Accessing high speed Internet in remote areas

Rosita Hoffmann
The community of Gaire, in Central Province, has reasons to celebrate.

This rural community, located an hour’s drive southeast of Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) and home to more than 3500 people, was selected to be the first operational rural site for the Pacific Rural Internet Connectivity System (RICS) project.

The project’s primary goal is to provide affordable high-speed Internet access and radio broadcasting to rural and remote communities in the Pacific.

During the first week of May, PNG Telikom engineers and the RICS team, helped by villagers, installed a satellite dish, a VSAT modem and information technology equipment in Gaire.

On May 3, a sunny Saturday morning, the excitement of the community members is palpable. Attentive pupils in green and yellow school uniforms are gathered in lines in the meeting hall under the church, facing officials from the government, the diplomatic corps and international bodies. The pupils are to open the ceremony by singing the Papua New Guinea national anthem. Beside them, smiling and quiet, younger children with painted faces are dressed in traditional clothing, feathers and ornaments. Their beautiful young voices join the choir.

Parents and elders are seated all around the hall, paying great attention to the words exchanged by local authorities and guests, and especially the entertaining comments of the master of ceremonies.

Three young computer engineers from ISI.nc, a New Caledonia-based company, are as happy as the villagers. They would not have missed the launch of the first rural site for anything.

ISI.nc is the provider of the ‘network in a box’, the networking capability that allows Internet connectivity and will give the villagers of Gaire access to global resources and facilitate service delivery in health, education, overall economic development and social welfare.

The list of government officials attending the launch is impressive for the small community of Gaire. The feel of the morning is, however, truly connectivity for rural areas.

The Minister of Information and Communication, the Hon. Patrick Tammur, praises the community members for their warm welcome and support for the RICS initiative since they were presented with the project.
Pita Loko, CEO of PNG Telikom, states,

"As the only licensed general carrier service provider and fully nationally-owned operator in PNG, Telikom PNG is proud to be directly involved in providing opportunities for the people in rural and remote areas of PNG to have access to information and communications services.

Telikom PNG considers the ownership of the community telecentre to be shared between the local community, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community [SPC] RICS and Telikom PNG.

As part of this shared ownership, the local community is encouraged to play a role in ensuring the facility is sustained in terms of upkeep and responsible use, so that they can get maximum benefit.’

Sir Michael Somare, the PNG Prime Minister, was among officials—not just in his role as head of state—but as one of the prime movers behind the introduction of accessible information and communication technology to the Pacific.

He unveiled a plaque commemorating the launch of the project. Like the people of Gaire, Somare was interested in the live demonstration and eager to know all the benefits such technology can bring to his people living in rural and remote areas.

Reverend Sisia Maina, the Gaire church leader, said, ‘From today, and thanks to the RICS project, Gaire will be known as the “Cyber Village”.

"Being the first rural pilot site in the country, the people of Gaire understand that their village will serve as a showcase of the RICS project. I would like to invite all our parliamentarians, the private sponsors as well as international donors, to come and visit Gaire’s Community Information Centre. They need to see for themselves how fast and reliable the Internet connection is."

Dr Jimmie Rodgers, Director-General of SPC, who is originally from Solomon Islands, greeted the audience in pidgin and commended the ‘father’ of the Pacific Digital Strategy, Prime Minister Somare, for his foresight and wisdom.

In October 2005 in Kalibobo, Madang Province, the Pacific Islands Forum leaders, chaired by Somare, approved the Pacific Plan and its Digital Strategy.

Dr Rodgers announcesd the regional pilot rollout programme of the Oceania One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative will mean 1000 free laptops being donated to Papua New Guinea and its RICS communities, including Gaire. He explained how the implementation of RICS across the country and the distribution of the OLPC computers will complement the ultimate goal of enhanced development for all communities—especially those that are rural and remote.

The One Laptop Per Child computer is a low-cost, durable and power-efficient connected learning tool, says Dr Rodgers.

"This initiative is about ensuring that all school-aged children in the developing world can engage effectively with their own personal laptop that is networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly learn about learning."

Indeed, the members of the community of Gaire now have many more opportunities for learning about the world and their place in it.