Installation Costs
Rs. 40, 000 (New Hardware)
4 hours = 4000
Rs. 6,000 (Single Refurbished
Hardware)
4 hours = 4000
(Consultant at Rs.
1000/hr)
(Rates will be subjective to Vendor Contract)
(Rates will be subjective to Vendor
Contract)
Training Costs 2
0
0
Total Installation Cost
Rs. 58,000.
Rs. 10, 000
Upgrade Costs 3
Rs. 4000
Rs. 0 (Unlimited Upgrades)
Rs. 88000. /yr x 4 years = Rs.
Rs.36000 /yr. x 4 years = Rs..
(Consultant at Rs.
1000/hr.)
(average of 4 hours/month)
(average of 2 hours/month)
Total (over 4 years)
Rs. 352, 000.
Rs. 144, 000.
Maintenance Costs 4, 5
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1. FOSSFP and the Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan Team will be providing free Server and
Desktop versions of Ubuntu, Edubuntu or Xubuntu Linux that have the necessary
features comparable to that of Windows including additional software such as
multimedia support with audio/video, software for schools and kids, graphic design,
Open Office Suite, Fire Fox Internet Web Browser, Evolution Email, DHCP, Squid,
Send Mail, VOIP, SIP and free Anti-Virus Software. The latest Linux kernel has the
built-in ability to detect most commonly used USB devices including IDE’s and
Printers. Where such facility is not available, information on USB "Device Driver
Support" in Linux is widely available for Host Controllers, Device Controllers, Class
Drivers as well as Vendor Device Drivers for Imaging, Multimedia, Network, Ports
[ 73 ][ 74 ][ 75 ][ 76 ] etc. Compatible Tools [ 77 ] provides Linux driver information and
resources on over 19887 products covering Storage, Audio, Communications, I/O,
Computers, Scanners, Printers, Monitors, Networks, Video and other devices
including BIOS, UPS, batteries etc. Certain tools for citizens with special needs can
also be made available under various non-profit relationships where ever such a need
may arise.
2. Since this is server software, there will be no training implication for end users.
3. Based on the assumption that upgrading the OS in 2 years or so will cost the same as
the acquisition cost – which is not always the case.
4. This estimate is based on the assumption that regular, scheduled maintenance will
take place.
5. Based upon the NOSI Primer’s authors who have experience with both operating
systems. The assumption that Linux maintenance will take fewer hours than
Windows maintenance is based on the information in one of the case studies.
The above worksheet may also be utilized for calculating client/desktop PCs, single Linux
server environment with multiple diskless clients under LTSP, networking, printer,
accessories, photocopier, and fax equipment costs.
A new Generation of FOSS Technology:
FOSS has now evolved into mainstream enterprise business. The FOSS advantage is widely
recognized when organizations plan to buy or replace infrastructure products. FOSS
USB Linux Driver Support Information, http://www.linux-usb.org/devices.html
Linux-USB Gadget API Framework, The <linux/usb_gadget.h> API makes it easy for peripherals and other
devices embedding GNU/Linux system software to act in the USB "device" (slave) role. http://www.linuxusb.org/gadget
75 USB & USB 2.0 Help and Information. http://www.usbman.com/linuxusb.htm
76 Fliegl, D. Programming Guide for Linux USB Device Drivers. Department of Informatics. Technische
Universität München http://www.lrr.in.tum.de/Par/arch/usb/usbdoc/
77 Compatible Linux is a one-stop reference for Linux Device and Driver Compatibility covering over 19887
devices. http://compatiblelinux.org
73
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supports and strengthens this decision by providing products and alternatives on the basis of
accepted open standards [78] specifically supporting interoperability and integration. FOSS
provides the opportunity to build software in half the time vs. proprietary software through
reusable code availability, buying open code or rewrite applications without infringing
Intellectual Property Rights. FOSS facilitates the deployment of technology solutions in new
areas, such as suppliers, channel, and customer access, community access, call centers, and
retail outlets and shops thus in terms of Telecenter deployments, it enables empowerment of
the community learns to benefit from its immense potential.
Today FOSS and particularly Linux is well supported by almost all international software and
hardware manufacturing companies including IBM, Hewitt Packard, Red Hat Acer,
Canonical (Ubuntu) [79], Novell (Open Suse) etc. This ensures the wide availability of Linux
compatible hardware
FOSS has proved to be more dynamic in terms of network identification, scalability,
interoperability and is the preferred platform for deployment of Internet and Wireless
networking infrastructures. FOSS supports all of the latest wireless technologies including
Wi-Fi, WIMAX, and CMDA services. Details on the Wi-Fi support available on various
operating systems can be accessed at Wikipedia [ 80 ] as well as for over 421 devices at
Compatible Linux [81]. All Linux communities and vendors provide a detailed list of the type
of Wi-Fi / Wireless hardware cards supported as well as their versions. An example of Wi-Fi
hardware card support can be read at the Ubuntu-Linux community website [82] including
the versions it supports [83]. FOSS is not limited to just this. With Linux and the ability to
strip out the unwanted programs from over 24000 software packages, a version of Linux can
be created that can be booted from a flash drive and only support services that support
wireless technologies. Latest versions of Red Hat Linux, Suse Linux and Ubuntu-Linux
automatically detect network settings over the LAN as well as Wi-Fi settings however the
ESID must be provided that varies from service provider to service provider.
Benchmarking the use of FOSS for Telecenters by establishing a Pilot
Low-Cost FOSS/Linux Lab
In order to explore the software and hardware requirements of a Telecenter initiative, lowcost pilot FOSS/Linux Labs can be established to benchmark the use of FOSS and Linux
applications in a proposed Telecenter environment before engaging in practical deployments,
such a lab can also serve as identifying the challenges that may appear during practical
implementations as well as provide a platform for carrying out trainings for stakeholders and
Telecenter administrators.
Hoe, S, H and Quinn, J, P. Free/Open Source Software: Open Standards. UNDP-APDIP, Elsevier, 2006.
http://www.apdip.net/publications/fosseprimers/foss-openstds-withcover.pdf
79 Hardware Supported by Ubuntu-Linux. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport
80 Wi-Fi, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi
81 Compatible Linux Wireless Device support. http://compatiblelinux.org/categoria.jsp?catsubcat=1,3
82 Ubuntu-Linux Wi-Fi Support, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported
83 Ubuntu-Linux Wi-Fi Support, https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsByVersion
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The Pilot Telecenter Low-Cost Linux Labs can be established within a range of
Rs.
100,000 to Rs. 200,000 within a period of 4 weeks to display the benefits of using FOSS and
Re-furbished computers to PTA, PSO and MoITT using Ubuntu-Linux Server and
Desktops, one server machine, four client desktop machines, one switch, networking cables
and various hardware accessories to be used within this environment.
A FOSS Lab will serve as a resource for:
1. Demonstrating FOSS products and practices, and their operation and features, for
users and professionals who are interested in experiencing working software before
using it.
2. Sharing the advantages of FOSS to other non-profit executives who want to
understand what FOSS has in store for the advancement of their organizations as
well as deploying similar Telecenter environments.
3. Demonstrate the use of low-cost Linux networking solutions including Linux
Terminal Server Project by connecting 4 client keyboards, mouse and monitors to a
single Linux Terminal Server.
4. Demonstrating the use of Ubuntu-Linux Localized Urdu version, Edubuntu Server
and Work Stations and Xubuntu on low specification used machines.
5. Identifying internal systems and people who already have been successful working
with FOSS.
6. Developing FOSS to problems in the organization that can be assembled from these
products and practices.
7. Training professionals, developers, and system administrators, who want to evaluate
FOSS and learn to use it.
8. Testing FOSS system operations – for instance, to check vendor claims, make sure
elements work together, and practice migrations and connectivity with a diverse
range of networks including LANs, MANs and WANs as well as latest wireless
technologies.
9. Benchmarking FOSS capacity and performance – for instance, Operating System
performance in requests/seconds, or the number of users supported by a directory.
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Hardware and Software Management Challenges in a Telecenter
Environment
A low-cost pilot FOSS/Linux Lab can also be established to demonstrate, test and
overcome the following Telecenter environment challenges:
1. Computer hardware assembling and software installation knowledge.
2. Networking, cabling, network trouble shooting and maintenance.
3. Computer hardware, fax machine, photocopier, printer maintenance and repair.
4. Equipment security and protection
5. Backup UPS support to counter irregular electricity and power surges that may
corrupt software and affect hardware
6. Shortage of staff and unskilled volunteers, lack of specialized software if not using
FOSS
7. Capacity to assess community needs on a continuous basis and upgrade/add more
services, adequate availability of Internet connectivity is required to download free
updates on FOSS enabled hardware equipment
8. Possibilities for deployment and maintenance of Wireless or Wi-Fi Community
Networks, experienced manpower to provide technical support on an ongoing basis
Summarizing the Advantages for using FOSS in Telecenters in Pakistan
1. FOSS has made available Server and Desktop Operating Systems with a wide range
of business software suites that cost less for licensing, less for hardware, and no
additional for staffing and support.
2. FOSS is software development model that has evolved over the last 3 decades to
provide a reliable, robust, scalable and secure platform for computing being widely
used throughout the world by Academia, Public and Private Sectors.
3. FOSS continues to be developed worldwide by communities of software developers
and engineers in research centers, universities, companies and civil society that
provide continuous support round the clock through system and security patches
and upgrades
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4. FOSS has presented itself as an internationally accepted and viable solution due to its
low and effective cost model, ability to employ local talent relying less on foreign
expertise, and capacity for localization in to regional languages with the availability of
various distributions of Linux in Urdu.
5. Pakistan has a growing community of skilled FOSS professionals and Human
Resource development support is readily being made available by the Government
and Academia to support a nationwide FOSS demand and supply ecosystem
6. FOSS provides the facility to observe, correct, and modify the source code that the
hardware is using to run maintaining concerns such as privacy and user security
7. FOSS supports the globally accepted and supported Open Document Format as well
as supports reading and writing documents written in other proprietary formats
including MS Word etc.
8. FOSS does not have any licensing issues to manage preventing software piracy
9. FOSS provides the facility to choose from a wide mix of software products from
different platforms, vendors, and service providers
10. FOSS provides Intellectual Property Protection and the facility to protect personal
integrations and customization.
Global Partnerships for Supporting Telecenter Initiatives in
Pakistan
1. UNDP-APDIP Asia Pacific Development Information Programme
Telecenter Expertise Support to Pakistan
APDIP Programme Strategy
In collaboration with National Governments, APDIP seeks to assist national and
regional institutions in Asia-Pacific to improve access, knowledge-sharing,
networking, and management, and application of ICTs for social and economic
development. APDIP also helps to target and focus regional ICT initiatives to
achieve relevant development goals by making ICT an integral part of development
cooperation and solutions, developing countries and their partners in the Asia-Pacific
region can work to address economic, social and digital divides in more innovative
and effective ways. APDIP focuses on the following strategies:
1.
Mobilize Awareness and Support
Build regional and national awareness on ICT for Development, and identify
"champions" and leaders who have a vision.
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2.
Develop a Strategic Vision
To build capacities for formulating national and regional e-policies, e-plans, and
e-strategies through a consultative process involving key groups such as academe,
the research and development community, public and private sectors, and civil
society.
3.
Assist Implementation Plans
Through the provision of technical advice and assistance to regional and national
institutions for the implementation of policies, plans, and action-oriented
programmes.
APDIP Development Objectives
To raise awareness and promote regional and national policy dialogue and
development of policies and strategies focused on the cost-benefit and advantages of
ICTs for poverty reduction, sustainable human development, democratic governance,
and gender development.
To promote equity, especially in terms of gender balance in information flows
and access, and support local innovation on appropriate technologies and
development of locally relevant content and knowledge management, to facilitate
greater e-services such as trade, health, and governance that are oriented to the poor
and women.
Enhance regional and national public-private partnerships focused on
content development and knowledge management, equitable access, capacity
building, e-governance, and e-commerce; as well as promote intra- and inter-regional
technical cooperation.
