Building Wireless Community Networks with 802.16 Standard

Network deployment in rural areas of developing nations is a challenge to social conscience and technical capability and affordability. Because most rural areas have no copper telecommunication legacy, they can leapfrog to using wireless technologies. These technologies allow "bypassing stages in capacity building or investment through which countries were previously required to pass during the process of economic development [11]." In this work we discuss challenges of deploying broadband networks in rural areas. WiMAX technology is presented as a technology that can now provide broadband connectivity in developing regions. We further discuss dwesa (SA) communication network which used WiMAX technology to provide internet connectivity to a rural community in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.