LocustWorld Mesh projects are given extensive references in a report for the World Bank, presented today at the "Conectando el futuro" conference in Lima, Peru. Wireless Mesh is shown as a powerful new technology for extending telecommunications services into rural and remote areas, helping to fulfil the objective for universal access to telecommunications services.
The Conference brings together government and telecoms interests from the 18 Latin American Countries belonging to Regulatel. In the conference and associated reports, Wireless Mesh projects are shown as examples of good practice and innovation. In the report, presented at the conference, "New Strategies for Universal Access to Telecoms" Peter Stern shows how wireless mesh provides universal access to internet and voice over IP with low cost, rapid installation and high performance services. Hundreds of delegates gathered this week in Lima, Peru, to attend the Osiptel hosted conference. Osiptel are the Peruvian telecoms regulator, however the scope of the conference is all of the 19 countries that Regulatel covers. In all of these countries there are significant funds gathered from the revenues of the telecoms companies, specifically earmarked for providing universal access. Wireless Mesh is clearly a successful technology for providing telecoms in hard to reach places and economically challenging environments, as is illustrated by the detailed case examples in the report. Projects using wireless mesh in Bolivia, Ecuador and USA are all cited in the report "New Methods of Universal Access". The report by Peter Stern is the central focus of the conference, and it is the result of over 12 months of research and field study by Peter and his team.  Opening the conference were some very significant members of the Latin American Telecoms governance organisations, including Ceferino Namuncaura, President of Regulatel, Eloy Vidal, from the World Bank, Alvaro Diaz from Cepal. Eloy Vidal from the World Bank explained that new models of universal access would drive new funding approaches designed to deliver maximum results and sustainability by following the directions outlined in the "Universal Access" report. Latin American countries within Regulatel have experienced 86% Compound Annual Growth in Internet Services over the period 1995-2005, but in many countries the take up is still low, ranging from under 5% to a maximum of 20% of the population with internet access. The report highlights new ways of delivery of telecoms services using smaller, independent private companies and community organisations. Historically focus has been on providing telephone services through public call offices. Distribution of funds for universal access highlights the problems in this area, with many regulatel countries collecting UA funds but not finding effective methods of applying them to projects. This often results in countries holding significant funds that go un-used, limiting the benefit to the communities that this money is intended for. Barriers of legal, regulation and administration matters all hinder the rollout of these programs. New methods of micro-financing local projects could help to widen take up and improve value and sustainability of these services. The report also calls for the removal of the bureaucratic obstacles that can make these project hard to complete, liberalising small independent ISPs and legalising VOIP services in target areas. Links: Regulatel: Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay,Perú, República Dominicana, La república Oriental de Uruguay y Venezuela. www.regulatel.org
Osiptel: Organismo Supervisor de Inversión Privada en Telecommunicaciones
CEPAL headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations.
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Report: "New Models for Universal Access in Latin America"
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