Telecenter Expertise Support to Pakistan
ADPID will be extending its knowledge expertise and know-how to Pakistan based
upon its partner experiences in implementing Telecenters in various developing
countries. APDIP will also be extending its knowledge and expert FOSS resources
from the APDIP-IOSN International Open Source Network. APDIP will also
extend documentation and information dissemination activities through its network
and document best practices from Pakistan’s Telecenter implementation experience.
iFOSSF International Free and Open Source Software Foundation
Funding and Technology Transfer Support to Pakistan
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iFOSSF Mission
The International Free and Open Source Software Foundation (iFOSSF) MI, USA is
an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to funding, fueling and
accelerating the adoption, development, and usage of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) by
societies, communities, governments, organizations, institutions, groups and
individuals worldwide for their sustained economic and social development as
collaborative efforts to close the digital divide, especially for the socially
disadvantaged.
iFOSSF Purpose
•
Apply thought leadership in support of innovation and creativity in research
and development of FOSS solutions for the benefit of the global community
•
Facilitate growth of new and emerging businesses with consideration for
equal inclusion
•
Provide strategic leadership in developing FOSS opportunities that are driven
by both market and social contexts
iFOSSF Strategy
•
Establish iFOSSF as the research and development leader in FOSS based
ICT solutions, cultivating the framework for inclusive ICT development by:
•
Engagement in R&D using Open Source Software that can help meet the
needs for crisis management and economic development by promoting
innovative approaches
•
Creation of tools & initiatives that can help bridge the digital divide between
developed and developing countries
•
Cultivation of the organization as a global resource with expertise in FOSS
based strategies to create new marketplace(s)
Telecenter Funding and Technology Transfer Support to Pakistan
iFOSSF will be extending supportive funding on an adhoc basis to the Telecenter
development and implementation initiatives in Pakistan through its partners within
the country. Where necessary iFOSSF will pursue funding requests from its donors
as well as extend project management services to the Telecenter activity. This
arrangement will be made on a case-to-case basis on agreement with donors. Project
themes that may request funding support include but are not limited to education
and training, FOSS development and localization, electronic agriculture marketplace
development, equipment support etc.
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Case Studies Supporting the FOSS Rationale in Telecenters
Case Study 1: Using FOSS in Telecenters
Sao Paulo, Brazil — The Telecenter Project
The Municipality of São Paulo has initiated a project [ 84 ] [ 85 ] to establish a network of
Telecenters to provide free computer use and Internet access to marginal neighborhoods.
The implementation and management of the Telecenters it provided by The Electronic
Government initiative. 72 Telecenters are functioning, with a goal of having 128 centers
operational by the end of 2003.
Each Telecenter provides service to about 3,000 users. The cost of setting up a Telecenter is
$10,000. Usage of Telecenter facilities is free of charge for the local community with
participants scheduling for access time in 30 and 60 minute increments.
Addressing a Variety of Community Needs
Workshops and courses provided to the community at the Telecenters include Web-site
creation, journalism, image processing, Internet research, and history of each neighborhood
and the local environment. Participants are encouraged to write articles about everyday life
and events in their communities. Efforts are encouraged to pursue artistic activities, such as
creating rap lyrics and poetry online.
Support staff is available to assist users. The program is designed to develop support staff
from within each community to provide new skills and create work for citizens. Students are
provided with free lecture notes and receive a certificate at the end of each course.
The Rationale for using OSS
Pursuing the government’s “Digital-inclusion” initiative, while operating within budgetary
constraints, required a strategy of investigating low cost technology alternatives which
provided a high quality of service. The combination of OSS and diskless workstations
allowed the Telecenter project to acquire computers with less hardware and power
requirements than required by a Microsoft Windows solution. Additionally, the project is not
constrained by proprietary software licensing requirements.
Dravis, P. (2003, pg.13). Open Source Software - Perspectives for Development. InfoDev, World Bank.
On a similar note, the above case study was also reported by APC – The Association For Progressive
Communications News, 2005. In Brazil, a threat to the Telecenters turns into an opportunity... for
improvement. The rationale given was that FOSS had saved the endangered Telecentre project.
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=2998912
84
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The Technology
Linux and Diskless Workstations [86] [87] .Each Telecenter runs a high-end server and 20
diskless workstations (Pentium class systems). The diskless Linux workstations are
connected to the server with a 100MB network. The underlying infrastructure technology
consists of Debian Linux and Linux Terminal Server. Application software includes the
GNOME desktop, work processors, spreadsheets, Web browser and Gimp (graphic/image
processing). Documentation and tutorials have been developed and are available in
Portuguese.
Telecenters, City managed, along with Private Partners
The program supports Telecenters that are directly managed and have been installed in
buildings owned and operated by the city. In areas where municipal building space is not
available, partnerships with private companies have been established to implement and
support Telecenters.
Lessons Learned
The following observations shared by Beatriz Tibiriçá —Coordinator of the Electronic
Government is from experience with the Telecenter initiative:
•
Using OSS was easier than expected. The perception that GNU/Linux is
extremely complicated to understand and use turned out to be unfounded at the
Telecenters. Children, the elderly and individuals with minimal education have easily
learned to use the systems.
•
Building local ownership is important. Each Telecenter has its own Advisory
Council formed and elected by the local community to determine some rules of use
for the Telecenter. Being a member of the Council has its own stature and is viewed
as an important duty. The Council helps guide the management of the Telecenter in
issues such as security.
•
Providing a quality service can build respect. Providing a public service in a
quality fashion can result in a high level of respect by the community. Pursing this
strategy has resulted in a low rate of vandalism at the Telecenters.
•
Telecenters are more than just the technology. While each Telecenter is
supported by computers and a broadband Internet connection, their physical
appearance and layout are different from one another. The unique “character” of the
Telecenter is determined by the actions taking place in the Telecenter and the work
going on there.
This facility is enabled through the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP). LTSP enables users to use
computers without purchasing or upgrading expensive desktop machines. More information on LTSP is
detailed at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ltsp.
87 LTSP is derived from Terminal Server, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_server
86
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•
Usage can vary among different age groups. Usage of the Telecenter can differ
among various age groups in the population. For example, in some situations, the
elderly can have very specific and practical uses for the Telecenters, such as
communicating with people from other cities, while the behavior of young people
may be more focused on school related activities and entertainment.
Case Study 2: Using FOSS to educate as well as combat software piracy:
Goa (India) Schools Computer Project
The Goa (India) Schools Computer Project (GSCP) [88] was started in 1996 as an informal
community effort by overseas Goans living mainly in the US. The goal was to help facilitate
access to PCs by students and the surrounding community where the respective schools
were located. The project was aimed mainly at schools in rural areas.
Goa has 360 secondary schools. 70 are government operated, with the remainder
government aided schools, of which 50% are run by the Archdiocese of Goa. Total
enrollment is 110,000. Since 2002, the Goa government has supplied an average of 2 PCs
per school, a training person, and a government syllabus. Students are taught basic computer
use including an introduction to word-processing and spreadsheets.
The Project
In January 2002 GSCP provided a shipment of 380 recycled PCs to Goa under an agreement
between GSCP and the Goa Department of Education. GSCP tested and refurbished the
equipment before distribution and provided training to teachers in the use of the Linux
operating system. The schools were to provide electric wiring and furniture. GSCP provided
hardware maintenance during the first year after installation. The schools are to arrange for
maintenance after this “warranty period”.
Uses of the System
Stand-alone and networked systems have been installed in schools. Depending on the
configuration, they are used to learn computer skills as well as provide Internet access. Some
computer labs are also available after school hours to allow interested students computer
access and for general community access to Internet.
The Technology
The GNOME desktop was selected initially for its ease of use and lower resource demand
than KDE. RedHat India offered free boxed packages for all the schools. Systems with small
hard-disks were configured with minimal system software installed. Spreadsheets were taught
using Gnumeric and wordprocessing using Abiword . During 2003 OpenOffice was also
introduced.
88
Dravis, P. (2003, pg.16). Open Source Software - Perspectives for Development, InfoDev, Dravis Group.
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The project team uses Linux Terminal Server (LTSP) in schools where 4 or more networked
computers are installed. ICEwm has replaced Gnome as the window manager on all LTSP
systems because of its lower resource requirements.
Rationale for OSS Use
GSCP wanted to avoid software piracy and the cost to install Microsoft software was
greater than the $60 cost of the recycled computers. Access to a local Linux User group
providing volunteer support to schools was also a factor in the open source decision.
Current Status
As of July 2003, 125 schools received recycled PCs, ranging from 1 to 6 computers. The
number of PCs issued was determined by number of students, willingness to work with
Linux and funds available to provide the appropriate infrastructure. GSCP offered free
support and maintenance to all 125 schools for a period of one year. The systems, most of
which are Linux based, were installed primarily in rural and semi-urban settings. GSCP was
thus able to provide 1 or more systems to approximately 30% of the schools in Goa. A
locally registered organization called the Knowledge Initiative Trust has now been formed to
manage GSCP.
Lessons Learned
According to Alwyn Noronha, GSCP project manager “The experience of the GSCP team is
that low cost and sustainable school computer labs can be established in rural schools using
recycled equipment and open-source software. GSCP has demonstrated that PCs running
both Linux and Windows environments can effectively be used simultaneously in the same
computer lab.”
•
The Effect of Introducing Linux. Initial training was required for computer
teachers familiar only with Microsoft Windows and standalone environments. GSCP
continues to invest in teacher training. The state’s computer program was developed
assuming the use of Microsoft Windows and teachers had to be instructed how to
adapt it for a Linux environment. There are 3 Linux User Groups (LUGs) in Goa.
Volunteers from them helped when schools have experienced problems.
•
Compatibility with Proprietary Software. GSCP found no significant requirement
by schools to exchange data between open source and proprietary systems since the
systems are used primarily for teaching purposes. The increasing use of OpenOffice
has resulted in less problems conforming to the government’s syllabus which
assumes the use of Microsoft Word and Excel. Since OpenOffice can read and write
MS Word and Excel formats there are minimal problems in exchanging data. After
the 3 year Goa government maintenance contract with the vendor supplying PCs to
schools expires, school authorities will have the option of having the government
provide PCs to join the LTSP networks for access to email and web browsing of
Intranets. All open source expertise required is available from the Goa Linux User
Groups.
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•
Training Initial training helped familiarize teachers with Linux basics and the
differences between OSS and proprietary applications. PCs running in both of these
environments are used simultaneously in computer lab. The training focus now is on
Computer Aided Training for teachers on non computer-related subjects. Efforts are
being pursued to find software to supplement traditional teaching methods in subject
areas such as physics, mathematics, chemistry and geography.
•
The Physical Infrastructure The GSCP assumed there would be higher than usual
hardware failure when using recycled PCs. However, a 2002 survey shows that both
GSCP and government donated PCs had a comparable rate of failure. This can be
attributed to the generally poor quality of electric power in Goa, i.e. Power
fluctuations and frequent power failure. Some schools have not yet installed the PCs
because of physical infrastructure issues such as lack of electric wiring in rooms
reserved for the computer lab or limited space. Schools using Linux in a semi-urban
area were more successful in maintaining their equipment because these schools
generally have better access to technology support resources.
Case Study 3: Telecenters using FOSS where there is no Electricity or
Telephones
Laos — The Jhai Remote Village IT System
To help the communities of Phon Kham and four other villages obtain information on
agricultural market pricing and pursue initiatives to improve the village’s income requires
improved access to communication services. The Jhai Remote Village IT system [ 89 ],
currently in development, is designed to address these needs by providing support for local
calls and overseas connections via the Internet, along with document preparation and
spreadsheet capabilities. The villages are located in a valley 85 Km north of Vientiane. Power
and telephone service is absent and cellular phone access is limited by a mountain range.
Other challenges an ICT system must address are torrential rains, high temperatures,
humidity, and dust.
The Solution
The Jhai system is based upon a low-power embedded computer running a localized version
of KDE, called LaoNux, on the Debian Linux distribution. The village computer connects
to the Internet with a wireless 802.11b card which communicates to an antenna bolted on
the roof which sends a signal to a nearby solar powered access point, which is then sent to
Phon Hong, which is 25 km away by road and the closest village with phone lines.
