Net reaches Bangladeshi villages

["Ashish Kotamkar" <ashish@mithi.com>]

Net reaches Bangladeshi villages
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2249597.stm
By Alfred Hermida
BBC News Online in Bangladesh

Next to a muddy road two hours from Dhaka, a plain-looking building 
is giving villagers in the Mirzapur a taster of the future. In a 
small back room are eight computers hooked up to the internet, 
offering low-cost web access.  

The centre is one of two set up by the Bangladeshi non-governmental 
organisation, the Grameen Trust, to take the digital revolution into 
the countryside.  

"Our vision is to provide an information technology service to local 
people who don't know about computers," said the telecentre manager, 
Mohammad Alamgir Hossain.  

Wireless net  

The centre was set up a year ago to provide low-cost training in 
computer skills such as word-processing and graphics and design to 
villagers.  

Grameen also aims to cut the cost of bringing the internet to rural 
areas. The centre uses a wireless link to connect to the internet, 
via Grameen headquarters in Dhaka, rather than over a phone landline. 
 

Dial-up connections in Bangladesh are expensive and unstable, with 
slow connection speeds and frequent interruptions.  

In order to encourage local businesses and groups to go online, the 
Mirzapur centre also acts as a low cost local internet service 
provider.  

So far two local bodies, a hospital trust and a girls' secondary 
school have signed up, paying only a nominal amount.  

But the cost of keeping the telecentre going could be a problem. 
Grameen is concerned about the long-term viability of the project.  

Officials admit that they are finding it very difficult to sustain 
these projects with local resources.  

"It is a bit ambitious," said Partha Pratim Sarker, founder of the 
technology website, Bytes For All.  

"Often telecentres like this can be expensive to run and this is one 
of the reasons why some of these projects are not successful."  

Keeping in touch  

Despite these problems, Grameen believes projects like this can help 
reduce the isolation of rural areas, using the internet to connect 
them to the capital and further afield.  

"Most of the people come with something to compose, a letter or a 
picture to scan", Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, telecentre manager  

A letter can take a week to reach Dhaka. It takes even longer for 
mail to reach international destinations, sometimes up to a month.  

As Bangladesh has a large immigrant population, with many working in 
the Gulf and elsewhere, fast communications can make a big 
difference.  

Using the Mirzapur centre, villagers can get in touch with family and 
friends in seconds for a fraction of the cost of an international 
phone call.  

Student appeal  

Even illiterate villagers are encouraged to use the service. Some 
people come in with just an e-mail address, not knowing how to use e-
mail.  

"Most of the people come with something to compose, a letter or a 
picture to scan. If people don't know English, we will translate the 
letter and send it to the e-mail address," said Mr Hossain.  

"The response of the public is promising."  

The centre is popular with students, as it offers a cheap way of 
browsing the web, sending e-mails or chatting with friends.  

"We are so lucky to have a digital centre like this," said one 
student as he looked up the latest cricket scores on the BBC sports 
site.  

"The world is very big, but the internet makes the world small. There 
is no other opportunity for me to use a computer, this is the only 
place."  

The Mirzapur centre is part of Grameen Communication's Village 
Computer and Internet Programme.  

=============================================== 
Warm regards, 
Ashish Kotamkar (ashish@mithi.com)