[Fsf-india] ICT for Rural areas and Free Software

[Nagarjuna G.]

Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala's technology for rural India using
wireless loop is expected to be very good.  The PC used in
the Kiosk described below uses some version of GNU/Linux.

I have this information:

A company called n-logue (of TeNeT group of IIT-Madras) has
been set up to provide (telecom and internet) connectivity
exclusively to rural areas. The objective is to set up
kiosks within every village to provide the desired
connectivity. Each kiosk will have communication equipment
along with a telephone with meter, a multimedia PC with
Indian language software and power back up for minimum of 4
hours. Since 85% of the taluks have fibre-optic connections,
n-logue hopes to use this as a backbone to setup its access
centers at the taluk headquarters to service areas within a
radius of 25 Km. The model uses a network of an access
center connected to several kiosks in villages within the
25Km radius area. Thus about 30-40 villages can be covered
by a single access center. The business model for kiosk is
proposed to be along the successful STD/PCO booths. Cost of
each kiosk is expected to be Rs. 40,000 which can be
recovered from business worth just Rs 25/day. n-logue has
all-India ISP license and is tying up with BSNL for
providing telecom services.
Access centers have been setup thus far in Tamil Nadu, M.P.,
Punjab, Rajasthan etc.


-- 
Nagarjuna