Executive Summary and Recommendations

Prof. Saifur Rahman (srahman@vt.edu)
Workshop Chairman
Virginia Tech, USA

 

Overview

With assistance from BRAC University and LGED, the Advanced Research Institute (ARI) of Virginia Tech, USA organized a workshop entitled "Nationwide Internet Access and Online Applications", in Dhaka between the 22nd and 24th of May 2004. US National Science Foundation (NSF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Job Opportunities and Business Support (JOBS-USAID) and Grameen Cyber Society co-sponsored the workshop. This workshop brought together stakeholders from the ICT industry, non-government organizations, government agencies, donor agencies and universities in Bangladesh, United States, India, Thailand, Nepal and Singapore. Discussions focused on how a sustainable and affordable "last-mile" Internet access can be provided in Bangladesh. Equal importance was given to the development of online applications of the Internet. Unless applications are developed hand in hand, the development of the infrastructure will go unutilized, and therefore not sustainable. It is believed that some creative solutions, including affordable hardware, will create new opportunities for the delivery of distance learning, health care and agricultural extension services, among others, in Bangladesh. Such solutions will also provide easier e-government services, market access for farmers and better overall education and employment opportunities for the young.Bangladesh was chosen as the host for this workshop because the country has a nationwide telecom backbone infrastructure, population density is high, and no part of the country is remote. At the same time there is strong government support for information and communication technology (ICT) applications in the country.

ARI has created a website (www.ari.vt.edu/internet) for the workshop, which in addition to hosting the information presented at the workshop, also provides an online discussion forum to facilitate ongoing dialogue among the stakeholders.

Recommendations

The goal of this workshop was to provide specific recommendations that will enable Bangladesh to provide broadband internet access throughout the country and reasons to use it. The recommendations were brought together during the closing session of the Workshop, and presented here.

1. Instituting National Policy
There is currently no national policy regarding nationwide Internet access, nor is there a specific government agency that deals with the myriad of cross-cutting issues leading to such an infrastructure. There needs to be a single agency responsible for the policy as well as to oversee its implementation. This agency should allow the private sector to participate in building the infrastructure; however, the regulators must see to it that entities owning the infrastructure such as a fiber-optic link must allow competitors access. GOB agencies such as BTTB, REB and PGCB must work effectively with the private sector entities such as Grameen Phone to create a sustainable system.

2. Submarine Cable Surplus Bandwidth
When SEA-ME-WE-4 is complete, Bangladesh will have at least 20 times as much capacity as it currently uses. Since the GOB will already have paid for this excess bandwidth, and cannot realistically market the excess capacity on the international market, there must be some creative plans to use this paid-for but otherwise unutilized resource. It is highly recommended that the GOB consider giving the bandwidth away for free to educational and research organizations for a period of time, and sell at very low cost to start-up companies. This will benefit educational institutions as well as commercial entities involved in outsourcing activities.

3. Creating Demand
Demand for nationwide Internet access can be created by first establishing a sustainable infrastructure in the urban areas, and then extending it to rural areas. Sectors such as education and healthcare already have sustainable demand for nationwide access, and can proceed in parallel with urban development.

4. Fostering Rural Development Projects using the Internet
ICT development pilot projects such as Amader Gram need to be fostered to allow the rural disadvantaged access to the information age. The CIC Networks project and N-logue venture in India have both demonstrated the viability and sustainability of such rural development projects using very different business models. Similar models need to be explored in Bangladesh.

5. Fostering Community Based Networks
Embed community based networks in local school systems for sustainability, while providing invaluable service to the vast majority of the information-starved rural population.

6. Governing using the Internet
Bring governance to the people via the Internet, and enhance transparency in the decision making process so the fruits of democracy can be enjoyed by the masses. Government already has the content available, so making it online is a good first step. Putting the multitude of forms available online is a natural next step.

Discussion

The workshop opened with the speakers from the various sponsoring organizations expressing the need for high-speed nationwide connectivity, with Professor Saifur Rahman posing the following questions, setting the tone for the discussions to come.

Why do the IT hardware cost so much in Bangladesh?
Why can we not get broadband access now?
How can we provide online education, health-care?
What are the barriers to having Tele-centers all over the country now?
How to manage the submarine cable capacity?

