An introduction to Village Telco and how it has already been implemented in developing countries. The Village Telco is an initiative to assemble and/or develop the cheapest, easiest-to-setup, easiest-to-manage, scalable, standards-based, wireless local do-it-yourself telephone company toolkit in the world. We believe this is achievable through the use of Open Source software and low-cost, off-the-shelf, consumer communication technologies. A Village Telco offers affordable voice (and data) services through the provision of WiFi infrastructure and phones. What makes the Village Telco different from other rural, low-cost WiFi projects, is it's focus on voices services, both from the point of view of making them work as effectively as possible at as low a cost as possible but also from the point of view of creating a sustainable business model for entrepreneurs. |