[gu-l] (9/9/01)Nigeria operation with LEO satellite and wireless approach
Tak Utsumi
utsumi@columbia.edu
Sun, 9 Sep 2001 19:55:33 +0000 (GMT)
<<September 9, 2001>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking "Correspondence" in our
home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.
For those after 2/27/01, see or bookmark:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/> and click on "Date," for
example. The most recent archives are the bottom line.
John Dada PhD RN <fantsuamfoundation@fantsuam.com>
Robert A. Freling <rfreling@self.org>
Dr. Joseph N. Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>
Gary Garriott <garyg@vita.org>
Yukio Mizuno <mizunoy@sogw.nitsuko.co.jp>
H.E. Chief Segun Olusola, mni <aref@skannet.com>
Dr. Kolawole Raheem <raheem@cc.jyu.fi>
Tunji Lardner, CEO <Agenda2@aol.com>
Robert Hutcheson, RA <bobhutcheson@mindspring.com>
Dear John:
==========
(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I).
My sincere congratulations for your receiving a prestigious Hafkin
Africa Prize!!
(2) ATTACHMENT II is a copy of an article appeared in the New York Times
of today.
You may follow their suit. Pls feel free to contact Robert Freling.
Dear Robert:
============
You mentioned of this project at Clarke Day event of Joe
Pleton's CITI on 2/7/01 at Newseum in Arlington, VA
<http://www.clarkeinstitute.com/citin2.html>. My wholehearted
congratulations to your success!!
His project is one of CITI's projects along with our Global Service
Trust Fund (GSTF) project -- see
<http://www.clarkeinstitute.com/projects.html>.
(3) As for the email accessibility in remote areas, VITASAT is the world
pioneer with more than a dozen year's operation. It is VITA's low
earth orbiting satellite from north pole to south pole, as circulating
the globe in 100 minutes or so. Whenever it passes over you, you will
have about 10 to 20 minutes time slot to up- and down-load your emails
with very inexpensive transceiver and antenna. Pls ask more details
to Gary Garriott -- BTW, his new project "Warn and Recovery Net
(WARN)" is another project of Joe Pelton's CITI -- see the above URL.
I understand that VITASAT was built by Sussex University in the
U.K.
When VITASAT was initially started, NEC helped to provide VITA with
transceivers and antennas. Therefore, Gary once asked me to approach
NEC again for more units, but I failed to get their interest a few
years ago.
Pls let me know if you have more needs for your project, since I may
be able to ask Dr. Mizuno's help whom I met during my stay in Tokyo
last month. He is a former senior executive vice president of NEC,
and my classmate at my alma mater, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
almost half century ago.
This is because your project may well fall into the $15 billion
for closing digital divide in developing countries which was
pledged by the former Prime Minister of Japan during the Okinawa
Summit last year -- see my last list distribution "[gu-l] Fund
raising for GUS/Turkey" at
http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/2001q3/date.html
You may follow my suggestions mentioned in this list
distribution -- which was made to a colleague in Istanbul --
for your getting seed money.
(4) As for your Nigeria project, you may contact Ambassador Segun Olusola
(whom I met at the conference of Institute for International
Communication in Tampa, FL, last September) and Dr. Kolawole Raheem
(ATTACHMENT III).
Tunji has been working to raise funds for my fact-finding trip to
Nigeria.
You may also contact Robert Hutcheson (ATTACHMENT IV).
(5) If your clients are within 25 mile range, you may construct wireless
broadband (10 Mbps) local area network (LAN) with the use of
Lucent/Orinoco unit -- see <http://wavelan.com/>. This is the so-called
"fixed-wireless" approach connecting buildings which are in
line of sight. Each unit costs less than $2000.
When I visited Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
last month, they told me that their fund can be used for
purchasing products of any makers, i.e., open bidding.
After building such a LAN, you may connect it to the outside Internet
via satellite -- see Slide #16 of "Three GLOSAS Projects" at
http://www.friends-
partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Global%20University%20System/Reference_web_sites.html
Through this LAN, you can make the so-called Internet telephony,
too, in addition to videoconferencing.
This is, in a sense, similar approach as our colleagues' in Manaus,
Amazon for their constructing CampusNet and Manaus Community Network
-- see my last list distribution mentioned in Item (3) above.
Pls feel free to contact me if we can be of any further help.
Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I
Subject: Providing internet connection to remote communities in Africa
Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 11:54 AM
From: Fantsuam <johndada@fantsuam.com>
Reply-To: "Fantsuam" <fantsuamfoundation@fantsuam.com>
To: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
http://www.apc.org/english/hafkin/haf_finalists.htm
Dear Prof Utsumi
We are seeking advice on how we can create an email postal service using
wireless internet connection for remore communities that have no access to
telephones or electricity. We would like advice on an affordable and robust
technology which can download and receive emails twice a day, so that each
rural community will have an email address on our server. We have a van which
can deliver these mails to the remote communities.
An alternative technology, if available, will be to carry our server in the
van and move in a specified circuit, so that communities wthin 15miles of the
van can access the internet from it.
We were advised to contact the Global University System for advice and
support for this aspect of our service.
We were recently awarded the Hafkin Africa Prize:
http://www.apc.org/english/hafkin/haf_finalists.htm
Thank you.
John Dada PhD RN
_______________________________________________________________
Fantsuam Foundation is a non-governmental organisation that works with women
in rural communities in Nigeria. We work with these communities to find
answers to poverty through projects in Health, Education and Microcredit
Loans
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II
From:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/09/business/09SOLA.html?pagewanted=print
SEP 09, 2001
Solar Power Is Reaching Where Wires Can't
By DAVID LIPSCHULTZ
Two hours outside Durban, South Africa, deep in the Valley of a Thousand
Hills, Myeka High School had no electricity. Students struggled to read by
candlelight, and few textbooks and newspapers were available. The school was
clearly having a hard time doing its job: only 30 percent of the students
graduated, and even those had little hope of going beyond their isolated
village.
Then, in the spring of last year, solar energy came to town. Photovoltaic
solar panels, firing up 2.4 kilowatts of power, were brought into the school
by the Solar Electric Light Fund, a nonprofit group based in Washington. SELF
also persuaded Dell Computer (news/quote) and Infosat Telecommunications to
donate computers and a satellite uplink so that the students could have
Internet access.
Now that the students can download materials from the Internet and have
access to the Learning Channel, the graduation rate has shot up to 70
percent. Some students have won science awards, and many are applying for
college. "I never thought the sun could do all this," said Melusi Zwane, the
school's principal.
Myeka is a vivid example of the impact of computers on society. But what
makes this tale stand out is the arrival of solar power. "It's the reason for
all that we have now," Mr. Zwane said. "Everything comes from power."
Business has long been keenly aware of the potential of providing energy to
deprived areas. And interest in narrowing the world's much-discussed digital
divide, between the connected and the unconnected, has only made the
opportunity more inviting.
That is why energy projects like the one at Myeka High School are not solely
philanthropic. Though many financing hurdles remain, there is money to be
made, especially for solar energy companies, when markets like these go
online.
In fact, according to Strategies Unlimited, a market research firm in
Mountain View, Calif., for the solar industry, roughly 40 percent, or $1.2
billion, of the $3 billion worldwide solar business last year came from rural
markets like the Valley of a Thousand Hills. In the United States, for
example, solar has had decent sales as an environmentally friendly complement
to the existing power grid, but there is a more immediate need for it in
rural areas. Strategies Unlimited predicts that the leading companies in the
industry, like the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Siemens, BP, Sanyo Electric,
Sharp (news/quote), Kyocera and AstroPower, will continue to have revenue
growth of about 20 percent a year from these markets. That will make the
remote rural market alone worth roughly $2.5 billion by 2005.
Two billion people, roughly 30 percent of the world population, are off the
energy grid, living in areas without utility services. And a billion of them
have the means to pay for power, said Prof. Daniel M. Kammen, director of the
Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California
at Berkeley.
According to solar industry vendors and analysts, many of these billion
people spend $5 to $10 a month on kerosene, almost exclusively for lights.
Solar power, of course, has many more uses, and by amortizing the start-up
costs over perhaps five years, the total cash outlay is about the same.
"There's a lot of money to be made in converting those people to solar," said
Dr. Allen M. Barnett, chief executive of AstroPower, a publicly traded
company based in Newark.
In July, for example, Shell Solar signed an agreement with the Sun Oasis
Company, a distributor in Beijing, to supply systems for up to 78,000
households in rural western China.
Aside from selling directly to remote areas, solar energy companies are
expected to achieve much of their growth in powering telecommunications
companies that want to extend their services, including the Internet.
"In some cases the economics involving off-grid power, such as power
generators, don't allow telecom carriers to go further out," said David
Dunsworth, director for power systems of Hutton Communications, a Dallas-based
distributor of telecommunications equipment. "Solar allows them to do
it."
Robert A. Freling, executive director of SELF, said, "There's no question
that telecommunications and computer availability are major issues when
trying to get communities online, but without energy you can't even talk
about those."
Solar power has become the energy of choice in many rural markets, in large
part because the price has dropped considerably in the last few years.