The computer runs on 12 watts of power, supplied by a bike-pedaled generator. Solar power
was rejected because of the four-month monsoon season and the cost: the bicycle is only a
third of the cost of solar equipment. One minute of pedaling generates about five minutes of
power.
89
Dravis, P. (2003, pg.17). Open Source Software - Perspectives for Development, InfoDev, Dravis Group.
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According to Lee Felsenstein, the designer of the system, “the system’s technology uses
readily available components and is engineered for long and reliable service”. By applying
available wireless and computational technology, the team hopes to minimize the cost
impact of alternative telecommunications infrastructures.
Rationale for Using OSS
The existence of a growing body of open source software supporting wireless
communications was central to its selection for the project. The Jhai Remote IT Project has
converted the Linux-based KDE Graphical Desktop and productivity resources into Laotian,
supporting email, word processing, and simple spreadsheets.
Felsenstein decided that the operating system had to be Linux because “this system had to
run for 10 years, and open-source software brings with it a human infrastructure of people
who know how to maintain it.” Lee Thorn, Jhai Foundation’s chairman, adds that Linux was
also chosen because localization was easier than under other platforms.
LaoNux — Localized OSS
Working with computer science and electrical engineering students and teachers at the
National University of Laos in Vientiane, under the direction of former IBM software
developer Anousak Souphavanh, the team developed a Laotian version of the Linux-based
graphical desktop called KDE. Its suite of business tools allows Laos citizens to browse the
Web, send e-mail, and create simple documents. Lee Thorn called the localization into
Laotian “probably the hardest part of the whole project.” In order to generate fonts in
Laotian, for example, the team had to create its own Unicode, a standard for encoding letters
and other characters in any language.
Status of the Project
After system testing in Laos in early 2003, its implementation was hindered by monsoon
weather conditions and a misunderstanding with a local government official. As a result, the
system is back in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the team completing documentation,
testing, and hardware modification. The team hopes to return to Laos in November to
provide implementation and training.
Lessons Learned
As system implementation approaches, Lee Thorn shares the following on their efforts.
•
Project definition is essential. The most important lesson is that obtaining a clear
and comprehensive definition of needs by end users has focused the overall project
direction in developing the Jhai system. With a clear definition established at the
beginning of the project, “scope creep” is effectively managed.
•
Obtaining OSS support has not been an issue. Finding and leveraging OSS
resources has not been an issue for the team, and LaoNux has proved to be a
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supportable platform. Also, relying on open design specifications has allowed
volunteers to quickly provide their technical expertise to the project.
•
Designing for rigorous needs should allow for adaptation to other
environments. While environmental design requirements of the Jhai system are
challenging, the team believe its solution can be transferred and modified for less
harsh conditions.
•
A long term time horizon should result in affordable solutions. The project’s
design philosophy assumes 10 years of sustainable system use. This perspective
focuses the team on using commodity components, along with avoiding short term
technology upgrade cycles. This approach should allow for component replacement
to be performed by newly trained support staff.
•
End-user involvement creates ownership and drives economic sustainability.
Obtaining end-user participation from conceptual design onward helps build
ownership of business solutions and create local experts. Farmers and business
people who know local markets, price structures and costs are used in the project to
determine needs and develop business plans, with minimal use of outside ‘experts’.
•
Consideration for physical security needs is important. Physical security of the
equipment must be addressed from the beginning of a project. Developing a social
relationship with the community should create local ownership of and respect for the
solution.
Case Study 4: Enhancing service delivery, social protection and
livelihood support for the poor through ICT
Internet Society – Bulgaria is the Implementing agency for the newly started UNDP Project
[ 90 ]. Open unemployment, increasing casualization of employment conditions, and in
formalization of the labor market are emerging as key challenges in many parts of the world
as globalization and increased integration of economies, labor saving technical change and
economic restructuring take place. In the transition countries of Central and Southeastern
Europe, a primary cause of the wide-spread dislocation of industry and jobs appears to be
the restructuring of the economies that took place as they shifted from planned economic
systems in the late 80s and early 90s. This created a mixed picture for local industries and
jobs: there was a decline of ‘older’ industries accompanied by growing ‘casualization’ of
employment conditions, ‘in formalization’ and ‘shuttle/suitcase trade’ on the one hand as
well as an expansion in some sectors on account of new domestic and foreign investment
and outsourcing of industry and services on the other.
While there have been some advances in recent years, unemployment and underemployment remain at a relatively high level in a number of countries in the region, and in
many instances pose a problem for their EU accession. In the context of Bulgaria’s
90
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commitments to EU accession, the fight against poverty and social exclusion has become
one of the main priorities of the Bulgarian Government. Promoting poverty reduction and
social inclusion is also viewed as directly contributing to the achievement of Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), the targets for which have been adapted to Bulgaria’s
transitional context in line with EU development levels. Bulgaria’s success in addressing
unemployment and generating employment opportunities (the average unemployment rate
fell to 12.67 per cent in 2004) has been uneven. Unemployment levels range from less than 5
per cent in some urban centers to over 30 per cent in many of the rural areas.
Unemployment levels also vary across the rural areas, and remain high particularly those
where segments of the population face high levels of social exclusion or are subject to other
types of inequities. E.g. the unemployment rate among Roma was 52.9 per cent in 2003
compared to 17.3 per cent among ethnic Bulgarians. More recent indicators suggest that one
in five Roma is illiterate and seven in ten are unemployed.
In combination with a focus on the more macro-level variables (e.g. public investment, and
supportive monetary and trade policies) and policies aimed at strengthening the labor market,
there is a growing interest in the role that information technology can play in contributing to
addressing this set of challenges and creation of development opportunities.
Given that local municipalities usually have very reduced budgets and cannot invest in the
development of such Information Society initiatives suggests that the focus needs to be
most-effective, replicable and adaptable systems and the provision of affordable connectivity
to get access to such information. Increasing the computer literacy in obvious and a must
not only for the success of such an approach but also for citizens to be better prepared for
job requirements in the new information society.
The project's main goal is to create active collaboration with three key stakeholders: job
seekers, employers and SMEs. In this relation, a prototype of web portal will be developed at
the first stage, in order to serve the needs of the local labour bureaus. The project also
envisages computer literacy trainings and consequent certification for unemployed and/or
not yet qualified people from the most disadvantaged groups: e.g. minorities; women;
graduating students from social schools (orphans); people with disabilities; elder people. The
training is expected to include basic computer literacy (focusing on word processing,
spreadsheet software and basics of working in the Internet) as well as passing of Europeanrecognized independent certification tests.
The initiative is going to be implemented as an extension of the work done under the
UNDP FOSS project, and particularly the ICT tools that are already functioning in the target
pilot municipality -the municipality of Vratza - will be used as a basis. The collaborative and
coordinated approach proposed here, accompanied by training and job enhancement for
local municipality personnel, can not only improve service delivery but reduce the element of
bureaucracy for common citizens.
Given the need for replicable, adaptable and cost effective software solutions to be built, an
open source and open-content approach will be applied and would also allow for building
upon the existing municipal ICT infrastructure and info-structures. The use of open
standards and free/open source software (FOSS) is expected to have a positive impact in
many directions, with benefits for the government, citizens and local SMEs that could
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provide maintenance, development and training support. In the longer -term, this approach
is expected to lead to the generation of significant budget savings.
The main benefit is the realization of the opportunity to contact and exchange information
with the local labour bureau through the Internet. This will affect in increasing the level of
internet usage as overall, but in long term the web portal could be a base for more
comprehensive e-government services, including e-payments.
More specifically, the following are some of the expected benefits from the development and
implementation of FOSS based platform:
•
Increase in the transparency of the social department’s work and generation of
savings in local budgets;
•
Reduced costs and dependency on imported software and skills;
•
Support to the European integration processes by a quicker and more effective
bridging of the existing “digital” divide between South-eastern European states and
the European Union at large;
•
Ability to customize software for local languages and cultures;
•
Provide opportunities to software developing SMEs to collaborate with the
administration;
•
Ensure open access to the population through the web.
Once the free/open source (FOSS) tools are developed they can be easily replicated in other
municipalities in Bulgaria and/or in other parts of the Eastern Europe. Moreover, the tools
could be easily modified, allowing for additional functionality and add-ons, continuous
development and localization for other countries.
The initiative is funded by the UNDP poverty reduction trust fund (New York) and Internet
Society Headquarter in Reston, Virginia.
The following partnering organizations are recognized for the realization of the Project:
1. UNDP Regional Office in Bulgaria
2. Beautiful Bulgaria
3. The Jobs Opportunities through Business Support (JOBS)
4. Project SANE - Social Services Against New Employment
5. Project FOSS - Support to e-government initiatives at local (municipality) level
through Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in South-Eastern Europe
6. Project T-Centres – A network of Telecenters - 80 have already been established and
80 more are to be established
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Annexure
Pakistan’s Case for Sustainable Development with FOSS
Less Dependence on Imports
Less Dependence on Imports and preventing wastage of Public Funds Much of the software
and systems in use across the world are developed in Pakistan, India or China. All other
countries using these software’s, have to purchase licenses from the developers. With more
nations going for e-governance and related automation of administrative functions, the
expenses involved in acquiring software licenses can be high. This can be a substantial drain
on the foreign exchange for a nation like Pakistan. This money would, otherwise have been
spent on development work for Pakistanis.
Lowered Cost of Purchase
Opting for FOSS substantially reduces the cost of purchase. Of course, one has to consider
the cost involved in paying for support and maintenance and support is available throughout
Pakistan. Thus, this cost, wherever incurred, is an internal cost and indirectly helps to
develop and sustain local industry for providing such support/service. This knowledge can
be of value to other organizations as well. Thus, unlike, outright purchase of software from
abroad, these expenses have an overall positive contribution to the economy of Pakistan.
Flourishing ICT Production with Local Software Development
There is a related positive effect stemming from this line of thought. Access to freely
distributable and modifiable source code enables local development groups to enter into
product/system development more easily. For example, one could develop specialized or
enhanced versions of an existing system, without having to build the entire system from
scratch. Therefore, local software development efforts and hence the local software industry,
can enter the IT market through a much lower entry barrier. This, in the longer run, provides
for growth of local industry, retention of skilled human resources, more training
opportunities, etc.
Interoperability and avoiding Multinational Vendor lock-ins
There is a very high rate at which systems and platforms become obsolete, it is important for
information in the form of data, documents, etc to be stored in open publicly known
formats. This is the key to interoperability - the freedom and flexibility to change between
different software packages, platforms and vendors. The interoperability frees users from
vendor lock-in where one is forced to go along with a particular system because a lot of
resources are already in their proprietary format and conversion is too costly in time and
money.
The Free and Open source community always opts for open file formats and standards, and
hence Free and Open Source Software provides a much higher level of interoperability
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compared to proprietary solutions. The source code availability enables people to document
standards used by a system (by reverse engineering, if needed) thereby making the standards
open. Compliance to known standards is, perhaps, a natural companion of the FOSS work
culture anchored on sharing and working together.
The Case for Preferring FOSS over Proprietary Software in Pakistan
Software is one of the most valuable technologies of the Information Age, running
everything from Personal Computers to the Internet. Yet, because software has become
such an important productivity tool, the illegal copying and distribution of it – software
piracy – persists globally. In fact, in Pakistan, almost 95% of software programs are
unlicensed and in most cases, Pakistanis are using pirated software un-intentionally. Software
is important to every business, government, school and consumer. However, it’s critical for
software users to remember that, to get the most out of their software, they must be careful
to acquire only legitimate product and manage it well.
Still, many local public and private sector organizations and consumers consider software to
be different. They don't tend to manage it as they would any other valuable asset. Poor
software management can cost a company or an individual, not only in terms of legal and
financial risk but also in terms of lost efficiency and productivity.
The state of software piracy in Pakistan regarding Proprietary Software usage is very horrible
in terms of the costs and piracy issues associated with proprietary software itself. In a
developing country like Pakistan where the literacy rate is very low and computer usage is
not as high as the usage in our neighboring countries like India and China, computer
hardware already has a substantial cost and is usually unaffordable compared to the annual
income of an average citizen in Pakistan. Adding to this, once hardware has been procured,
the next costly issue is the cost of software to operate the machine and automate ones daily
activities.
