Mwaniki Wahome
29 October 2008
Nairobi — Telecommunications infrastructure provider, Kenya Data Networks will assist in setting up digital villages in all constituencies.
The project, dubbed Digital Village Cluster will be implemented in partnership with a local ICT lobby, ICTVillage.com, with the aim of bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas. About Sh210 million would go towards the initiative.
Speaking yesterday at the KDN offices in Nairobi, marketing manager, Mr Vincent Wang'ombe, said his firm will provide local portal access and infrastructure layout.
Reduce divide
"The coming of submarine fibre is going to cut the divide between the rural and urban areas. We have done a pilot project in Tetu constituency of digital village constituency cluster and now want to spread the project to other constituencies," he said.
Mr Wang'ombe said their effort will complement a similar initiative by the Kenya ICT Board. "Each constituency cluster will consist of a minimum of eight units serving commercial, developmental and educational activities within the radius in the rural areas," he said.
"Locals will access the Internet through a dedicated wireless infrastructure guaranteeing reliable single hop connectivity," Mr Wang'ombe added.
He said that with the laying of the undersea fibre cables expected to be completed next year, there will be saturation of bandwidth with thin infrastructure to drive the content in rural areas.
Challenges ahead
The manager said there were challenges ahead with some of the constituencies lacking in ICT entrepreneurs.
"We will be putting up equipment at no cost, which will remain our property because of the frequent changes in technology," Mr Wang'ombe said.
Local content will be free but for the open internet access, there will be a global scratch card similar to the airtime scratch card for mobile phones.
Entrepreneurs will be required to join the digital village network.
The ICTVillage.com co-ordinator, Mr Ian Kamau, urged entrepreneurs to register to benefit from the services they will offer. He said there were many bureaus that needed internet connections to help local communities access ICT services.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