Prorating over roughly 10 years, the upfront cost of solar panels and
accompanying batteries gives the energy a cost of roughly 18 cents a
kilowatt-hour, competitive with any off-grid power.
Moreover, solar energy has no moving parts, unlike other renewable sources,
including wind and hydro, which makes it easy to maintain in areas where
technicians are hard to find.
Solar power's attractiveness off the grid, and an overall interest among
governments, corporations and international organizations in bridging the
digital divide, have put it in a sweet spot.
"I think getting people online in rural areas will be a huge growth driver
going forward for local solar companies," said Steve Cunningham, an
investment officer for the Energy House Capital Corporation of Bloomfield,
N.J., one of several private American equity firms that have millions of
dollars to invest in energy companies in rural markets in the developing
world.
But big challenges remain. Though they can last for 20 years, solar panels
and batteries cost a minimum of $500 for a small house. That would be a huge
upfront payment for many people, said Charles Gay, a director of Greenstar, a
nonprofit group based in Los Angeles that promotes the use of solar energy in
bringing remote areas online.
"Coming up with a viable financing arrangement is definitely one of the
biggest challenges," Mr. Barnett of AstroPower said.
International organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations
Development Program have started to put money into projects, and businesses,
to help solve the financing problem.
Two years ago, the International Finance Corporation, the private investment
arm of the World Bank, began investing $30 million through its Photovoltaic
Market Transformation Initiative for solar projects in developing countries
like India and Morocco.
But some people contend that even though these projects provide power for
remote areas, many people in those areas have more pressing priorities than
spending their scarce dollars on computers and Internet access.
"Clearly, for those numerous people in the developing world that are hungry
or sick, food and health must take priority over everything, even education,"
said Lester Brown, chairman of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington.
But many people who are involved in solar projects say the access to power
can help deal with those issues, too.
In some remote villages, the economy is "a barter system where they exchange
crops for kerosene, kerosene for medicine and things like that," Mr. Gay
said. "You have to give them the resources to transform themselves into a
real currency-earning society."
N Parvathapur, a remote village in south- central India that is off the power
grid, Greenstar is starting to find evidence of that. Last year, Greenstar
invested about $75,000 in solar panels, computers and Internet access to
provide the village with money-generating tools.
The village now sells its music, art and calendars online to customers who
include expatriate Indians in the United States. Fifty-five percent of the
revenue now goes to Greenstar to pay back the initial solar and
infrastructure expenditure. "Within four years, we expect to have recovered
our investment," Mr. Gay said.
Once the money is paid back, Greenstar's share will fall to 10 percent, which
will go toward financing other projects in places like Jamaica, Ghana and the
West Bank or future ones in Brazil and Tibet. "It's a self- replicating
finance mechanism," he said.
In return, villages like Parvathapur receive not only a way to build a micro-
economy for their music and arts products, but also a tool to better support
their principal source of income, agriculture.
Mr. Gay said the village is using the Internet to learn the most efficient
times to plant and harvest crops and the best markets in which to sell them.
"The village is making more money than before," he said.
Over the last two years, with a similar goal in mind, the Grameen Bank has
financed more than 30 rural communities in Bangladesh for energy projects. It
gives interest-bearing loans to people in those areas to buy Internet
connectivity products like solar panels and phone equipment. Enough
entrepreneurial activity has emerged to achieve a 90 percent payback rate on
the loans.
SELF has provided revolving-credit loans to various areas for home lighting.
When it comes to projects with fully integrated Internet access, SELF relies
on grants and does not have a specific repayment plan. It says it hopes that
some type of commerce arises from the efforts.
Building such commerce appears crucial. Many vendors and project managers
agree that if a village cannot set up a business model and generate enough
income from the new energy and the Internet access, it will eventually be in
the dark again.
"I've seen it many times," Mr. Gay said. "If the community isn't self-
sustaining after a while, none of this will work."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III
Dr. Kolawole Raheem's msg of 1/14/01
I have been requested by the President/Founder of the African Refugees
Foundation (AREF), Ambassador Segun Olusola, to contact you on the
possibility of AREF participating in the GUS project.
I live in Finland and an adviser to AREF on academic and project issues.
Afterconsulting with Ambassador Olusola and other colleagues that render
their services to AREF, it is concluded that AREF will like to contribute to
the project. AREF will like to focus on developing a distance learning for
Peace and Human Rights Education in Africa. We have an AREF/LASU Centre for
Refugee Studies in the Lagos State University, Nigeria. The higher
institution could serve as a base for our project. I have just returned from
West Africa.
Please let me know quickly what you think AREF should do for its services to
be of use to the project.
