WTL Says Collabo, Innovation Critical for Rural Voice & Data Service

World Telecom Labs has continued discussion of the results of the recent survey regarding rural connectivity, this time, highlighting collaboration and partnership can be critical to the success of such projects.

According to WTL, partnerships can be fluid and can evolve through time and one party may need to take the initiative, which can bring others into the game. “We’ve seen a great example of this recently, as our friends Amotel in Tanzania continue to gain momentum.

“One of the challenges faced by Amotel was in accessing backhaul links to convey media and session data to their core network, with satellite being the default option. However, an innovative, shared approach has helped increase the range of possible solutions. It transpired that one of the sites was actually within easy reach of an existing fibre deployment. This network was not fully utilised but thanks to the proximity of Amotel’s deployments, several parties were quickly able to agree on network sharing. As a result, Amotel was able to reduce the backhaul requirements and to interconnect with the private network”.

In this case, Amotel’s investments attracted the attention of others and created an opportunity to capitalise on infrastructure that had been deployed for different purposes.

Amotel provided the investment required to connect these links to a more remote region but through this partnership was able to reduce overall costs and avoid the expense of deploying a complete backhaul infrastructure to meet its needs.

The opportunity to connect to this infrastructure emerged as a direct result of its activities and would not otherwise have been possible.

It’s often said that there are chicken and egg situations that impede the deployment of rural connectivity. One partner needs another but neither is prepared to move first. This inertia holds back the market, denying citizens the benefits of connectivity. However, this experience shows that, if one stakeholder is prepared to make the first move, other stakeholders can also contribute to provide other capabilities that expand the solution.

“Collaboration is key”, says WTL, “By taking its first steps, Amotel has unlocked significant benefits from new partnerships that have enabled its footprint to grow. Far from being a chicken and egg situation, it’s more a case that priming the pump is the necessary step to enable connectivity to cascade and flourish. By taking the first steps, Amotel’s actions encouraged others to get involved, creating a better solution for all”.