Asian Governments Embracing Programs
India has a population of 1.1 billion people and only 30 million personal computers, making it especially challenging to bridge the digital divide, says Ramaswamy. "To solve this problem, the government launched an initiative to roll out rural e-service kiosks to provide citizens with access to broadband and associated e-governance services. Citizens would come to the kiosk and get information on weather, farming practices, open a bank account, take a educational course or send and receive money. The government was offering to subsidize the operation of the kiosk and service providers were given licenses to operate a kiosk based on competitive tenders. Bidders who asked for the lowest subsidy (or better still, offer to pay the government) were awarded the license. Revenue streams for the operators are through various valued added services offered in these kiosks. Hughes has received orders to roll out and provide services to over 20,000 such kiosks."
| "With the right application of funds, satellites can connect at least a million farmers, local residents and rural businesses to the Internet by the end of 2010." — Berretta, ESOA |
In 2007, the Australian government announced the Australian Broadband Guarantee (ABG). Roughly 85 percent of Australia’s population of 18 million people are concentrated in five major population centers, with the remaining 3 million people spread out over a continent the width of the United States. The aim of the ABG program is to provide affordable broadband connectivity to residences and small businesses that reasonably compare to those in metropolitan areas. The Australian government defines this as a service that offers a minimum speed of 512 kilobits per second (kbps) download and 128 kbps upload, with 3 gigabytes of data usage per month.
The rules are clear: narrowband communications need not apply. The ABG is about promoting higher speed connectivity, which would compliment the Australian National Broadband Network. The goal of the National Broadband Network is to provide high speed broadband services to 98 percent of Australian premises. Satellite is the obvious choice to serve Australian homes and businesses outside major urban areas. It is the most cost-effective solution to deliver broadband connectivity to low density populations. To minimize the cost to subscribers, the Australian Government offers a subsidy of Australian $2,750 ($2,197) to offset the capital investment for two-way satellite hardware. To date, the government has budgeted A$270 million ($215.7 million)) over the next four years to fund the ABG. "It wasn’t economically feasible to provide broadband services to Australians living outside major metropolitan areas. The subscriber density was just too low. End users in underserved areas essentially get a "voucher" when they sign up for a broadband services which is then used to subsidize the cost of the hardware and installation," says Ramaswamy.
In Vietnam, the Ta Van project "is a good example of what is possible" through a government project, says David Hartshorn, secretary general of the Global VSAT Forum. "The project started out very small and provided broadband connectivity to two small villages. One was connected by a fiber circuit and the second utilized an IPStar VSAT. WiMax repeaters then lit up both villages. The villagers saw the relevancy and supported the network, which then became economically sustainable. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided some seed money and the Vietnamese Data Communications Company provided matching funds. Based on the success of this program, Vietnam has earmarked $60 million in USF funds annually over the next three years."
Darrell Owen, a contractor who helped manage this last mile initiative for USAID, says there were two primary project goals for the Ta Van project: getting Vietnam’s Universal Service Fund up and running, and demonstrating the WiMax deployment. "Historically, when countries put in VSATs for their USO obligations they would only carry a voice circuit or two. We wanted to demonstrate that you could light up a whole village with broadband services, including voice. USF funds shouldn’t be limited to just providing voice, the focus should really be on bandwidth," he says.
This point has not been overlooked by the satellite industry. "Telecommunication service providers have been using VSATs to meet USO obligations for many years. What they are discovering is that the same hub they use to provide voice communications to rural locations can also be used to deliver cost effective broadband connectivity," says Elinav. USF will play an important role in the rollout of nationwide broadband initiatives. Over the last decade, governments around the world levied a small fee, typically 1 percent to 3 percent, on all telecommunication revenues generated in their respective countries. The fees were deposited in national USFs, which are being used to close the digital divide. Unfortunately those funds are sitting in bank accounts and, to a very large extent, are not being spent. "Billions of dollars in USF funds are sitting idle and aren’t being used for their intended purpose," says Hartshorn, who points out that the economics of many projects have fundamentally shifted with the introduction of broadband initiatives. In the past, satellite was often used to provide voice in rural areas. Now that broadband can be delivered, local subscriptions to services make many of these projects financially sustainable. "This a huge shift," he says.
Hartshorn admits that, so far, many governments have been slow to spend money from these funds, but the hunger for broadband connectivity is changing the playing field. "Once a government realizes that satellite-delivered broadband is financially sustainable, these projects aren’t a sunk cost any more. The projects can be financed in different ways, so the government ultimately gets their money back in the form of new jobs, foreign investment and a stronger tax base. Economic sustainability is a powerful new message." Hartshorn also believes USF funds could help meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted by the United Nations. "Member nations agreed to a 2015 date for bringing about these goals. Telecommunications is one of the enabling technologies that can help countries achieve these important goals. For instance, distance learning can help the standards of education and telemedicine can increase the standards of health. There is a large chorus of voices all singing the same song. Countries need to show quickly that they have taken concrete actions to meet the MDG goals they signed up to; that they have been earnest in their actions."
Conclusion
The market for non-military government satellite networks will remain strong for the foreseeable future. Buoyed by broadband inclusion programs around the world, networks exceeding 50,000 sites have become more common. Billions of dollars of funding is available, but satellite players must show compelling evidence for countries to spend these funds. The more broadband services can be shown to be economically sustainable, the faster broadband networks will be rolled out. It is up to the satellite industry to educate governments on the advantages of satellite technology and then fight for their fair share of the funds.
Email
Comments
Print
Reuse