I would suggest that you copy mails coming to me to the Founder/President of
AREF - aref@skannet.com.ng I think you have the e-mail address on your
list already.
Thank you and I wait to hear from you soon.
****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV
Robert Hutcheson's msg of December 26, 2000
By way of introduction,I am Bob Hutcheson,Architect.Have worked with Dr.Jay
Sanders on various medical projects and am an avid supporter of the
telemedicine concept.My recent trip to Nigeria was as a guest of the Akwa
Ibom State,to assist them in several projects, as well as help in
infrastructure development.I work with an American trained, Nigerian
Architect who is influential in Nigerian affairs in America, and is well
situated with relatives in positions of influence in his home country.We
submitted proposals for Telecom that were well received, and are submitting
further data to allow us to proceed with wireless and other providers in Akwa
Ibom and adjacent States.The Deputy Governors wife, Mrs.Grace C. Ekpenyong,
is the Chairperson, Board of Trustees of CEDNET, the Child Education
Development Network, and I told her that I would do whatever necessary to
assist her in improving educational opportunity in Akwa Ibom. This effort, if
successful, will influence adjacent states and have a very positive impact.We
are preparing a DHL package to send, regarding a number of improvement
related materials and opportunities this week, and would appreciate any
guidance you may be able to provide regarding education in southeastern
Nigeria.
****************************************
Distribution List
John Dada PhD RN
Director, Programme Development
Fantsuam Foundation
Bayanloco, Adjacent LEA Primary School,
PO Box 58
Kafanchan. NIGERIA
fantsuamfoundation@fantsuam.com
Nigeria Charity Reg No KDS/YC/99/2897
UK Ofice:
4 King George Avenue
Leeds. LS7 4LH
Tel: 0113 2164185
Fax: 0113 2497127
UK Charity Reg No 1078142
Robert A. Freling
Executive Director
Solar Electric Light Fund
Photovoltaic Rural Electrification
1775 K Street, N.W., Suite 595
Washington, D.C. 20006
202-234-7265
Fax: 202-328-9512
rfreling@self.org
Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Board member of GLOSAS/USA
Senior Research Scientist
Institute for Applied Space Research, Rm 340
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information (CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://clarkeinstitute.com/
http://www.clarkeinstitute.com/
Gary Garriott
Director, Informatics
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 12438
Arlington, VA 22209-8438
703-276-1800 X19
Fax: 703-243-1865
garyg@vita.org
vita@vita.org
ECONET: VITA
Telex: 440192 VITAUI
Cable: VITAINC
www.vita.org/satvitpo.htm -- Press release on Consorcio SAT/SatelLife/VITA
www.vita.org/consort.htm -- Press release on satellite-users coalition
www.vita.org/slife.htm -- Press release on SatelLife-VITA
Yukio Mizuno. Dr. Eng.
Chairman
Nitsuko Corporation
2-3 Kandatsukasa-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8532
JAPAN
+81-3-3259-1311
Fax: +81-3-5282-5900
mizunoy@sogw.nitsuko.co.jp
http://www.nitsuko.co.jp
H.E. Chief Segun Olusola, mni
Founder/President
African Refugees Foundation
Ajibulu Moniya Gallery, Plot 49
Babs Animashaun Extension
Surulere
Lagos,
NIGERIA
Tel: +2341 5850962
aref@skannet.com
Or
OPERA OPERATIONS H/Q:
LAGOS STATE OLD SECRETARIAT, OFF OBA AKINJOBI STREET,
G.R.A. IKEJA
P. 0. BOX 5051K
IKEJA, LAGOS,
NIGERIA
Tel: 4932901
COMMUNICATION CENTRE:
TALENT ASSOCIATES
P. 0. BOX 4261
LAGOS.
Tel: 2341-2622795
Fax: 2341-2622796
Dr. Kolawole Raheem
Department of Bio & Environmental Sciences,
University of Jyväskylä,
P.O.Box 35, 40351 Jyväskylä,
Finland
14.01.2001
Tel: 358 14 2604212, 358 40 54611479
Fax: 358 14 2602321
raheem@cc.jyu.fi
Tunji Lardner, CEO
Wangonet
West African Ngo Network
Agenda Consulting
Nigeria Limited
710 West End Avenue, Suite 11B
New York, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 678-2237
Fax: (212) 316-3398
Agenda2@aol.com
www.wangonet.org
Robert Hutcheson, RA
VP Architecture
The Architectural Design Consortium
4128 North Miami Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
Tel: 305.576.0572
Fax: 305.576.6817
bobhutcheson@mindspring.com
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ *
**********************************************************************