There are reports stating that 10 percent of the world’s population lives in areas that do not receive mobile coverage. These are some of the most remote parts of the world, which not only makes them difficult to get to, but also potentially dangerous. One company that found this out the hard way is Digicel (News - Alert).
Denis O’Brien, the company’s founder, said that nine people were lost due to a combination of plane crashes, car crashes and general accidents. All of these disasters occurred as the company was in the process of building its network in Papua New Guinea. Because these are such remote locations, they are areas with rough terrain and very few amenities, making them very difficult to get to.
Over the past year, we have seen some major improvements to Voice over IP (VoIP) and unified communications. The new technology offers a number of benefits, which can range from improved service to cost savings. As adoption is quickly rising, these features are being increasingly noted by a number of companies. As many as 40 percent of all businesses are currently using elements of unified communications, or otherwise streamlining their general communications needs into one service such as VoIP services.
VoIP may also be the answer to being able to bring mobile coverage to remote areas. While Kurtis Heimerl was working on his doctorate at Berkeley he built a box that begins by using regular radio spectrum to connect to mobile phones in an area and then converting it to VoIP in order to connect to the rest of the world.
Heimerl installed the first box in early 2013 at a school in the Papua province of Indonesia, which is the other half of the island that includes Papua New Guinea. The first box was able to provide cellular service to an area that had a slightly larger than six mile radius.
He has since founded a startup called Endaga which was able to raise $1.2 million in funding. A major maneuver that saves the company from the disasters mentioned above is that Endaga does not actually run the service. The operation is left to the locals to run the network. In turn, this leads to lower running costs which should benefit everyone.
The operation of the box, which apparently does not currently have a name as it is only referred to as the box, is a two-step process. Naturally it needs power, since we are talking about remote locations this is usually accomplished by connecting the box to a generator. The generator needs fuel which leads to the erection of a fence or enclosure to protect it.
The other part of the equation is the actual Internet connection. In some instances if there is a nearby fiber line it can be tapped into, I would think that in most cases we are looking at a satellite link to establish the connection. In effect, the owner of the box becomes a micro operator, which means that they can charge any connection fee that they want.
If all this seems too good to be true, you might be asking yourself “what’s the catch?” Unfortunately, while it does bring a viable solution to an area that might not be accessible the truth of the matter is that it is also illegal. Endaga’s boxes are in effect infringing on the regional network’s radio spectrum, for which they pay a substantial fee.
Heimerl believes that there really is no problem. He does not foresee trouble from operators and regulators, as can be seen from his comments, “We’re solving a core problem for them. There are government agencies dedicated to this problem [of rural access]. We come to them with this solution and they’re open to it.”
He could be right in his way of thinking; by bringing coverage to remote locations there is always the possibility that it may have a major impact on the area’s economy and the residents’ livelihood. I have often said that improvements in one technology can have a cascading effect and reach other areas. We have already seen how VoIP has made it easier to work from home and on the go, can it also be the solution for reaching remote regions of the world?
Edited by Alisen Downey