Fraunhofer starts Centre to connect developing countries to the net

Medical services, education and participation in the economy and politics are often limited for around five billion people living in developing countries. One obstacle is the lack of access to the Internet and a viable regional communication infrastructure.

Photo: (C) Fraunhofer FOKUS NET4DC

 In order to connect these regions to the Internet, in January 2010, the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS) will breathe life into the NET4DC. This international centre for information and communication technologies in developing countries will, together with partners from target regions, develop and make available tailor-made IT infrastructures and communication networks.

The main goal of FOKUS NET4DC is the implementation of modern information and communication technologies in the regions concerned, to enable the sustainable access to global communication networks. Prof Dr Radu Popescu-Zeletin, the director of Fraunhofer FOKUS explains "We are accelerating research and development projects which factor in regional demands such as rough environmental conditions, irregular power supply or the available radio wave spectrums." The tailor-made communications and information solutions made in this way will be used by people who live in sparsely-populated areas.

One of the first projects of FOKUS NET4DC is the connection of the Ubuntu Campus, a remote settlement near the village of Macha in the Southern Province of Zambia. Specialists used directional radio in order to connect this settlement to existing satellite connections in Macha.  As a result, a wireless network connects the primary school, a schooling centre and the office building of the local water board, enabling them internet access. There are also plans to connect small medical stations to the Internet in order to improve the provision of medical services.

The experts from Fraunhofer FOKUS want to test, with the help of the network, how reliable the technology is, what the life expectancy is likely to be and how high the maintenance requirements will be given the existing climate conditions. The lessons learned will feed back into similar projects with the aim of bringing the Net to developing countries.