World Dialogue on Regulation

The report Community-based Networks and Innovative Technologies: New models to serve and empower the poor considers how the combination of community-driven enterprises and the new wave of wireless and related technologies may have the potential to extend networks and offer new services to poor communities and to empower them to develop solutions that are more focused on their own development needs.

The report concludes that new community-driven options could make a significant difference to network access, delivery of services and economic and social opportunities for poorer rural communities. They can drive down costs and make maximum use of community resources, enabling the emergence of new business/development models that are both more economically sustainable and more empowering than anything else available. Furthermore, a high degree of community control can significantly enhance the viability and development impact of ‘hybrid’ public/private/community networks and service solutions.

The report includes six case studies and a FAQ about community networks. The case studies are:

• Rural Telephony Cooperatives in Poland: WIST and Tyczyn
• Community Telecoms Cooperatives in Argentina: The case of TELPIN
• Rural Telecommunications Networks in Peru
  • Irrigation and Communication Networks: Huaral, Peru
  • Micro initiatives for rural telecommunications: Cajamarca, Peru
• Pro-Poor Access to ICTs: The Case of Akshaya, India
• Pro-Poor Access to ICTs: The Case of TeNeT – n-Logue- DHAN, India

This report was published by UNDP as the first in a series about Making ICT Work for the Poor. For more information visit www.propoor-ict.net.