Due to illiteracy about the issues associated with the usage of software both within the
computer vendor and user community, vendors of hardware are installing pirated proprietary
software on the hardware at the point of sale and most of the time, the consumer computer
users are using unlicensed pirated proprietary software by paying only for hardware and not
the software itself. This has caused a flooding of pirated software CDs into the largest and
famous computer hardware vendor markets like Hafeez
Centre in Lahore and Uni-Centre in Karachi thus creating a culture of using pirated
proprietary software unknowingly.
Software piracy is not only a crime under international and national copyright law but it can
also destroy computers and data. The solution to Pakistan’s legal and personal safety is Free
and Open Source Software.
The FOSS Ecosystem in Pakistan
FOSS Communities of Learning and Practice
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When we look at the opportunities that FOSS brings in terms for Pakistan, it can be seen as
a highly useful and fruitful alternative to pirated proprietary software. Secondly it brings the
opportunity for the country to benefit from ground-up or bootstrap innovation, research
and business opportunities that are cross platform and multidisciplinary in nature. FOSS can
benefit home users, community technology centers, Telecenters, academia as well as the
business and industry.
Linux User Groups
FOSS in Pakistan has been slowly making its way in to the limelight since the year 2001
through a multitude of channels the success of which can be attributed to various FOSS
communities on the scene including the largest and oldest is Linux Pakistan User Group [91]
boasting well over 3500+ professional as well amateur Linux users with even a much larger
community of regular readers. The website takes over an estimated 2500+ unique hits per
day [source: StatBrain.com].
Civil Society ICT Foundations
The second largest community group is FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software
Foundation of Pakistan [92] that is dedicated to promoting the overall adoption, development
and usage of FOSS throughout the region as well as globally. FOSSFP: Free and Open
Source Software Foundation of Pakistan® is the realization of the FOSS Philosophy in
Pakistan. FOSSFP promotes ICT software freedom for everyone and over 850 Ubuntu
Linux User Group Members, 4900+ registered certified users with over 760+ unique hits
per day.
International Support through UNDP-APDIP-IOSN and iFOSSF
The UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network has been closely working with
FOSSFP, the Ministry of IT & T and various other civil society and research and
development institutions in Pakistan from the inception of the FOSS Ecosystem in the
region. UNDP-APDIP and IOSN have been providing support through various ICT
projects and programmes including:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Capacity building
Awareness raising
Content development
Infrastructure and connectivity development
Evaluation and surveys
Overall results and trends
Secondly, the International Free and Open Source Software Foundation iFOSSF, MI, USA 93
is extending through FOSSFP opportunities to fund and support innovative research and
Pakistan LUG: Linux User Group, http://www.linuxpakistan.net
FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan, http://www.fossfp.org
93 International Free and Open Source Software Foundation iFOSSF, http://www.ifossf.org
91
92
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development as well as entrepreneurial activities throughout the country and South Asia that
accelerate the usage, development and adoption of FOSS in the region.
Government of Pakistan Initiatives
Many case studies can be found on how large businesses, industrial groups and banks have
benefited from FOSS and reducing their costs eliminating per user/machine licensing
offered by proprietary software giants. Similar benefits are available for the government
departments and agencies, they realize the potential, where they can reduce costs and direct
the gains towards investing in improved delivery of services to citizens.
The Pakistan Software Export Board [94], Ministry of IT&T established the Open Source
Resource Center (OSRC) 95 to encourage an Open Source Demand and Supply Ecosystem
within the region as a result of the research undertaken and recommendations made by the
Ministry of Science and Technology’s “Technology Resource Mobilization Unit” TReMU
[ 96 ]. The OSRC is working towards promoting FOSS throughout the various Public and
Corporate Sectors through Capacity Development and provision of Open Source based
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems to various large industrial associations throughout the
country. This activity in return is seeking to create intensive FOSS jobs thus other actors
from various sectors of society are required to embrace the needs catering to providing
Capacity Development and Commercial Technical Support in response to these efforts.
The FOSS Business Case
Local FOSS Vendor Support Networks
There are many companies based in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Multan and Islamabad that
are providing various solutions throughout the desktop, server and middleware stacks
including extensive enterprise level technical support related to RAC and Cluster computing.
To name a few [97] in the playing field are Emergen Consulting, Inix, Copyleft, Ping Systems,
ARPATECH, ATRC etc. On the multinational scene, hardware and various operating
system desktop, server and enterprise solutions are available through organizations like IBM
Pakistan [98], Hewitt Packard [99] distributors, Red Hat Linux [100] Channel Partners, UbuntuLinux Pakistan Team [101] with Commercial Support by Canonical Ltd [102] and Novell Suse
Pakistan Software Export Board PSEB, http://www.pseb.org.pk
Open Source Resource Center OSRC, http://www.osrc.org.pk
96 Technology Resource Mobilization Unit, TReMU, http://www.tremu.gov.pk/task/Linux.htm
97 A detailed list of local FOSS support providers is given at the end of this document.
98 IBM International Business Machines, Pakistan Country Office, http://www.ibm.com/pk
99 Hewitt Packard,
http://h20229.www2.hp.com/partners/locator/aaa/pakistan.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
100 Red Hat Linux, http://www.redhat.com
101 Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan Team distributing Linux Free and Localizing Linux into regional languages,
http://www.ubuntu-pk.org
102 Canonical Ltd, Canonical is the official sponsor and copyright holder of Ubuntu-Linux but the project will
always be free forever. http://www.canonical.com
94
95
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Linux [103] Distributors are widely available throughout the country. This creates a healthy
ecosystem for the corporate enterprise sector to benefit from total solutions. To name a few,
the following organizations have shifted over to FOSS completely or certain portions of
their IT infrastructures significantly reducing their IT business support services related costs:
1. Kohinoor Maple Leaf Group
2. Crescent Group of Industries (Crescent Bahuman)
3. Dollar Industries (Pvt.) Ltd
4. Bank Islami Pakistan Ltd.
5. Askari Commercial Bank Ltd.
6. Dancom Online Services Islamabad.
7. Inbox (Pvt) Ltd.
8. Siemens Fugitsu
9. Ideal Distribution (Pvt) Ltd.
10. Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd. SNGPL
11. Pakistan Software Export Board
12. Open Source Resource Center
13. Ministry of IT & T
14. Ministry of Defense etc.
On the Government of Pakistan front, the PSEB-OSRC is extending FOSS based
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems under its “Industrial Automation Project” available at
[104] to the following business and industry trade associations:
1. APTPMA - All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association
2. PAAPAM - Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories
Manufacturers
3. PRGMEA/PHMA - Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers Association &
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association
4. SIMAP - Surgical Instruments Manufactures Association
Novell Open Suse, however Novell is criticized for using proprietary code in its other versions of Suse
Servers and Desktops. http://www.opensuse.org and http://www.novell.com/suse
104 PSEB-OSRC, Industrial Automation Project, http://www.pseb.org.pk/page.php?page_id=100
103
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The Human Resource Demand and Supply System
The afore mentioned economic activities in return are creating tremendous amount of
human resource demand and supply opportunities the human resource is rapidly upgrading
their skills to fulfill the demand by these local projects and businesses that are adopting
FOSS as their business support systems. The skills combination in demand includes both
Linux OS (various leading distros including Red Hat, Suse and Ubuntu) installation and
administration as well as LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL/POSTGreSQL-Php/Python/Perl)
software development skills. The LAMP architecture is for software development providing
various FOSS programming languages and technologies including support for most of the
database systems in the market.
FOSS Skills and Higher Education Integration
On the academic scene a number of Universities and corporate training centers are catering
to providing intensive professional technical and managerial trainings including Peshawar
University, SZABIST, MAJU, UCP, NUCS-FAST, PUCIT, OpenTech, Oracle University,
APTECH etc. On the integrated multidisciplinary higher educational sectors within the
fields of Engineering and GIS, institutions like GIK, NED, UET, and NUST-NIIT have
intensively incorporated FOSS into their curriculums thus providing opportunities for FOSS
Research and Development in areas related to Ubiquous or Disruptive Computing. The
trend is also being encouraged by availability LPI-Linux Professional Institute 105 and Red
Hat Linux Channel Partners throughout the major cities of the country.
Taking Pakistani FOSS Skills International
Upon acquiring FOSS development or administration skills, Pakistanis throughout the
country are joining, volunteering, or initiating from scratch various innovative FOSS
initiatives and projects over the Internet. There are many web sites that are hosting FOSS
development or catalogue FOSS programs from Pakistan. The most widely accessed
international FOSS project and software development resources by Pakistani developers
include:
1. Savannah.gnu.org by the founders of FSF
2. Sourceforge.net and Freshmeat.org by the founders of OSI
3. Launchpad.net by the founders of Ubuntu-Linux
4. Gforge.org
5. Apache.org
6. Mozilla.org
7. Drupal.org
8. Joomla.org
105
LPI-Linux Professional Institute, http://www.lpi.org
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FOSS and Intellectual Property Rights
Pakistani software developers today are well versed with IPR within the IT Industry domain.
The Pakistani IPR laws do not apply patents on Computer Programmes (Software) [ 106 ]
however the copyright law is widely applicable. With FOSS, there are international alternate
IPR and Copyright licensing forms that protect all source code as well as transfer the
freedoms associated with the software source code to other users. Examples of Pakistani
FOSS development localization efforts include Urdu Web [107] and in the advanced research
and development domain, the National University of Science and Technology Project titled
SAGE [108].
International FOSS Partners and Support Providers for
Telecenter Programmes in Pakistan
1. UNDP-APDIP United Nations Development Program Asia-Pacific Development
Programme, UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok, United Nations Service Building,
3rd Floor, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. Mailing Address:
UNDP-APDIP GPO Box 618 Bangkok 10501, Thailand. Contact Numbers: Tel:
(66-2) 288-1234; 288-2129 Fax: (66-2) 280-0556 http://www.apdip.net
2. IOSN International Open Source Network, Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme, UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok, 3rd Floor, United Nations Service
Building, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand, Tel: +66 2 288 1234,
info@iosn.net, http://www.iosn.net
3. International Free and Open Source Software Foundation iFOSSF, Secretariat,
39555 Orchard Hill Place, Suite 600, Novi, Michigan 48375, USA.
fouad.bajwa@ifossf.org,
Tel:
+1.248.232.8875,
Fax:
+1.248.232.8875,
http://www.ifossf.org
Local FOSS Partners and Support Providers for Telecenter
Programmes in Pakistan
1. FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan & Ubuntu-Linux
Pakistan Team. 242-C, Johar Town, Lahore. +92-42-5030039, +92-333-4661290.
