Connecting the Next Billion: Empowering Rural India

Abstract: Providing connectivity to around half of the world population living in rural or underprivileged areas is a tremendous challenge, but, at the same time, a unique opportunity. Access to the Internet would provide the population living in these areas a possibility to progress on the educational, health, environment, and business levels. In this article, a survey of technologies for providing connectivity to rural areas, which can help address this challenge, is provided. Although access/fronthaul and backhaul techniques are discussed in this article, it is noted that the major limitation for providing connectivity to rural and underprivileged areas is the cost of backhaul deployment. In addition, energy requirements and cost-efficiency of the studied technologies are analyzed. In fact, the challenges faced for deploying an electricity network, as a prerequisite for deploying communication networks, are huge in these areas, and they are granted an important share of the discussions in this article. Furthermore, typical application scenarios in rural areas are discussed, and several country-specific use cases are surveyed. The main initiatives by key international players aiming to provide rural connectivity are also described. Moreover, directions for the future evolution of rural connectivity are outlined in this article. Although there is no single solution that can solve all rural connectivity problems, building gradually on the current achievements in order to reach ubiquitous connectivity, while taking into account the particularities of each region and tailoring the solution accordingly, seems to be the most suitable path to follow.

Abstract: Providing connectivity to around half of the World population living in rural or underprivileged areas is a tremendous challenge, but also a unique opportunity. In this paper, a survey of technologies for providing connectivity to rural areas, and that can help address this challenge, is provided. Fronthaul and backhaul techniques are discussed. In addition, energy and cost efficiency of the studied technologies are analyzed. Typical application scenarios in rural areas are discussed, and several country-specific use cases are surveyed. Directions for future evolution of rural connectivity are outlined.

Abstract: In this article we introduce a novel solution called SuperCell, which can improve the return on investment (ROI) for rural area network coverage. SuperCell offers two key technical features: it uses tall towers with high-gain antennas for wide coverage and high-order sectorization for high capacity. We show that a solution encompassing a high-elevation platform in excess of 200 meters increases coverage by 5x. Combined with dense frequency reuse by using as many as 36 azimuthal sectors from a single location, our solution can adequately serve the rural coverage and capacity demands. We validate this through propagation analysis, modeling, and experiments. The article gives a design perspective using different classes of antennas: Luneburg lens, active/passive phased array, and spatial multiplexing solutions. For each class, the corresponding analytical model of the resulting signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) based range and capacity prediction is presented. The spatial multiplexing solution is also validated through field measurements and additional 3D ray-tracing simulation. Finally, in this article we also shed light on two recent SuperCell field trials performed using a Luneburg lens antenna system. The trials took place in rural New Mexico and Mississippi. In the trials, we quantified the coverage and capacity of SuperCell in barren land and in a densely forested location, respectively. In the article, we demonstrate the results obtained in the trials and share the lessons learned regarding green-field and brown-field deployments.

Abstract: This paper describes a sales, marketing, and inventory management application, SaathiMobile, for the distribution of low-cost sanitary napkins, made out of waste banana fiber, to women in rural areas. It is being pilot tested in Hubli, Karnataka. This product has the potential to have great impact on the health and economic welfare of women in these areas. The product was developed using App Inventor, a rapid prototype deployment environment for Android.

Abstract: In this article, we present the analysis of the digital divide to illustrate the unfair access to the benefits brought by information and communications technology (ICT) over the globe and provide our solution termed big communications (BigCom) to close the digital divide and democratize the benefits of ICT. To facilitate the implementation of BigCom, we give a complete framework of BigCom considering both technological and non-technological factors as well as a set of suggestions for content providers, mobile network operators, and governments. By implementing BigCom, we aim to connect the last four billion unconnected people living in far-flung and underdeveloped areas and achieve the goal of global and ubiquitous connectivity for everyone in the 6G era.

Abstract: With 2 billion users, the World Wide Web has indeed come a long way. However, of the 4.8 billion people living in Asia and Africa, only 1 in 5 has access to the Web. For instance, in India, the 100 million Web users constitute less than 10% of the total population of 1.2 billion. So it is universally accepted that the next billion users will come from emerging markets like Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Russia. Emerging markets have a number of unique characteristics: Large dense populations with low incomes, Lack of infrastructure in terms of broadband, electricity, etc., Poor PC penetration due to limited affordability, High illiteracy rates and inability to read/write, Plethora of local languages and dialects, General paucity of local content, especially in local languages, Explosive growth in the number of mobile phones. The panel will debate the various technical challenges in overcoming the digital divide, and potential approaches to bring the Web to the underserved populations of the developing world.