Wireless Nepal

In 1997 Mahabir Pun set out to provide Internet access to the students of Himachal High School. The teachers and students of Billanook College gifted him with a few old computers. His aim was to enable the students communicate with each other using email. This simple dream changed the way of life for a number of people living in small villages. In 2003 a student in Los Angeles got a grant from the Donald Strauss Foundation, which helped make this dream a reality. The World Bank recently granted $20,000 to extend and improve the existing network. Nepal’s largest Internet Service Provider, World-Link has helped build infrastructure.

The current network currently provides a reliable Internet and telephone infrastructure to 19 villages deep in the Himalayas. The next phase will increase this number to 22 villages.

The villagers use this network to exchange ideas and communicate using message boards. Students use this network to find reference material related to their curriculum. Local artists, farmers and other traders use a e-commerce solution to sell their products online. The project generates revenue by setting up cyber cafes in villages that are of tourist attraction. The villages that are located in remote areas of the Himalayas can access telephones using free software such as Asterisk. This is also one of the few places that tele-medicine works. The tele-center in every village can have a videoconference with doctors in Pokhara.

Like all projects this project too does have its own set of problems. The biggest challenge the project faces is to operate in the absence of a wireless law. This means that the network they are running is illegal. They have been trying to obtain a license for over a year, but the government keeps refusing to grant them one. Because of this there can be no wireless equipment sold in Nepal.

The team is currently lobbying to delicense the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands in Nepal. After a number of presentations and talks the government has finally decided to delicense the required bands and make VoIP free in Nepal.

Reference:
Nepal Wireless: http://www.nepalwireless.net/