Intellectual Property Rights Organization of Pakistan IPO, http://ipo.gov.pk/patents_home.php
Urdu Web, http://www.urduweb.org
108 NUST-NIIT Sage, Scalable Fault Tolerant Agent Grooming Environment, http://sage.niit.edu.pk
106
107
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FOSS Commercial Vendors and Technical Support Providers in
Pakistan
1. Ants Consulting Pakistan
Address: 809 Park Avenue, 24-A, Block 6, PECHS, Main Shara-e-Faisal, Citibank
Building
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Fahad Imtiaz
2. ANTS Private Limited
Address: C-30 Mohammad Ali Society
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Khawar Nehal
3. Atlantic 2000 Micro Care
Address: Al-Habib Arcade, Near Shell Petrol Pump, Clifton
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Farhan Ghafoor
4. CASTECH
Address: Its 4-J, Gulberg-III,
City/State: Lahore
5. Cogilent Solutions
Address: 73 East GD Arcade, Fazal-e-Haq Road, Blue Area
City/State: Islamabad
Contact: Ahmad Jawad
6. GeneralSoft (Pvt) Ltd
Address: 179-C-1 Model Town
City/State: Lahore
Contact: Abid Nasim
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7. iinix Solutions
Address: #12, City Arcade, Markaz I-8
City/State: Islamabad
Contact: A. Sajjad Zaidi
8. Instec Digital Systems
Address: 904 Fortune Centre, 45A Block 6 PECHS
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Mudassir Khan
9. KICS
Address: KICS UET Lahore
City/State: Lahore
Contact: umar iftikhar
10. LinuxChamp
Address: MC-490 B Green Town Karachi-43
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Noman Khanzada
11. MalhiNet
Address: C2-41
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Vashdev Malhi
12. Network consultants
Address: 198-w Defence
City/State: Lahore
Contact: Bilal dar
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13. ORBIT (ORganization of Business Information Technology)
Address: shahra-e-Faisal, Business Avenue Suite #310
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Choudhry Muhammad Ali
14. PING Systems
Click to get Consultant's Details (View complete details at www.linuxports.com)
Address: 605 Clifton Centre, Clifton
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Asaf Maruf
15. Slam Innovative World
Address: 408 Q Model Town
City/State: Lahore
Contact: Shakeel Farooqi
16. TeckXperts.com
Address: 70-B/2, Gulberg-III
City/State: Lahore
Contact: Jawaid Siddique
17. Whc Digital World
Address: R-839 block-17 federal B Area
City/State: Karachi
Contact: Amir Bhutto
18. XORLOGICS
Address: 3rd floor Razak plaza commercial market chaklala III
City/State: Rawalpindi, Punjab
Contact: wajahat raja
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19. Ubuntu-Linux Pakistan Team & Pklinux
Address: Leader, 242-C, Johar Town,
City/State: Lahore/Punjab
Contact: Fouad Riaz Bajwa
20. Emergen Consulting Private Limited
Address: Suite# 1507 National IT Park Caesars Towers, Shahra-e-Faisal
City/State: Karachi.
Contact: Faraz Ahmed
21. iPhonica LLC
City/State: Islamabad, Punjab
Address: Plot 291 st-3, I-9/3 Industrial Area,
Contact Person: Khurram Bhatti
22. Barbedwire Technologies
Address: 1303-4, National IT Park, Caesar Tower, Shahrah-e-Faisal,
City/State: Karachi, Sindh
Contact: Majid Hameed
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Assumptions in the Business Modeling
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The core model was built based on the following set of assumptions:
1. An excel model has also been given as a part of the submission to enable
specific costs to be calculated for different examples. In this currently
available local costs are given. This would enable a Total Cost of Ownership
and Operations to be determined.
2. The model should try to be self standing business if possible. The probability
of success is increased multifold if this is an adjunct business to another on
going business, e.g. PCO or even a general store.
3. The traffic figures were taken from the statistical information derived from
the surveys and other interviews in the rural areas
4. Several price buffers have been created in order to account for competition,
unforeseen and financing costs. E.g. selling costs of ‘products’ like telephone
calls and faxes etc are taken at lower values than what was revealed by the
survey.
5. All possible items were considered and in case these are available the
business becomes profitable and sustainable earlier
6. Though almost 80% of the demographics is ostensibly covered by wither
WLL or Cellular (see maps) , data connectivity is poor and expensive due the
tariff structures (Volume based, slow speed, session charges). This is such
that the profitability of these remote Telecenters is impacted when GPRS,
CDMA, EVDO or EDGE is considered on the basis of current charging
strategy.
7. Costs for usage per hour for GPRS, EDGE, CDMA and EVDO have been
converted to cost per hour using a simple usage model. This is the most
difficult part of the model as the costs are much higher then what can be sold
whereby depressing the profits and skewing the model. It is expected that the
Cellular and WLL companies will realize this and correct the charges
(Volume and Session charges) for use by the rural Telecenter operator in
order to sell this on a ‘per hour’ basis.
8. A comparison of the P/L has been done for CRICs/Telecenters being
driven by VSAT DVB-S2 type of services. Such technologies will become
very useful in bringing broadband to the rural areas. A separate section is
devoted to the DVB-S2 solution.
9. The costs for the DVB-S2 service has been computed for an set up with a
Hub dimensioned for 1000 remotes and a mix of capacities as mentioned in
the Connectivity section
10. It is interesting to see the impact of the current tariffs of wireless providers
as opposed to the satellite provisioning.
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11. Two varieties of software have been modeled. The following sheets show the
results of using the FOSSP. Input sheet of similar models for Microsoft
software has been given and the difference results in making the costs of
setting up these considerably higher then the FOSSP. However, there are
attendant advantages of using licensed standardized software as many remote
locations may have difficulty in setting up and maintaining OSS.
12. For calculating the costs of hardware and software two models have been
created. One using Free and Open source Software, where lower cost
computers can be used and the other uses MS Operating system and MS
Office bundled with several additional value added products. In this case
higher end machines are needed because of the size and computing power
needed for the MS environment.
In the following pages Part 1 shows the costing of a 6 seat Telecenter worked out for four
variants:
1. Microsoft software on new and refurbished PCs/Servers
2. Open Source software on new and used PCs/Servers
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Volume 1
Part 10
Business Models
Sample calculations
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Calculation for a 6 seat Telecenter for Computers, Software and LAN
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Summary
In order to compare the costs of different types of software, the following pages show the impact on prices based on the decisions for the
type of software. The decisions will be based on corporate policies and the key drivers in this decision: price or functionality. A summary of
the next few pages is:
a. FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) with refurbished hardware: Rs. 58,000
b. FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) with new hardware:
Rs. 143,000
c. Microsoft SW with refurbished hardware
Rs. 122,000
d. Microsoft SW with new hardware
Rs. 207,000
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With Refurbished Hardware
FOSS in Telecentres in Pakistan - Hardware with Internet Costing Sheet
* Note: All prices are in Pakistan Rupees and are subject to prices to be confirmed from appointed vendors
Serial
Hardware Items
1
Desktop PCs (refurbished)
2
Server (refurbised)
3
Monitor (refurbished)
Brand/Specifications
Quantity
Any brand, P-III 1 GHz, 256 Ram, 10GB HDD, LAN
Any brand, P-IV, 1+ GHz, 512 Ram, 80GB HDD, LAN
Any
Other
Cost per Unit
Total
5
6,000
30,000
1
15,000
15,000
6
1,500
9,000
Networking Accessories
4
5
6
7
8
Crossover Cable (Shielded)
RJ-45 Cable Connectors
Switch/Hub Standard
Wireless Network Cards
Wireless Switch/Hub
Type of Internet Connectivity
Feet
100
Quantity
14
1
5
1
Any
Any
D-Link
Any
D-Link
Cost/Rental of Modem/Router/Wireless Set
Cost/Feet
6
600
7
1,450
2,450
8,000
98
1,450
12,250
8,000
Cost per Unit
Two/cable
8-Port
Desktops
Quantity
Type
* Note: Does not include cost of operation, per hour rates may vary according to type of Internet Connectivity and Bandwidth
1
2
3
PTCL CDMA/WLL
Dial-up
DVB-S2 Satellite Price?
2,000
500
85,000
Wireless Set
Modem
Hours
9
Installation Costs
Subject to rates by technical support/vendor
Cost/Network (Cable or Wireless)
1
-
2,000
-
Cost/hour
6
400
2,400
Total
Number of Networks
1
Standard Network
58,148
1
Rs.
58,148
2
Wireless Network
76,250
1
Rs.
76,250
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With new Hardware
FOSS in Telecentres in Pakistan - Hardware with Internet Costing Sheet
* Note: All prices are in Pakistan Rupees and are subject to prices to be confirmed from appointed vendors
Serial
1
2
3
Hardware Items
Desktop PCs
Server
Monitor
Brand/Specifications
Any brand, P-IV 1 GHz, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB HDD, LAN
Any brand, P-V, 1GB Ram, 120GB HDD, LAN
Any
Quantity
5
1
6
Other
Cost per Unit
17,000
30,000
4,000
Total
85,000
30,000
24,000
Networking Accessories
4
Crossover Cable (Shielded)
5 RJ-45 Cable Connectors
6 Switch/Hub Standard
7 Wireless Network Cards
8 Wireless Switch/Hub
Type of Internet Connectivity
Any
Any
D-Link
Any
D-Link
Cost/Rental of Modem/Router/Wireless Set
Feet
100
Quantity
14 Two/cable
1
8-Port
5
Desktops
1
Type
Cost/Feet
6
600
7
1,450
2,450
8,000
Quantity
98
1,450
12,250
8,000
1
2,000
-
Cost per Unit
* Note: Does not include cost of operation, per hour rates may vary according to type of Internet Connectivity and Bandwidth
1
2
3
PTCL CDMA/WLL
Dial-up
DVB-S2 Satellite Price?
9
Installation Costs
2,000
500
60,000
Wireless Set
Modem
Hours
Subject to rates by technical support/vendor
Cost/Network (Cable or Wireless)
1
Standard Network
2
Wireless Network
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6
-
Cost/hour
400
2,400
Number of Networks
143,148
161,250
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1
1
Total
Rs.
Rs.
143,148
161,250
Telecenters in Pakistan
Refurbished Hardware
Telecentres in Pakistan - Hardware + Software + Internet Costing Sheet
* Note: All prices are in Pakistan Rupees and are subject to prices to be confirmed from appointed vendors
Serial
Hardware Items
1
Desktop PCs (refurbished)
2
Server (refurbised)
3
Monitor (refurbished)
Software (Proprietary) US$ 1 = Rs. 60.5
a
MS Windows + MS Office
b
Windows 2003 Server
Brand/Specifications
Quantity
Other
Cost per Unit
Total
5
6,000
30,000
1
15,000
15,000
6
1,500
9,000
Desktops
5
11,193
55,963
Servers
1
8,000
8,000
Any brand, P-III 1 GHz, 256 Ram, 10GB HDD, LAN
Any brand, P-IV, 1+ GHz, 512 Ram, 80GB HDD, LAN
Any
* Note: Server software pricing not confirmed
Networking Accessories
4
5
6
7
8
Crossover Cable (Shielded)
RJ-45 Cable Connectors
Switch/Hub Standard
Wireless Network Cards
Wireless Switch/Hub
Type of Internet Connectivity
Feet
100
Quantity
14
1
5
1
Any
Any
D-Link
Any
D-Link
Cost/Feet
Two/cable
8-Port
Desktops
Type
Cost of Modem/Router/Wireless Set
6
600
7
1,450
2,450
8,000
98
1,450
12,250
8,000
Cost per Unit
Quantity
* Note: Does not include cost of operation, per hour rates may vary according to type of Internet Connectivity and Bandwidth
1
2
3
PTCL CDMA/WLL
Dial-up
DVB-S2 CPE
2,000
500
85,000
Wireless Set
Modem
Hours
9
Installation Costs
Subject to rates by technical support/vendor
Cost/Network (Cable or Wireless)
1
-
2,000
-
Cost/hour
6
400
2,400
Number of Networks
Total
1
Standard Network
122,111
1
Rs.
122,111
2
Wireless Network
140,213
1
Rs.
140,213
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New Hardware
Telecentres in Pakistan - Hardware + Software + Internet Costing Sheet
* Note: All prices are in Pakistan Rupees and are subject to prices to be confirmed from appointed vendors
Serial
Hardware Items
1 Desktop PCs
2 Server
3 Monitor
Software (Proprietary) US$ 1 = Rs. 60.5
a
MS Windows + MS Office
b
Windows 2003 Server
Brand/Specifications
Any brand, P-IV 1 GHz, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB HDD, LAN
Any brand, P-V, 1GB Ram, 120GB HDD, LAN
Any
Quantity
5
1
6
Other
Cost per Unit
17,000
30,000
4,000
Total
85,000
30,000
24,000
11,193
8,000
55,963
8,000
* Note: Server software pricing not confirmed
Desktops
Servers
5
1
Networking Accessories
4
Crossover Cable (Shielded)
5 RJ-45 Cable Connectors
6 Switch/Hub Standard
7 Wireless Network Cards
8 Wireless Switch/Hub
Type of Internet Connectivity
Any
Any
D-Link
Any
D-Link
Cost of Modem/Router/Wireless Set
Feet
100
Quantity
14 Two/cable
1
8-Port
5
Desktops
1
Type
Cost/Feet
6
600
7
1,450
2,450
8,000
Quantity
98
1,450
12,250
8,000
1
2,000
-
Cost per Unit
* Note: Does not include cost of operation, per hour rates may vary according to type of Internet Connectivity and Bandwidth
1
2
3
PTCL CDMA/WLL
Dial-up
DVB-S2 CPE
9
Installation Costs
2,000
500
60,000
Wireless Set
Modem
Hours
Subject to rates by technical support/vendor
Cost/Network (Cable or Wireless)
1
Standard Network
2
Wireless Network
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6
-
Cost/hour
400
2,400
Number of Networks
207,111
225,213
1
1
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Rs.
