SKY EDGE ANSWER TO BRIDGING DIGITAL DIVIDE?

Sky Edge VSat... designed to be robust enough to operate in remote and difficult areas.

“People in urban areas are very familiar with the benefits of the Internet and other information and communication technologies. Now, new methods of accessing these technologies can spread the benefits to remote communities and provide SPC with new ways of delivering our services and improving people’s general standard of living,” said Dr Jimmie Rodgers, Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) during the introduction of the Sky Edge VSAT initiative last month at SPC’s headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia.

‘ICT for every Pacific Islander’ is the central principle of the digital strategy endorsed last year by Pacific Forum leaders (ICT stands for Information Communication Technology). But how can the vision become a reality when the 8 million people of the Pacific are distributed over an area of 33 million square kilometres with about 80% of them living in remote rural communities?

Sky Edge VSAT seems to be the answer to bridging the digital divide between urban and rural communities in the Pacific Islands. This satellite system, which consists of a small dish and modem, is simple to install, easy to operate, and runs on solar power. It can bring satellite internet access and telephone connections to even the most remote areas, giving Pacific leaders an opportunity to fulfil their vision of making communication technology available to everyone.

When asked about the Sky Edge VSAT initiative, Steffen Holzt, Director of Pacific IP, describes it as a technology that has been around for some years, notably in Europe and South America. “But recently, two new developments have jumpstarted the initiative and made it appropriate for this region,” he says. “The first was the launch of AMC-23, a satellite specifically designed to cover the Pacific. This means we can use smaller antennas, which is a huge step in budget reduction. And secondly, the power consumption of VSATs has dropped to below 25 watts, so they can be run on solar power. These factors are both crucial for the Pacific.”

Pacific IP, a private New Caledonian telecommunications company, has been a member of PITA (the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association) for many years and its team is well aware of the need for such a system in the Pacific Islands.

“We’ve witnessed IT technology being used extensively in Pacific urban areas, but in remote areas there’s been almost no development. Now, for the first time, these areas can access information in the same way as urban areas. This will open up all sorts of opportunities and certainly help narrow the digital divide.”

To introduce the system, the Pacific IP team presented an example of an imaginary island of 4000 inhabitants with 320 households scattered between 28 tribes, 12 schools and 14 community facilities. It calculated the budget required for three types of set-up: an ‘education only’ option where 26 sites including schools and community facilities could be equipped at an estimated cost of US$130,000; a ‘universal service’ option covering the 54 sites in the first option plus the 28 tribes at an estimated cost of US$270,000; and a ‘total coverage’ option where every household plus all the other sites were hooked to the satellite. At US$1.6 million, the cost of the latter option would still be millions less than the cost of the cabling required for conventional communication systems.

Acknowledging the value of Sky Edge VSAT for distributing information such as health messages quickly and easily, Dr Tom Kiedrzynski, an epidemiologist in SPC’s Communicable Disease Control Section, says: “This technology can link remote rural communities with their health ministries and departments. They’ll be able to get early warnings and educational messages and to report on outbreaks. It will also enable distance training and education and teleconferencing for health workers.”

The components of Sky Edge VSAT are designed and manufactured to be robust enough to operate in remote and difficult areas. Already 50,000 units are in operation worldwide. Maintenance of the system is simplified by the fact that there are no moving parts and community members can be trained to operate and maintain it.
Championing the benefits of the system, Rodgers, who himself grew up in the rural Western Province of Solomon Islands, says, “The issue here is going the last mile. To do that, we need a strategic vision for where we want to be in 10 to 15 years in terms of communication. In many Pacific countries, SPC goes the last mile. It brings services closer to the people. It puts in facilities they don’t usually have. It tries to make a difference in the lives of rural people by providing information, and this is where Sky Edge VSAT becomes very useful.

Various types of content could be prepared outside the country or in the capital and then made available to everyone, whether it’s health information, or information for farmers, for parents, or for students.”

At present, many radio programmes broadcast in urban areas cannot be received by rural and remote communities. With a Sky Edge VSAT system, radio programmes can be downloaded from any Internet site for re-broadcast by low-cost, low-power FM radio transmitters.

“If re-broadcasting national radio programmes to rural and remote areas was one of the first priorities, it could have an immediate positive impact on the lives and social development of remote communities,” says Rodgers. Almost every home, even in remote areas, has a radio, and no capital expenditure would be required from rural communities to join others as part of the global information society.”

News of Sky Edge VSAT has generated huge interest around the Pacific. The next step will be to pilot the technology in one or two Pacific Islands countries.

• Article provided by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

Islands Business, October 2006