There's been plenty in the media about the beneficial impact of mobile phones on the developing world, and I've occasionally covered this in Fortnightly Mailing. (There is a list of back-links below.)
Paul Marks, in this "subscriber only" article in the New Scientist of 23/6/2007 (reproduced in full here) argues that unless, as in China, there is mandatory mobile coverage of sparsely populated poorer areas, or as in Bangladesh there is a dense population, mobile telephony is only economically viable for the service providers if there are on average enough users for each mobile antenna to justify its costs. Marks reports on an alternative technology called Wi-Fi over Long Distance Networks (WildNets) which can "beam the net to communities hundreds of kilometres away". Wildnets, coupled with the mesh technology being pioneered by One Laptop Per Child, and others, look like a potent way of getting connectivity into all corners of the globe.
For more on WildNets, the technology and approach for which has been developed by Eric Brewer (inventor of the pre-Google Inktomi search algorithm, and now back at the University of California), see this March 2007 article in Forbes, by Michael Zow.
Links:
- 28/7/2007 - Point-to-point wi-fi brings internet access to all;
- 27/1/2007 - Mobile phones in Africa;
- 14/12/2006 - Wireless Ghana;
- 17/10/2006 - What would you install on One Laptop Per Child;
- 22/9/2006 - 80% of the population is covered by a mobile network.
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