Rs.
207,111
225,213
Telecenters in Pakistan
Sample CAPEX, OPEX and P/L from excel spreadsheet models
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CAPEX
Type of
Equipment/service
Models
Open Source
1 PC+ 1
phone
Rs.
Type
Rs
Qty
Infrastructure
Brick & Mortar
Brick & Mortar
Brick & Mortar
Brick & Mortar
Refurbishment
Refurbishment
Refurbishment
Refurbishment
Furniture other than
computer tables and
chairs
Furniture other than
computer tables and
chairs
Furniture other than
computer tables and
chairs
Generator
Generator
Generator
UPS
UPS
UPS
2 PC+ 2
phones
Qty
3 PC + 3
phones
Rs
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
10,000
20,000
40,000
60,000
5,000
15,000
20,000
30,000
1
1
5,000
1
2
8,000
-
-
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
14,000
8,000
16,000
45,000
6,000
15,000
35,000
6,000
-
12,000
-
Elecrticity connections
1
5,000
Elecrticity connections
Licences and
permissions
Computers
Computer PII
Computer PIII
Computer PIV
Computer PV
LAN wiring
WiFi AP
Data interconnect modems
Dial up
GPRS
CDMA phone
EVDO
EDGE
DVB - S2 VSAT
2
8,000
10,000
P2
P3
P4
P5
meter
5,000
7,000
14,000
20,000
500
8,000
external
plug in card
integrated
plug in card
plug in card
Complete unit
2,500
5,000
6,000
4,000
8,000
85,000
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
1
1
1
10,000
5,000
-
1
5,000
1
Qty
5,000
1
2
1
1
1
1
10,000
7,000
6,000
-
1
2
2
10,000
5,000
-
Rs
1
1
5,000
Qty
10,000
15,000
-
Rs
1
1
-
1
1
1
5,000
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
6 PCs + 3
phones
Qty
20,000
20,000
-
Rs
1
1
-
8,000
8,000
6,000
-
1
1
1
-
8,000
16,000
15,000
-
10 PCs +
4 phones
on DVB
1
1
1
-
Qty
20,000
20,000
-
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
Rs
1
1
Qty
40,000
20,000
-
-
8,000
-
-
16,000
15,000
-
1
1
1
-
14,000
16,000
15,000
-
1
8,000
1
8,000
10,000
14,000
12,000
-
1
10,000
21,000
18,000
-
1
10,000
35,000
14,000
5,000
12,000
8,000
-
1
10,000
35,000
14,000
3,000
85,000
-
1
10,000
126,000
20,000
5,000
85,000
-
3
2
1
254 of 279
1
9
1
10
1
1
-
8,000
6
1
14,000
45,000
35,000
-
1
10
1
-
8,000
5
1
1
-
1
5
1
1
40,000
20,000
-
-
-
3
Rs
1
14
1
15
1
10,000
196,000
20,000
7,500
85,000
-
Telecenters in Pakistan
Software OS
Microsoft
OSS/Linux
Software Office and enabling
Microsoft Office
Open Office
MIS/Enabling software
OS
MIS/Enabling software
MS
Antivirus, OS etc
Telephones, etc
Metering devices
Telephones CDMA
Telephones GSM
Telephones Land lines
Other devices
Scanner
Fax machine
Laser printer
Color printer
Dot matrix printer
Camera
Other expenses
Installation
Training
TOTAL CAPEX
1,500
-
1,500
-
3,000
-
4,500
-
4,500
-
15,000
-
22,500
-
10,000
1,500
1
incl above
500
1
500
1
500
2
1,000
2
1,000
2
1,000
10
5,000
15
7,500
1,500
1
1,500
1
1,500
1
1,500
1
1,500
1
1,500
2
3,000
2
3,000
5,000
600
1
4,000
4,000
4,000
3,500
1
5,000
8,000
8,000
5,000
4,000
10,000
per PC
per PC
Rupees
US$
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
500
500
1
1
-
1
600
4,000
500
500
63,100
1,052
2
1
1
2
2
-
2
1,200
4,000
4,000
1,000
1,000
87,700
1,462
3
2
1
1
1
3
3
-
3
1,800
8,000
5,000
8,000
10,000
1,500
1,500
145,300
2,422
3,600
8,000
8,000
3,500
5,000
8,000
8,000
5,000
10,000
3,000
3,000
6
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
6
-
3
243,100
4,052
255 of 279
6
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
6
6
-
10
3,600
8,000
8,000
5,000
8,000
8,000
5,000
10,000
3,000
3,000
302,600
5,043
10
4
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
10
10
-
15
6,000
16,000
8,000
8,000
3,500
5,000
8,000
16,000
5,000
4,000
10,000
5,000
5,000
481,500
8,025
15
4
2
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
15
15
-
9,000
16,000
8,000
8,000
7,000
5,000
8,000
16,000
5,000
4,000
10,000
7,500
7,500
616,500
10,275
Telecenters in Pakistan
CAPEX
Type of
Equipment/service
Models
Licenced Software
1 PC+ 1
phone
Rs.
Type
Rs
Qty
Infrastructure
Brick & Mortar
Brick & Mortar
Brick & Mortar
Brick & Mortar
Refurbishment
Refurbishment
Refurbishment
Refurbishment
Furniture other than
computer tables and
chairs
Furniture other than
computer tables and
chairs
Furniture other than
computer tables and
chairs
Generator
Generator
Generator
UPS
UPS
UPS
2 PC+ 2
phones
Qty
3 PC + 3
phones
Rs
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
10,000
20,000
40,000
60,000
5,000
15,000
20,000
30,000
1
1
5,000
1
2
8,000
-
-
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
14,000
8,000
16,000
45,000
6,000
15,000
35,000
6,000
-
12,000
-
Elecrticity connections
1
5,000
Elecrticity connections
Licences and
permissions
Computers
Computer PII
Computer PIII
Computer PIV
Computer PV
LAN wiring
WiFi AP
Data interconnect modems
Dial up
GPRS
CDMA phone
EVDO
EDGE
DVB - S2 VSAT
2
8,000
10,000
P2
P3
P4
P5
meter
5,000
7,000
14,000
20,000
500
8,000
external
plug in card
integrated
plug in card
plug in card
Complete unit
2,500
5,000
6,000
4,000
8,000
85,000
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
1
1
1
10,000
5,000
-
1
5,000
1
Qty
5,000
1
2
1
1
1
1
10,000
20,000
6,000
-
1
2
2
10,000
5,000
-
Rs
1
1
5,000
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
6 PCs + 3
phones
Qty
10,000
15,000
-
Rs
20,000
20,000
-
1
1
-
1
1
1
5,000
Qty
Rs
1
1
-
8,000
8,000
6,000
-
1
8,000
16,000
15,000
-
1
1
-
10 PCs +
4 phones
on DVB
1
1
1
-
Qty
20,000
20,000
-
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
Rs
1
1
Qty
40,000
20,000
-
-
8,000
-
-
16,000
15,000
-
1
1
1
14,000
16,000
15,000
-
8,000
1
8,000
1
8,000
10,000
40,000
12,000
-
1
10,000
60,000
18,000
-
1
10,000
120,000
5,000
12,000
8,000
-
1
10,000
35,000
14,000
3,000
85,000
-
1
10,000
126,000
20,000
5,000
85,000
-
3
2
1
256 of 279
1
1
1
-
1
9
1
10
1
14,000
45,000
35,000
-
8,000
6
1
-
1
6
10
1
-
-
3
1
40,000
20,000
-
-
-
5
1
Rs
1
14
1
15
1
10,000
196,000
20,000
7,500
85,000
-
Telecenters in Pakistan
Software OS
Microsoft
OSS/Linux
Software Office and enabling
Microsoft Office
Open Office
MIS/Enabling software
OS
MIS/Enabling software
MS
Antivirus, OS etc
Telephones, etc
Metering devices
Telephones CDMA
Telephones GSM
Telephones Land lines
Other devices
Scanner
Fax machine
Laser printer
Color printer
Dot matrix printer
Camera
Other expenses
Installation
Training
TOTAL CAPEX
10,000
1,500
1
incl above
500
1
1,500
5,000
600
1
1
4,000
4,000
4,000
3,500
1
5,000
8,000
8,000
5,000
4,000
10,000
per PC
per PC
Rupees
US$
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
500
500
1
1
-
10,000
-
2
20,000
-
3
1
30,000
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
87,600
1,460
1
4
1
1
2
2
-
5,000
2,400
4,000
4,000
1,000
1,000
136,400
2,273
1
6
2
1
1
1
3
3
-
3
4,500
-
10
100,000
-
15
6
-
5,000
600
4,000
500
500
60,000
-
6
15
1
5,000
3,600
8,000
5,000
8,000
10,000
1,500
1,500
215,600
3,593
-
2
1,000
10
5,000
-
1,500
1
1,500
2
3,000
-
7,200
8,000
8,000
3,500
5,000
8,000
8,000
5,000
10,000
3,000
3,000
12
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
6
6
-
150,000
-
372,200
6,203
257 of 279
6
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
6
6
-
3,600
8,000
8,000
5,000
8,000
8,000
5,000
10,000
3,000
3,000
302,600
5,043
10
4
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
10
10
-
6,000
16,000
8,000
8,000
3,500
5,000
8,000
16,000
5,000
4,000
10,000
5,000
5,000
566,500
9,442
15
30
4
2
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
15
15
-
75,000
18,000
16,000
8,000
8,000
7,000
5,000
8,000
16,000
5,000
4,000
10,000
7,500
7,500
817,500
13,625
Telecenters in Pakistan
Operating cost
Service
Type
Unit of
Unit cost measurement
Bandwidth
dial up
GPRS
EVDO
EDGE
DVB
Voice interconnect
Local
Mobile
International Region 1
International Region 2
International Region 3
Consumables
Paper
Parts and spares
Toner B/W
Toner Color
Ribbons
Employee salaries
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Utilities
Electricity
Incremental per PC
Electricity ave small
Electricity ave medium
Electiricty ave large
GPRS
EVDO
EDGE
10
24
144
168
5,000
Rs. Per hour
Rs. Per hour
Rs. Per hour
Rs. Per hour
Rs. Per month
1 PC
1 PC
3-6 Pc
3-6 Pc
upto 20 PC + teleph.
