Gorillas and computers

by Karen Coppock
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Had the pleasure of having breakfast with Lawrence Zikusoka and his wife, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (and their two lovely children) this morning. Lawrence and Glady are the founders of Conservation Through Public Health in Uganda.

The couple was in town to present and exhibit their work at the Wildlife Conservation Network expo and to present at UC Davis.

CTPH leverages the expertise of their two founders - Lawrence is a telecommunications specialists and Gladys a veterinarian (both are conservationists) - to offer programs in wildlife health (primarily gorillas), human health and information, education and communication. Their innovative work in disease transmission control and increasing economic opportunities for people that live in protected areas in Africa has been recognized by a long list of awards including San Diego Zoo Conservation in Action Award, World Summit Award for Digital Inclusion, Conservation Fund Award from Skal International Kampala, Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Award and an Ashoka Fellowship.

Computers and gorillas seem like an odd mix, but CTPH recognizes the value of the wildlife and public health data they are collecting and technology can facilitate its widespread dissemination. Technology can also assist with providing economic opportunities for the people that live in or near remote wildlife parks to stem urban migration and hopefully poaching. Perhaps it is not such an odd combination.

WiMAX - Cream Skimming or Bridging the Digital Divide

by Karen Coppock
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For all of the talk about WiMAX being the silver bullet for rural connectivity and bridging the digital divide, I have seen many announcements about WiMAX deployments in major urban areas.

This week MTN Uganda will start a national deployment of WiMAX across Uganda. According to a press release by Alvarion, MTN Uganda's WiMAX technology partner, WiMAX will first be deployed "in the capital and largest urban settlement of Uganda – Kampala, [and] is planned to be followed by additional network deployments in 30 other cities across the country."

A few months ago Saudi Arabia went live with a WiMAX deployment on Tahlia Street in downtown Riyadh as a part of its "SmartCity" program. Mohammed Saquer, CEO ITC states that, "this service will further our effort to enliven downtown and continue Riyadh's aim of being a city at the cutting edge of technology innovations." Intel is an active partner in this initiative to revitalize cities.

Even in the United States, WiMAX will be deployed in urban areas. SprintNextel selected ZTE to supply their WiMAX solution, which they plan to use to "cover 85 percent of the households in the top 100 U.S. markets."

Perhaps Ericsson's statement about the lack of a solid business case for WiMAX was referring to WiMAX in rural areas?

Anecdotes on Mobile Trends in Africa

posted by Karen Coppock
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Had the opportunity to have coffee with Ken Banks of Kiwanja yesterday – always enlightening.

He mentioned some interesting anecdotes from the Mobile Advocacy Toolkit Working Meeting he participated in in Nairobi earlier this month.

Uganda - Training on SMS inbox cleaning. An entrepreneur created a business teaching mobile phone users how to clean their SMS inboxes. He charges $1 for a one hour class, a steep rate in a country in which many people earn less than $1 per day. Shows how we take for granted how “easy” mobile phones are to use.

Congo and Rural Uganda – Women prevented from using mobile phones. Appears that women are discouraged, or outright forbidden, to use mobile phones in some parts of the Congo and rural Uganda. Jealous husbands are not keen on their wives having access to communications devices even if they could be the gateway to financial, health and educational services.

Kenya – Mobile phones cobbled together with spare parts. In Kenya, some entrepreneurs apparently build mobile phones from a variety of spare parts and homemade materials. For some $15-20 a customer can pick a model and the entrepreneur will weld together a mobile phone for them…it may not be pretty, but it works – at least for a while.

Kenya – Mobile phones used to connect cyber cafes to the Internet. A leading carrier offered a flat rate (a few dollars per month) GRPS service in Kenya. Entrepreneurs seized the opportunity to create cyber cafes using mobile phones as modems for PC Internet connectivity. Pakistanis also tend to use mobile phones/GRPS to connect their computers to the Internet – a new twist on fixed mobile.

Thanks for the interesting stories, Ken.