I’ve written previously about O3b Networks, a satellite start-up that promises to deliver IP backhaul services to the developing world.  I had a good fortune to speak with their CEO, Director of Asia-Pacific Sales, and Head of Ground Networks at the recent PTC conference in Honolulu.

Satellite technology, in a new configuration, promises to release the 3rd world from the shackles placed on them by domestic telecom monopolies.

They have just announced the signing of a new contract with Quark Communications in Guyana. An excerpt from their press release:

“With less than 1% penetration of broadband Internet usage in Guyana, we feel we have a moral obligation to provide all Guyanese Internet access for educational, commercial, and medical purposes,” said Brian Yong, CEO and Founder of Quark Communications. “The problem has traditionally been that it is very expensive to connect into the global communications infrastructure. With O3b, we now have access to ‘fibre like’ connectivity at an affordable price.”

Though emphasis of this blog is on Fiji and the Pacific Islands, it helps to bear in mind that a wide range of countries in the Global South face essentially the same issues when it comes to access to international telecommunications.  O3b’s presence helps ISPs in these countries to get access to high-speed backhaul facilities for a fraction of the price.  Where the only alternative is to lay expensive fiber-optic cable to establish international access, O3b offers hope.  Fiber projects come with price tags starting at $300 million, an impossibility for small nations dealing when looking at their spending priorities.

O3b is not tackling this problem with unproven technology.  They are relying on existing satellite technology (see graphic below) deployed in a very different constellation to achieve a coverage area for majority world/developing countries in entirety.  Some technical specifications:

Courtesy of O3b Networks

Additional online resources for O3b:

A Link to a short clip where you can hear a National Public Radio program feature on O3b in Africa

Diagram of O3b satellite constellation, a key difference from providers of the past (Video provided by O3b):

You can find press releases, media coverage,  and the most current company information on the O3b Networks website.

It’s important to understand that WiMAX is a new technology being deployed in countries all over the world. Governments across the globe increasingly operate with the understanding that deploying wireless networks are a part of expanding national infrastructure. Buiding a WiMAX network is the 21st century equivalent of building the roads, railways, and ports of yesteryear. Additionally, there is the added expectation of populations of access to the internet being a fundamental human right.

Each country that deploys a WiMAX network faces different hurdles and obstacles. It is important to remember that a country like Russia building a network spanning 11 time zones and a small country like Fiji are at relatively the same point in their experience rolling out such networks.

It is not just a matter of geography and terrain, there are also other issues of dedicating specific ranges in the broadcast spectrum and working out arrangements with existing providers, especially to coordinate building of new infrastructure.

For instance, a July 2007 article from Malaysia describes how the Government has had to step in with incentives to encourage service providers to act collectively in laying out the infrastructure for new wireless networks:

According to the news agency Bernama, if the companies decide to share their infrastructure, the minister also offered financial assistance from the ministry’s universal service fund. The minister added that “If the companies decide to go on their own, they will have to roll out the cost of the towers themselves.” The impetus for suggesting a shared infrastructure comes from the ministry’s dissatisfaction over the roll-out of 3G services in Malaysia. The minister said that after two years, not all of the 3G towers that were planned for construction had been completed.

The dissatisfaction with the slow speed of construction of towers forced the relevant ministry in Malaysia to jump into action.

In Russia, service provider Synterra has had to devise unique solutions to help deploy a national WiMAX infrastructure over such a large geographic area.

Their aim is to utilize partnerships with local service providers in towns with populations larger than 100,000. They are deploying over 1,000 such networks at an estimated cost of US $29,000 each.

These examples are intended to show how deploying a WiMAX network in Fiji will require understanding and cooperation between the relevant stakeholders. It will require a unique public-private partnership, where Government will have to step in with incentives to ensure the rapid deployment of a network that has wide coverage.

To make this a reality for Fiji, both policymakers to service providers will have to think seriously about the importance of universal internet access to the future of Fiji.

People are the common denominator of progress. So… no improvement is possible with unimproved people, and advance is certain when people are liberated and educated. It would be wrong to dismiss the importance of roads, railroads, power plants, mills, and the other familiar furniture of economic development… But we are coming to realize… that there is a certain sterility in economic monuments that stand alone in a sea of illiteracy. Conquest of illiteracy comes first.

–John Kenneth Galbraith

Vodafone’s Coverage Map: 

Part I of this post contains a technical discussion of implementing a WI-MAX network to provide communication to rural and outer-island communities.

From a Fijilive article:

Telecom operators’ licence fee is $1m per annum or 1.5 per cent of gross turnover for the previous financial year. whichever is greater. One per cent is for the licence fee and 0.5 per cent is the USO (universal service obligation) levy.

This is great news for everyone in Fiji. We are one step closer to funding the kind of WI-MAX network discussed in Part I.

Readers, if you have access to information on the deregulation effort and know of any section of it that comments on the implementation of WI-MAX networks, your comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated here. Specifically, what can you tell us about the existing players (Vodafone, ATH, and Kidanet) stance on the implementation of a WI-MAX network?