2
3
3
8
12
0 per page
1,500 per computer per month
4,500
3,200
1,000
5,000 Operator
8,000 Technician
12,000 Manager
500 Rs/month
200 Rs/month
base w/o AC
1000 Rs/month
1800 Rs/month
3500 Rs/month
MB/hour @ 30%cycle Cost/MB
Cost per hour
1.2
20
24 low number of computers - one at a time
7.2
20
144 service upto 4 per connection
8.4
20
168 service upto 6 per connection
Rental & Misc
Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
Type 4
2,000
4,000
6,000
10,000
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
258 of 279
Telecenters in Pakistan
Cost and selling price
Rupees
Service
Unit cost
Type
Bandwidth
dial up
GPRS
EVDO
EDGE
DVB per month amort+
BW
Voice interconnect
Local
Mobile
International Region 1
International Region 2
International Region 3
Consumables
Unit Price
10
24
144
168
6,000
2
3
3
8
12
Paper
Parts and spares
Toner B/W
Toner Color
0.3
1,500
3,500
3,500
Ribbons
1,000
Scanner
Assited e-mails
Photos
Rental & Misc
Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
Type 4
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
1.67
2
9
2,000
4,000
6,000
10,000
20
30
43.2
48.3
per hour
per hour
per hour
per hour
10
10
10
0.9 per hour
Selling price
4
5
6
12
15
price per page of
3.06 printing
price per page of
1.53 printing
2.50 cost per page scanned
5 per page of e-mail
10.4 per printed picture
Per month
Per month
Per month
Per month
259 of 279
20
Telecenters in Pakistan
Revenues
Monthly
1 PC+ 1
phone
Qty
Telephone Minutes
Local calls
Mobile
International Region 1
International Region 2
International Region 3
Internet hours
dial up
GPRS
EVDO/CDMA
EDGE
DVB
Rs
4,800
4,800
600
600
600
19,200
24,000
3,600
7,200
9,000
96
4,147
-
2 PC+ 2
phones
Qty
Rs
7,680
7,680
720
720
720
30,720
38,400
4,320
8,640
10,800
192
8,294
-
Printing
Scanning & Fax
assited e-mails
Photos
Services 1
Services 2
TOTAL
3 PC + 3
phones
Qty
8,640
8,640
960
960
960
34,560
43,200
5,760
11,520
14,400
288
240
120
360
50
67,147
101,174
Rs
6 PCs + 3
phones
Qty
Rs
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
Qty
69,120
86,400
4,320
8,640
10,800
20,736
20,736
864
864
864
Rs
12,442
-
720
14,400
-
1,120
22,400
1,568
47,040
1,120
43,680
734
300
1,800
520
360
240
480
80
1,102
600
2,400
832
480
360
720
100
1,469
900
3,600
1,040
480
360
360
100
2,203
1,350
2,700
1,560
528
396
396
110
2,908
1,782
3,564
2,059
-
214,454
260 of 279
208,689
124,416
155,520
7,776
15,552
19,440
17,280
17,280
960
960
864
Rs
69,120
86,400
7,200
14,400
18,000
Telephone quantity = minutes of use
Internet = hours
Printing = no. of pages
Scanning - number of pages
Assited e-mails = no. of pages
Services = per unit of delivery of specific service
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
Rs
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
Qty
17,280
17,280
1,200
1,200
1,200
125,236
17,280
17,280
720
720
720
10 PCs +
4 phones
on DVB
Qty
-
377,557
134,784
168,480
11,232
22,464
19,440
-
410,393
Telecenters in Pakistan
Cost of Sales
1 PC+ 1
phone
Qty
Telephone Minutes
Local calls
Mobile
International Region 1
International Region 2
International Region 3
Internet hours
dial up
GPRS
EVDO
EDGE
DVB
Printing
Scanning
assited e-mails
Photos
Services 1
Services 2
TOTAL
4,800
4,800
600
600
600
96
-
2 PC+ 2
phones
Qty
Rs
9,600
14,400
1,800
4,800
7,200
13,824
-
51,624
7,680
7,680
720
720
720
192
-
Rs
15,360
23,040
2,160
5,760
8,640
27,648
-
82,608
3 PC + 3
phones
Qty
8,640
8,640
960
960
960
288
240
120
360
50
-
Rs
17,280
25,920
2,880
7,680
11,520
41,472
72
200
720
433
108,177
6 PCs + 3
phones
Qty
17,280
17,280
1,200
1,200
1,200
720
360
240
480
80
-
Rs
34,560
51,840
3,600
9,600
14,400
103,680
108
400
960
693
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
Qty
17,280
17,280
720
720
720
1,120
480
360
720
100
-
219,841
Telephone quantity = minutes of use
Internet = hours
Printing = no. of pages
Scanning - number of pages
Assited e-mails = no. of pages
Services = per unit of delivery of specific service
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
261 of 279
Rs
34,560
51,840
2,160
5,760
8,640
1,008
1,469
900
1,440
867
108,643
10 PCs +
4 phones
on DVB
Qty
20,736
20,736
864
864
864
1,568
480
360
360
100
-
Rs
41,472
62,208
2,592
6,912
10,368
1,411
1,469
900
720
867
128,919
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
Qty
17,280
17,280
960
960
864
1,120
528
396
396
110
-
Rs
34,560
51,840
2,880
7,680
10,368
1,008
1,616
990
792
953
112,687
Telecenters in Pakistan
Cost of Sales
1 PC+ 1
phone
Qty
Telephone Minutes
Local calls
Mobile
International Region 1
International Region 2
International Region 3
Internet hours
dial up
GPRS
EVDO
EDGE
DVB
Printing
Scanning
assited e-mails
Photos
Services 1
Services 2
4,800
4,800
600
600
600
96
-
TOTAL with IP Cost = Rs 20/hr
2 PC+ 2
phones
Qty
Rs
9,600
14,400
1,800
4,800
7,200
960
-
38,760
7,680
7,680
720
720
720
192
-
Rs
15,360
23,040
2,160
5,760
8,640
1,920
-
56,880
3 PC + 3
phones
Qty
8,640
8,640
960
960
960
288
240
120
360
50
-
Rs
17,280
25,920
2,880
7,680
11,520
2,880
72
200
720
433
69,585
6 PCs + 3
phones
Qty
17,280
17,280
1,200
1,200
1,200
720
360
240
480
80
-
Rs
34,560
51,840
3,600
9,600
14,400
7,200
108
400
960
693
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
Qty
17,280
17,280
720
720
720
1,120
480
360
720
100
-
123,361
Telephone quantity = minutes of use
Internet = hours
Printing = no. of pages
Scanning - number of pages
Assited e-mails = no. of pages
Services = per unit of delivery of specific service
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
262 of 279
Rs
34,560
51,840
2,160
5,760
8,640
1,008
1,469
900
1,440
867
108,643
10 PCs +
4 phones
on DVB
Qty
20,736
20,736
864
864
864
1,568
480
360
360
100
-
Rs
41,472
62,208
2,592
6,912
10,368
1,411
1,469
900
720
867
128,919
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
Qty
17,280
17,280
960
960
864
1,120
528
396
396
110
-
Rs
34,560
51,840
2,880
7,680
10,368
1,008
1,616
990
792
953
112,687
Telecenters in Pakistan
P&L
Monthly
per hour at
Rs. 15/MB)
1 PC+ 1 phone
2 PC+ 2 phones
3 PC + 3
phones
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
6 PCs + 3
phones
10 PCs + 4
15 PC + 5 phone
phones on DVB
on DVB
Cost of operations
Cost of Sales
Depreciation, Rentals, etc
Misc
6,000
51,624
2,000
6,000
82,608
4,000
6,000
108,177
5,453
11,800
219,841
6,000
19,800
108,643
21,130
21,500
128,919
30,075
33,500
112,687
40,825
TOTAL
59,624
92,608
119,630
237,641
149,573
180,494
187,012
Revenues
67,147
101,174
125,236
214,454
208,689
377,557
410,393
7,523
8,566
5,606
59,115
197,064
223,381
Profit/Retained earnings
1 PC+ 1 phone
Profit/Retained earnings
for Internet at volume
charge on GPRS/CDMA
7,523
2 PC+ 2 phones
8,566
3 PC + 3
phones
(23,188)
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
6 PCs + 3
phones
5,606
(23,188)
10 PCs + 4
15 PC + 5 phone
phones on DVB
on DVB
59,115
Profit/Retained earnings for Internet at volume charge on GPRS/CDMA
250,000
200,000
Rupees
150,000
100,000
50,000
1 PC+ 1
phone
(50,000)
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
2 PC+ 2
phones
3 PC + 3
phones
6 PCs + 3
phones
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
10 PCs + 4
phones on
DVB
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
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197,064
223,381
Telecenters in Pakistan
P&L with IP costs of GPRS/EVDO same as dial up
1 PC+ 1 phone
6,000
38,760
2,000
Cost of operations
Cost of Sales
Depreciation, Rentals, etc
Misc
2 PC+ 2 phones
6,000
56,880
4,000
3 PC + 3
phones
6,000
69,585
5,453
6 PCs + 3
phones
11,800
123,361
6,000
6 PCs + 3
phones on
10 PCs + 4
15 PC + 5 phone
DVB
phones on DVB
on DVB
19,800
21,500
33,500
108,643
128,919
112,687
21,130
30,075
40,825
TOTAL
46,760
66,880
81,038
141,161
149,573
180,494
187,012
Revenues
67,147
101,174
125,236
214,454
208,689
377,557
410,393
Profit/Retained earnings
20,387
34,294
44,198
73,292
59,115
197,064
223,381
TOTAL with IP Cost = Rs 20/hr
38,760
56,880
69,585
1 PC+ 1 phone
Profit/Retained earnings
for Internet at Dial up costs
2 PC+ 2 phones
20,387
3 PC + 3
phones
34,294
6 PCs + 3
phones
44,198
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
10 PCs + 4
15 PC + 5 phone
phones on DVB
on DVB
73,292
59,115
10 PCs + 4
phones on
DVB
15 PC + 5
phone on
DVB
Profit/Retained earnings for Internet at Dial up costs
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
1 PC+ 1
phone
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
2 PC+ 2
phones
3 PC + 3
phones
6 PCs + 3
phones
6 PCs + 3
phones on
DVB
264 of 279
197,064
223,381
Telecenters in Pakistan
Volume 1
Part 11
Resources and Reference materials
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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Telecenters in Pakistan
RESOURCES109
TOPIC: Management
Resource Name
Location
Format
Target Audience
The Role of the Telecenter
Manager
In Handbook for Telecenter Staffs
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/documents/module04.doc
MS
Word
Telecenter Staff
Preparing a Business Plan
In the CTCNet Manual
http://www.ctcnet.org/ctc/ctcnetmanual/ch9.pdf
PDF
NGOs
US focus
In Handbook for Telecenter Staffs
MS
Word
Telecenter staff
Basic Guidelines for
Telecenter Financial
Sustainability (Developing a
Business Plan)
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/documents/module05.doc
PDF
In The Community Telecenter Cookbook
Developing the Business plan http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001230/123004e.pdf (pages
14-58)
Determining Program Focus
109
In CTC Manual http://www.ctcnet.org/ctc/ctcnetmanual/ch3.pdf
Last Mile Initiative - TRAINING MATERIALS - relevant for LMI operators [draft as of 9/14/05]
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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PDF
Telecenter staff
Tech Centers &
NGOs in the US
Telecenters in Pakistan
PDF
In The Community Telecenter Cookbook
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001230/123004e.pdf (pages
71-73)
Telecenter staff
Day-to-day Management
Issues
In The Community Telecenter Cookbook
PDF
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001230/123004e.pdf (pages
75-79)
Telecenter staff
In The Community Telecenter Cookbook
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001230/123004e.pdf (pages
110-120)
PDF
Telecenter staff
Example of a Business Plan
Mission, Goals and
Objectives
WorldLinks CLIC Manual
(pages 7-12)
PDF
Telecenter staff
Pricing & Charging for your
Services
WorldLinks CLIC Manual
(pages 32-38)
PDF
Telecenter staff
Modules for Training
Telecenter Staffs – An
Interim Report with Sample
Modules
http://www.itu.int/ITUD/univ_access/telecentres/documents/ModTrainingTelecStaff.pdf
PDF
Telecenter staff
Chapter 18 in Telecenters: Case Studies & Key Issues, by the
Commonwealth of Learning
PDF
Project heads and
similar high-level
management
Recruiting a oordinator/manager
Training Telecenter
Managers, Staff, and Users
http://www.col.org/telecentres/chapter%2018.pdf
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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Telecenters in Pakistan
Accounting and Financial
Management
http://www.smetoolkit.org/Category.jsp?iCategoryId=31&locale=1
MS
Word
Financial
personnel
Creating an Effective
Business Plan
http://www.smetoolkit.org/Article.jsp?id=if-amx00027&catid=2&lid=1&locale=1
MS
Word
Telecenter Staff
ICT and Small Enterprise: A
Handbook for Entrepreneurs
in Developing Countries
http://idpm.man.ac.uk/rsc/is/ictsme/entrephbk/index.shtml
PDF and Telecenter
managers and staff
MS
Word
How to Write a Business
Plan
http://www.bplans.com/dp/
Online
In UNESCO’s CMC Guide
Getting Started
- Needs Assessment, Mission
Statement & Business Plan
PDF file
online &
CDhttp://portal.unesco.org/ci/admin/file_download.php/05.pdf?URL_I ROM
D=15714&filename=1084292183505.pdf&filetype=application/pdf&f
ilesize=505067&name=05.pdf&location=user-S/
In UNESCO’s CMC Guide
Human Resources
PDF file
online &
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/admin/file_download.php/07.pdf?URL_I CDD=15716&filename=1084292362507.pdf&filetype=application/pdf&f ROM
ilesize=253643&name=07.pdf&location=user-S/
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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Telecenter staff –
US focus
Telecenters in Pakistan
TOPIC: Marketing
Resource Name
Location
Format
Marketing your Telecenter
In Handbook for Telecenter Staffs
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/documents/module06.doc
Marketing Toolkit
