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Himalayan Villages Go Online the Nepal Wireless Networking Project

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Himalayan Villages Go Online the Nepal Wireless Networking Project In 2007, Mahabir Pun received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his community leadership and “innovative application of wireless computer technology in Nepal, bringing progress to remote mountain areas by connecting his village to the global village”. The award has been called “the Nobel prize of Asia”. Y. Kawasumi Y. Himalayan villages go online The Nepal Wireless Networking Project Mahabir Pun was born in what is now the Federal Eventually it was decided that wireless networking Democratic Republic of Nepal. After finishing his would provide the best and most cost-effective so- studies at a university in the United States, in 1992, lution, through Wi-Fi technology linked to the near- he returned home with a dream: to provide oppor- est Internet service provider in the city of Pokhara. tunities for the people in his native village of Nangi, International volunteers were recruited to help bring amid the western Himalayan foothills in the district in donated equipment, set up the network, and of Myagdi. He joined with local residents to upgrade teach villagers how to expand and maintain it, while the village school to become the Himanchal Higher Mr Pun and his group also learned how to assemble Secondary School. This has become not only a source computers themselves. By 2002, the high school in of education, but also the hub of community devel- Nangi was connected to the Internet. opment. Its effectiveness in this role is greatly sup- The following year saw the formal launch of the ported by another innovation promoted by Mr Pun: Nepal Wireless Networking Project, with the aim of connecting the school to the Internet in a network expanding the Wi-Fi network throughout Myagdi and that now covers thousands of people in nearby the neighbouring districts of Parbat and Kaski. Funds communities. were raised nationally and internationally through Two computers were donated to the school in the intensive efforts of Mr Pun and his supporters, 1997, but, with no mobile phone coverage or fixed- line telephones — as well as the difficulty of gaining access to remote areas in a harsh climate — achiev- * More details of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project ing Internet connectivity was a hard challenge. are available at: www.nepalwireless.net/index.php 42 ITU News 6 | 2009 July | August 2009 Himalayan villages go online and also through international partnerships with aid agencies. By 2008, Internet connections had been provided to community centres, schools and clinics in Y. Kawasumi Y. 42 villages, with plans to add 19 more. ITU contribut- ed equipment worth some USD 30 000 to the work. Connecting computers The Myagdi network of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project is owned and run by the Himanchal Higher Secondary School. The organiza- tional structure involves many community stakehold- ers, allowing for democratic participation as well as the sharing of profits and risks. The school builds and manages the network, but services are provided through independent communication centres in each village that are run by local people. The networking system has two relay stations to forward the wireless signal to a base station and Antennas connect a school to a network relay station server facility in Pokhara, with a connection to Om Hospital in the city. In the mountain villages, access to services is provided mainly through used desktop the use of graphical user interfaces and customized computers and laptops. Internet telephony equip- management software. ment and high-resolution network cameras facilitate phone services, telemedicine and e-education. Many Sustainable power of the computers have been donated by individuals Because of their isolation, the villages do not and businesses from inside the country and abroad, have access to a mains electricity grid. Instead, the while others were assembled by local people from relay stations use such sources as solar energy. The donated parts. electricity for a computer laboratory at the school in A variety of wireless devices maintain connectiv- Nangi comes from a micro-hydroelectric system in a ity. The network’s backbone connects the Pokhara local stream. There are plans to increase its output to base station to the two major relay stations, which power a grid for the entire village. are linked to villages via client connections. In five cases, connected villages also act as relay stations, Services for the community due to the difficulty of transmitting the signal over The services that are now available in these re- the mountains. The network server in Pokhara uses mote mountain villages include: open source Linux software, which has proved to be Internet Access: for students, teachers, local resi- capable of maintenance by local volunteers through dents and tourists ITU News 6 | 2009 July | August 2009 43 Himalayan villages go online Money transfers: In collaboration with thamel. com, a business based in Kathmandu, the capi- tal of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, money transfers (used by family members working abroad) and credit card transactions are available. These services have been enthusiastically taken up by local people. They can go online at community centres for a low fee, and voice-over-Internet-pro- tocol (VoIP) phone calls can also be made. Lessons in basic computer skills are offered too, by students from a technical college in Kathmandu. And women health workers in the villages are trained at hospitals in the capital or in Pokhara. While remaining affordable by local people, the Y. Kawasumi Y. charges for services generate revenue for the Nepal Cattle are driven past a village telecentre Wireless Networking Project, to sustain and expand its work. Meanwhile, residents in neighbouring Himalayan villages that are not yet connected un- E‑mail: Villagers use the free accounts available derstand the benefits of the project: they sometimes through nepalwireless.net or other web mail serv- walk for several hours to reach centres where they ices, such as Yahoo or MSN Hotmail can access the Internet or VoIP phone services. Telephone service: Ordinary landline phone calls can be placed through Internet telephony equip- ment and the private branch exchange (PBX) soft- A village clinic with Internet access ware on the network server e‑Education: To help address a shortage of quali- fied teachers, there are programmes to provide Y. Kawasumi Y. live lessons to school classrooms using networked cameras Telemedicine: In collaboration with Om Hospital in Pokhara, medical services are offered to resi- dents of remote areas through audio and video links Community: Using an online forum, villagers can exchange news and opinions, place advertise- ments, and engage in community affairs 44 ITU News 6 | 2009 July | August 2009 The ITU mission team with staff of Himanchal Higher Secondary School and residents of Nangi village Y. Kawasumi Y. Job creation communications in developing countries. In addition, One of the most important goals of the project is the team delivered more equipment for the network, to give rural residents a better way to trade goods, donated by ITU. and to create jobs. Also, Himanchal Higher Secondary The team’s report gave high marks to the ef- School offers vocational training programmes and fectiveness and sustainability of the Nepal Wireless is engaged in community development projects Networking Project, which it concluded “has greatly such as animal husbandry, forest conservation, and contributed to social and human development in handicrafts. Himalayan mountain villages”. Yak and cattle farming is one example. The wire- less network is used to manage a project in which Future expansion the animals are kept in fields near the relay stations, Before the project, there was no telecommunica- high up on the mountain slopes. Despite the isola- tion infrastructure in the Myagdi area, very limited tion, herders can communicate with other staff using electricity supplies and few roads. Despite this, a e-mail on a laptop computer. Projects like these are wireless network has been established to bring in- also targeting the tourist market. Camp grounds for formation and communication technologies to villag- trekkers have been established near where the yak ers in the Himalayan foothills. Partnerships are being graze, and the animals’ milk is used to make cheese sought with the national and local governments, and that is sold to tourist lodges. a “One dollar a month” campaign has been launched to raise donations. There is a strategic plan to expand ITU visit the Nepal Wireless Networking Project to as many Ten of the connected villages were visited in May rural areas of the country as possible that otherwise 2008 by a team representing Study Group 2 of ITU’s could remain unserved. Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU–D), examining Question 10-2/2 on Telecommunications for rural and remote areas. Their mission was to study cost-effective technological solutions for rural ITU News 6 | 2009 July | August 2009 45.
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