DAKNET: villages connected through WiFi

Context: The Karnataka state government in India has computerised land records. The only problem is that the servers storing these records are in district headquarters and are not easily accessible to villages that, while perhaps only 70 kms away, are without phone lines. WiFi is the currently the best wireless technology available. It is easy to set up, use and maintain with high bandwidth and is a low-cost solution for both the providers as well as users. Rural ICT’s are typically introduced as communications channel shared across the community which rely on land-line, telephone or satellite radio links. The service was developed by First Mile Solutions, based in USA.

Innovation: FMS in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka started the world’s first DakNet Enabled bus. The primary DakNet pilot in India was with Bhoomi, an eGovernance initiative established by the Indian State Government of Karnataka to computerize all land records in Karnataka.

How the service operates: United Villages has installed Mobile Access Points (MAPs) on existing vehicles such as buses and motorcycles which ply in rural areas. There are kiosks which have been installed in villages, which typically have a computer with a real-time wireless internet connection. United Villages sells pre-paid cards to village kiosk operators who in turn resell them to the villagers, who can use it to avail services such as sending e-mails, voicemails, SMSs, purchase railway tickets online, access matrimonial sites, job search sites etc. Whenever an MAP is within the range of the wireless network, it picks up the stored data from the kiosk computer and forwards it to the internet in cities.

Download and watch the new United Villages India video! (107MB, Windows Media Video)