The University of Fort Hare and Rhodes University have partnered with the Siyakhula community, in the Eastern Cape, to develop the first rural WiMax network to deliver wireless broadband services.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) says the network has been vital in providing a platform for goods, music and produce to be sold online via an e-commerce Web site, while an e-government site provides the community members with access to services.
“A VOIP telephony service also promotes free communication between the four schools where the computer labs are located in the Mbashe district,” says CSIR competency area manager for information society infrastructure Kobus Roux.
The Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) falls under the Living Labs in Southern Africa (LLiSA) network, which seeks to encourage community-driven innovation in a real-life context and collaboration between different stakeholders. The CSIR was one of the key members in the LLiSA, which put communities in contact with opportunities.
Going nationwide
The LLiSA says the objective of the SLL project was to develop and field-test a simple, cost-effective and robust, integrated telecommunication platform which would be deployed in marginalised and semi-marginalised communities in SA, where a large number of the South African population live.
An LLiSA statement says the project now has generic communication tools, such as broadband Internet-based services, which will be emulated by other rural areas in SA.
The SLL is part of the European network of Living Labs, a European Living Lab initiative sponsored by the EU community through a number of European projects.
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