Professor Larry Press, in his keynote speech, presented his "Grand Challenge" - providing high-speed IP connectivity to all villages. He presented how cabled and wireless, both current and proposed, technologies can be used to meet the challenge. One frequently asked question was regarding the sustainability of such an infrastructure in Bangladesh, and Professor Press eloquently answers that in his post-workshop piece in the discussion forum, where he also provides a cost estimate for the project. Professor Rahman in his talk discussed the telecommunication needs for such an infrastructure, with a proposal that uses as few as 25 base stations using WLL or 802.16 technologies serving 90% of the country's population. The presentations by Mr. Md. Yousuf Niaz of BTTB, Mr. A. A. A. Yahya of Grameen Phone, and Mr. Md. Sadequl Islam of PGCB were focused on current infrastructure, specifically the fiber-optic network that already reaches a significant part of the landscape. The opening session illustrated that there is sufficient infrastructure to act as a backbone; however, issues were raised regarding the "last mile" access. Several participants pointed out that Rural Electrification Board (REB) of Government of Bangladesh controls the door-to-door service, and should be approached for further discussion on the topic.

In session 2, Professor Gogoi presented the experience with Community Information Center (CIC) Networks in Assam, India, which with its hilly terrain requires a much more complex operation that would be needed in the flat landscape of Bangladesh. Mr. Marut Lueprasert of Telephone Organization of Thailand spoke about their experience with TDMA/WLL implementation, providing access to remote areas. However, as one participant pointed out, TOT's use of unlicensed 1.9 MHz operating frequency may be endangered by legislation that may license it in the future for other purposes. Professor Kalyan Mallik of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India spoke about the educational use of broad-band Internet access in West Bengal, which highlights the inherent demand for such an infrastructure. Mr. Raghu Rao from Chenai, India wrapped up the session with a lively presentation on Midas Communication Technologies' rural Internet venture in southern India, countering some of the misgivings about commercial sustainability of such a project.

Tarannum Dana spoke about Bangladesh Friendship Education Society's "Amader Gram" ICT initiative project, created to foster rural development through capacity building of the disadvantaged people. This project provides justification for the demand for high-speed connectivity that extends beyond the urban areas. The World Links project in India, presented by Ashish Garg, connecting the schools in hard to reach parts of India is another example of such demand.

Session 4 focused on wireless technologies, both current and emerging, that could potentially be harvested to extend the reach of the Internet throughout the country. Dr. Luiz A. Dasilva described some of the successful community networks in the USA and Brazil, stressing that while Bangladesh is not ready for such community supported "hot spots", these are certainly not out of reach in the near future with the proper infrastructure in place. Dr. Roger Marks described the emerging WirelessMAN (IEEE 802.16) technology standard that can be used to provide high-speed access to local ad-hoc networks in metropolitan areas. IEEE 802.16 technology in combination with local area network technologies such as wireless 802.11 or cabled networks has the potential for quick Internet deployment in large and densely populated urban areas. The session ended with the presentation by Mr. Nico Roelofsen from Wi-LAN, an Alberta, Canada-based company, sharing the experience of broadband wireless usage around the world, including in Bangladesh.

Speakers in session 5 spoke about the ICT-enabled social benefits, focusing on knowledge delivery issues. Dr. Susanne Ornager from New Delhi described UNESCO's proposed approach of using Multipurpose Community Telecenters (MCT) and Community Multimedia Centers (CMC) to aid in rural development. Mr. Saleh Khan described some of UNDP Bangladesh's programs to fight poverty through information delivery. Mr. Ghulam Mohiuddin shared the lessons learned from the Grameen Cyber Society project, where some of the students are using the skills learned to sell their products on the Internet, squashing some of the doubts about the sustainability of such a project.

Session 6 considered the important issue of electric power supply needed to distribute Internet access to the rural areas. Ms. Manisa Pipattanasomporn from Virginia Tech, USA and Mr. Tarik-ul-Islam from UNDP, Dhaka presented renewable-energy based solutions, highlighting some of the solar power projects in the country, which can be used to power the networking and computer equipment. Mr. Basanta Shrestha from Nepal pointed out that the information provided by the GIS network can be readily used to distribute power and network cables.

The workshop ended with session 7, dealing with social benefits of Internet services. Mr. Shahjahan Siraj presented Drik Multimedia's journey starting with the creation of DrikTAP, a multifunctional email network setup to foster development through the exchange of information, to the creation of Banglarights, the country's first human rights portal. Mr. Shahid Uddin Akbar shared his experience with establishing a Multi Purpose Tele Center (MPTC) in rural Bangladesh, and described some of the challenges such as connectivity and lack of local language content.

The workshop came to a close with a special session designed to identify the themes presented during the three-day workshop, as well as to put together a set of specific recommendations to be forwarded to the Bangladesh authorities in the near future.

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