Instead of relying on huge and expensive data centers for rolling out cloudbased services to rural and remote areas, we propose a hardware platform based on small single-board computers. The role of these micro-data centers is twofold. On the one hand, they act as intermediaries between cloud services and clients, improving availability in the case of network or power outages. On the other hand, they run community-based services on local infrastructure. We illustrate how to build such a system without incurring high costs, high power consumption, or single points of failure. Additionally, we opt for a system that is extendable and scalable as well as easy to deploy, relying on an open design.
The unparalleled success of mobile technologies, the emergence of new modes of software and hardware production, and the free circulation of shared knowledge in the Web 2.0 have enabled a new generation of bottom-up, community-based, cost-effective telecommunications initiatives and projects. While these endeavours find their roots in previous hobbyists' movements (i.e. amateur radio, software hackers, do-it-yourself communities) today's' initiatives are able to connect, co-produce and share knowledge with world-wide communities, engaging new participants both at the local and the global level. This article reviews recent developments that aim to provide free or low-cost access to telecommunication services in different areas. From Do-It-Yourself (DIY) satellites to mesh networks, these projects tap into the wisdom and resources of communities to offer non-commercial alternatives to present telecommunications services. The technology, organisational, and regulatory challenges they also face cannot be underestimated either. However, in their struggle to find and consolidate new markets, affordable telecommunications reveal that a new digital economy based on co-production could be under way. This book provides policymakers and regulators with the frameworks and ideas to help them design strategies and policies to support the growth of the broadband ecosystem in their countries. The development towards ubiquitous network access requires innovative solutions to get remote areas included, especially rural areas of developing regions. We report on recent progress in the Serengeti Broadband Network, one of the first pilots established in the Tanzania ICT for Rural Development programme with the mission to design and validate a method to establish sustainable broadband markets in under-served areas. The challenges include ownership and leadership, sustainable business models, robustness of network components and poor or non-existent supply chains, including power supply.  Advancement in mobile broadband communication enables to effectively communicate anywhere at any time. More specifically, for people who live in rural areas of developing countries it is the best means to communicate with the rest of the world. This has prodigious potential of enabling new opportunities in their live. The appearance of cloud computing, the recent improvements in communication networks, and the mobile phone market penetration allow a large number of users to access remote computing systems using their mobile devices. Connecting the unconnected world is a challenging task not only in technological perspective but also economically. Providing a viable solution for a communication network in large rural areas such as parts of Africa or remote Lapland in Northern Finland, surprisingly, share similar challenges. The main criteria for such a network are energy-efficient, robust, and reliable operation even in harsh environment. Important aspects are also low-cost and easy deployment of such a network. Developing a network that would meet all the criteria requires theoretical studies as well as real-world testing and implementations. In this paper, we will present some early results and design highlights of a wireless mesh network testbed deployment that can be used to foster the research work. We also envision it as a base for an actual solution. We introduce some of the concepts and objectives behind the testbed and describe and rationalize the chosen hardware and architecture choices. DakNet provides extraordinarily low-cost digital communication, letting remote villages leapfrog past the expense of traditional connectivity solutions and begin development of a full-coverage broadband wireless infrastructure. What is the basis for a progressive, market-driven migration from e-governance to universal broadband connectivity that local users will pay for? DakNet, an ad hoc network that uses wireless technology to provide asynchronous digital connectivity, is evidence that the marriage of wireless and asynchronous service may indeed be the beginning of a road to universal broadband connectivity. DakNet has been successfully deployed in remote parts of both India and Cambodia at a cost two orders of magnitude less than that of traditional landline solutions.