Issue 10: March 2003
Rural connectivity
Rural connectivity

People First Network: Radio email for the Solomon Islands

Imagine the amazement of farmers who are able to receive technical advice on how to deal with a poultry disease. Or of the residents of remote rural villages who can find out about job opportunities and submit their applications well before the deadline. All thanks to radio email. In the Solomon Islands, People First Network (PFnet) is pioneering a communications model based on radio email technology and community ownership.

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Feature articles

Improving rural connectivity

New wireless and satellite technologies can radically reduce the cost of connectivity. Unfortunately, most developing countries do not yet allow people to implement them.

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Email: A viable alternative to the web?

In spite of poor phone connections and electricity supplies, people in poor countries are using the Internet in greater numbers than ever before.

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Can satellite technology bridge the digital divide?

The big Internet-by-satellite plans of the mid-1990s have been largely replaced by new, relatively efficient technologies, which may lift objections against satellite as a viable connectivity solution.

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From the web