http://www.apc.org/english/ngos/business/busplan/mtoolkit.htm
Using the Internet
Target
Audience
MS Word
Field level
project staff
http://www.apc.org/english/capacity/strategy/index.shtml
online
Field level
project staff
Using ICT to Develop
Business
http://toolkit.idisc.net
Online
toolkit
ICT Managers
Review of Telecenter
Sustainability Criteria for the
Establishment of Sustainable
Rural Business Resource
Centers for SMEs in
Developing Countries
http://www.unido.org/en/doc/24187
PDF
Field level
project staff –
fairly advanced
– international
focus
http://www.ctcnet.org/ctc/ctcnetmanual/ch9.pdf
PDF
Field level
project staff –
Strategically
Preparing a Business Plan for
Community Technology
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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Telecenters in Pakistan
Centers
Scheduling, Outreach, and
Evaluation
US focus
In CTC Manual http://www.ctcnet.org/ctc/ctcnetmanual/ch7.pdf
PDF
Field level
project staff
http://www.intelligentcommunities.org.uk/toolkit/sustainability/inde
x.htm
PDF
Field- level
project staff
(basic) – UK
focus
The Community Telecenter
Cookbook: How to Establish
a Multi-Purpose Community
Telecenter in Africa
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001230/123004e.pdf
PDF
Telecenter
staff
Techniques de marketing et
de communication
Mali CLIC Training (Module 3)
(dot-ORG)
MS Word
Telecenter
staff
Identifier la clientèle et les
services
Mali CLIC Training (Module 4)
(dot-ORG)
MS Word
Telecenter
staff
Identifying your Customers
WorldLinks CLIC Training
(pages 21-26)
PDF
Telecenter
staff
http://www.smetoolkit.org/Category.jsp?iCategoryId=35&locale=1
MS Word
Telecenter
staff
Wired Up Communities’
Practitioners’ Toolkit
Marketing and Sales
(provides links to various
web-based resources)
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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Telecenters in Pakistan
Telecenter Sustainability :
Myths and Opportunities
http://www.fao.org/Waicent/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/ags/Agsp/p
df/ProenzaTelecenter.pdf
PDF
Telecenter
staff
Using the Internet
Strategically – Examples of
Strategic Use of ICT
http://www.apc.org/english/capacity/strategy/index.shtml
Online
Telecenter
management
and staff
In UNESCO’s CMC Guide
Sustainability of CMCs
PDF file
online &
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/admin/file_download.php/12.pdf?URL_I CD-ROM
D=15721&filename=1084292960512.pdf&filetype=application/pdf&f
ilesize=416730&name=12.pdf&location=user-S/
In “Planning for School Based Telecenters”,
Spreading the Word
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/91628/telecentres/tel
ecentres/workshop/session7.htm
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Final Report Oct 17, 2006
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Downloadab
le in PDF
formats
CMC /
Telecenter
managers
Telecenters in Pakistan
TOPIC: TECHNICAL
Resource Name
Making Computers Work for
You
Location
Format
In Handbook for Telecenter Staffs
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/documents/module10.doc
In Managing a Technical Service Center (SchoolNet Africa )
Refurbishing & Maintaining a
http://www.schoolnetafrica.net/fileadmin/1Million
PC
PCsTraining/Module%204/Mod4Intro.htm
Target
Audience
MS Word
Field level
project staff
(very basic)
Web-based
training
School-based
computer labs
Software Selection and
Criteria
In CTC Manual http://www.ctcnet.org/ctc/ctcnetmanual/ch5.pdf
PDF
Field level
project staff
Space, Hardware, and
Security
In CTC Manual http://www.ctcnet.org/ctc/ctcnetmanual/ch6.pdf
PDF
Field level
project staff
A guide to free resources
available to NGOs and
businesses
Free IT Guide
Online
Field level
project staff
PDF file &
CMC /
Telecenter
Choosing Appropriate
http://www.bridges.org/toolkit/guide_to_free_it.html
In UNESCO’s CMC Guide
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Telecenters in Pakistan
CD-ROM
Equipment & Technology
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/admin/file_download.php/
06.pdf?URL_ID=15715&filename=
1084292299506.pdf&filetype=application/
pdf&filesize=223894&name=06.pdf&location=user-S/
Telecenter Technology
Chapter 19 in Telecenters: Case Studies & Key Issues, by the
Commonwealth of Learning
PDF
http://www.col.org/telecentres/chapter%2019.pdf
Technology Planning – Open
Source Software
Section of ITrain Online
http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk/opensource.shtml
Digital Dividend Web site
Resource Marketplace:
Software
http://www.digitaldividend.org/marketplace/marketplace_11.htm
OpenOffice
& PDF
Links to
specific
resources
online
includes links to resources related to open source
Digital Dividend Web site
Resource Marketplace:
Hardware
http://www.digitaldividend.org/marketplace/marketplace_05.htm
Includes links to resources related to computer donations, computer
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Links to
specific
resources
online
managers
Telecenters in Pakistan
refurbishing…
http://www.amarc.org/wol/English/modules-en.htm
Includes a trainer’s guide as well as the following modules:
o Introduction to the Internet and Women's Networking
Experiences on the Internet
o Electronic Mail (E-mail) & Mailing Lists
Women Online Training Kit
o World Wide Web (WWW) and How to Find
Information on the Internet
o Creation of Web Pages
o FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Newsgroups
o Digital Imaging
o Radio on the Internet
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PDF Online
Trainers
Telecenters in Pakistan
TOPIC: Wireless
Location
Resource Name
Format
Section of ITrain Online
Wireless Networking
Practical Wi-Fi Security
Wireless Network MiniTutorial
Mobile & Wireless
Technology Workshop
Mesh Networking
http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/english/wireless.shtml
HP Solutions - IT Guide
Target
Audience
Links to
specific
articles
Technical
Staff
Web pages
Technical Staff
http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity/howto/it_wifisecurity/index.html
WKMN Training http://www.wkmn.com/newsite/wireless.html
Web-based Basic
Technical
Wi-Fi 101
Web-based Basic
Technical
Wi-Fi Planet Tutorial
Web-based Intermediate
Technical
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3520231
Make a Wireless Peer-toPeer connection
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/qa/qa20050519.shtml
Rural & Remote
Broadband Access
http://www.crc.ca/en/html/crc/home/research/rrba/rrba
Canada (2003)
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Web-based Intermediate
Technical
Web-based
Telecenters in Pakistan
TOPIC: M&E
Resource Name
Research Methods for Needs
Assessment & Monitoring &
Evaluation
Location
Format
In Handbook for Telecenter Staffs
http://ip.cals.cornell.edu/commdev/documents/module03.doc
MS Word
In UNESCO’s CMC Guide
Research & Evaluation
PDF file
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/admin/file_download.php/13.pdf?URL_I online &
D=15722&filename=1084293119513.pdf&filetype=application/pdf&f CD-ROM
ilesize=269729&name=13.pdf&location=user-S/
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/91628/telecentres/tel
ecentres/SCres_management_home.html#monitoring
Target
Audience
Field level
project staff
CMC /
Telecenter
managers
MS Word
and PDF
Includes the following document:
Monitoring and Evaluation
for School-based Telecenters
Research for Telecenter
Planning & Operation
-
Sample evaluation instrument
-
General evaluation guide
-
Stakeholder discussion guide
-
Interview guide
-
Document analysis guide
In APEC Telecenter Training Camp Handbook
PDF online
http://Telecenter.rdec.gov.tw/document/8_4_Handbook_Part_4.pdf
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Telecenter
evaluators/ma
nagers
Telecenters in Pakistan
TOPIC: Basic Technology Skills
Resource Name
Microsoft Unlimited
Potential Community
Learning Curriculum
Computer Basics (provides
links to various web-based
resources)
Basic Computer and
Communications Skills
Location
Format
Target
Audience
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/citizenship/giving/programs/up
/curriculum.asp
Accessible by Unlimited Potential grantees only.
Includes: Computer fundamentals, Information literacy, and
productivity applications
?
Telecenter
users (?)
iTrain Online
http://www.apc.org/english/capacity/training/computers.shtml
List of
hyperlinks
Telecenter
staff with
limited
knowledge of
computers and
beginner users
http://www.smetoolkit.org/Article.jsp?id=ifmob00011&catid=36&lid=1&locale=1#1
MS Word
Center staff
with limited
knowledge of
computers
International Computer
Driving Licence
http://www.ecdl.com/main/countries.php
Basic Skills
(Computer Basics, Office
Productivity Software,
Internet & Email Basics,
Finding information online)
Section in ITrain Online
http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/english/basic_skills.shtml
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Links to
various sites
& formats
Telecenters in Pakistan
Types of ‘Telecenters110
Name
Tele Center
Definition
Name used by the
Organization
Reference
Tele-Centers are “shared Premises” where the Public can
access information and Communication
Technologies”(Colle & Roman 1991:1)
Telecenter Sustainability -
Commercial Tele-Center
commercial Telecenters are located in
urban marginal neighborhoods they are frequented
primarily by well-educated young people. to reach
the large mass of low-income people, most of whom have
limited education, specific measures –
promotion campaigns, start-up investment capital,
training programs, and demand support during the
initial stages while users become familiar with the
technology - will need to be instituted.
Multi Pourpose Community
(1) to set up a one-stop shop information resource center
Telecenter
110 Rural Telecenters: e-wwg.com
for the people in the barangays, to give them access to
people, information and organizations, using simple and
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
Myths and Opportunities* “Bridging the rural
knowledge gap: Information
FAO
systems for improved livelihoods”
Francisco J. Proenza
ITU & UNESCO
278 of 279
Experiences in the Philippine Government’s
Multipurpose Community Telecenter Pilot Projects :
Policy Implications Ms. Merlita M. Opena
Telecenters in Pakistan
state-of-the-art communication tools, which can provide
answers to the communities’ concerns; and
Philippine Council for Health Research and
Development Department of Science and
Technology
(2) to serve as a venue for learning, interaction as well as
for creating content and ICT-based applications in
education, health, agriculture and rural enterprise
development which respond to the needs of the
communities.
Little Intelligence Communities
(LINCOS)
Operation in Costa Rica and
Three in the Dominican
Republic
Cyber Café
LINCOS is an innovative multi – Purpose community
Tele-Center that integrates a Varity of services and
multimedia application to empower community
Development
Cybercafés often provide as many services as other types
of Telecenters. They train their clients (for example, in
basic computer skills and office
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
FAO
Tele-Cottages
TeletechGlobal Telecenters
combination of “ Internet café, virtual classroom, internet
service provider and small (electrical appliance and
equipment) showroom under one roof”
Salman Ansari Technology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd
Final Report Oct 17, 2006
Telecenter Sustainability -Myths and Opportunities*
“Bridging the rural knowledge gap: Information
systems for improved livelihoods”
Francisco J. Proenza
applications) - either in response to local demand or to
stimulate demand for their services
Telecottage is on the more general level, rural
modernization, economic development, and a
strengthening of democracy and civil society. More
specifically, the goals are provision of services to as many
as possible with the help of telecottages as an
infrastructure.
Comparing Urban & Rural Telecenter Cost, Hani
Shakeel hshakeel@mit.edu , Michael Best
mikeb@media.mit.edu , Bruno Miller
brunom@mit.edu , Sam Weber
Hungarian Telecottage
Association/ ITU
FAO
Telecottage in Hungary, unpublished 2001
manuscript paper produced by Hungarian
Telecottage Association.
Telecenter Sustainability -Myths and Opportunities*
“Bridging the rural knowledge gap: Information
systems for improved livelihoods”
Francisco J. Proenza
279 of 279