Wireless telecommunications technologies for rural applications

Wireless access technologies are becoming progressively less expensive than the various wired alternatives and offer the further advantages of rapid and flexible deployment in both urban as well as rural areas. In spite of the strong political incentives to improve telecommunications in rural areas the practical deployment of the various available technologies in developing countries is often difficult. There are several reasons for these deployment difficulties. (1) The start-up capital costs are high. (2) The equipment may be more suited to the needs of a developed country than to the telecommunication needs of a developing or newly industrialized country. (3) The tradeoff between labour and material costs in the system design have not been made for the economic realities of a developing country. (4) The equipment is not designed to integrate into the existing technology structure for the country of use. (5) Affordable equipment may soon become obsolete and hence difficult and expensive to maintain. (6) The three basic telecommunications services; voice, facsimile, and in-band data are not all readily available. (7) The rural service quality may not be equivalent to that of urban systems. (8) The available spectrum may be inadequate. We look at each of the above points to determine the impact on the required equipment