Nepal Wireless Project
Why?
Digital Divide" and "Digital Gap" have been big words in the past few years. Organizations like the United Nations and others have organized many conferences and have launched campaigns to address this issue.
Developed and developing countries are talking to each other to find what they can do to bring the computers and the Internet within the reach of the poor people. Everybody seems very much worried about finding ways to make the digital gap narrower. So is the Nepal Wireless Networking Project, seriously speaking.
When and how?
We had started the Nepal Wireless Networking Project as a pilot project from a small and remote area of Nepal with the help of foreign supporters and volunteers. We did several testing in 2002 to find out if it is possible to connect the villages to the nearest ISP in Pokhara. The test was successful.
In September 2003, we connected five villages and expanded the network to two more villages later on. So far we have networked seven villages. The name of the villages are Nangi, Paudwar, Ghara, Tikot, Sikha, Ramche, Khibang and Ghorepani of Myagdi district, Nepal. The network is running despite some problems mainly the shortage of power and wireless devices.
The villages are wirelessly networked and connected to an ISP WorldLink, which is approx. 22 air miles (~34 km) away from Relay Station 1 in a city called Pokhara. Wlink is one of the sponsors of the broadband Internet connection to the villages in Myagdi district Nepal.
Who runs and maintains the network?
The Nepal Wireless Networking Project is now maintained and run by Himanchal Higher Secondary School, Nangi village, Nepal. However, this is an ambitious project and we want to go far beyond what we have done now by inviting people and communities that are interested to duplicate such projects in other parts of Nepal.
In the second phase of the project, we would like to expand the network to many more villages of Kaski, Parbat and Myagdi district. We are trying to complete the second phase by June 2006.
Who is our target?
The taget of this project are the people living in a Himalayan region of Nepal where there is almost no chance of getting the modern means of communication in near future. We are introducing the information technology to villagers, most of whom had never seen computers until a few years ago. Most of the villagers still have no idea as what the uses of the computers are. For the villagers, a computer is no more than a "mysterious box". Moreover, they have no idea what Internet is.
Goal?
Our initial goal is to introduce the "mysterious box" to the remote villages and show its real uses to the villagers. It is only after the villagers see what a computer does will they be motivated to learn about it and use it by themselves step by step. Each step they will take will be a step forward to bring the digitally divided countries closer. We believe that this is the right way to go.
The biggest challenges and problems?
The biggest challenge for this project is to find ways to work in the absence of flexible government law. Technically, we are running this network illegally because we have not gotten license that the government of Nepal requires. We have been trying to get the license for one year. Whenever we ask the government to provide license they are asking us to wait until they bring a new regulation. We don't know yet what the new regulation is going to be like.
Besides, the biggest problems is the unavailability of the wireless equipment in Nepal. Without license we can't import the equipment legally. Therefore we have to "import" the Wi-fi radios and antennas "somehow and someway" from foreign countries. Sometime we have to wait for several months just to get a small piece of equipment. The conflict in Nepal has also created some problem for this network both from the Maoists rebels and the government security forces. Both forces see this network as security threat for them. So far none of them has bothered much for the wireless network. In this sense we feel ourselves as lucky.
There are obviously some technical problems also. However, we think that we will be able to solve the technical problems in time if the political situation improves in Nepal.
After the restoration of democracy in Nepal in April 2006, the political situation is getting better in Nepal. Therefore we don't have as much risk now as it was before to set up Wi-fi network.
What we are lobbying for now?
Nepal Wireless Networking Project is lobbying now to delicense 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands in Nepal. Mahabir Pun, the team leader of the project, spent more than a month in July 2006 in Kathmandu and lobbied hard with Internet Service Provider Association of Nepal to delicense the bands. The team leader gave presentations to member of parliaments, political leaders and government officials telling how Wi-fi technology can be very useful for the people living in the remote areas. As a result the government is going to bring a new law soon to delicense those bands and make VoIP free within Nepal.
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