Locally Owned, Sustainable, Small-Scale Cellular Networks

Over five billion people are active cellular subscribers, spending over a trillion dollars a year on communications. Despite this, at least a billion people are still not connected. Implicit in these networks is a top-down design, with large nationscale telecommunication firms deciding when and where coverage will be available. This is enforced by the large capital investment required to run cellular systems; base stations can cost upwards of US$100,000 and require expensive related core infrastructure. Recent technological innovations have enabled much cheaper cellular equipment; a base station now costs around US$10,000 and requires none of the other related systems. This reduction in cost is enabling new models of cellular telephony. Small organizations are suddenly capable of being service providers. In this work we ask, “How successful would bottom-up cellular networks be?” Essentially we argue for and demonstrate a locally owned cellular network, utilizing existing infrastructure (e.g., power, network, and people) to operate at much lower cost, with less required capital, bringing coverage to areas not traditionally able to support cellular deployment. This network also provides sustainable employment and revenue to local entrepreneurs and services for the local community. We demonstrate the value of this concept by conducting an ongoing six-month long field deployment in rural Papua, Indonesia, in partnership with local NGOs. This network is currently live, with 143 subscribers sustainably providing US$758 per month in revenue (US$301 in profit) for the operator and employment for three different credit sellers in the village. We also show that this network provides a valuable service to the community through usage logs and user interviews.