Wi-Fi e inclusão digital na África do Sul

A cidade de Knysna é a primeira da África do Sul quase toda coberta pelo sistema Wi-Fi. A iniciativa foi uma parceria entre as autoridades locais e a provedor de Internet UniNet. O objetivo do projeto é que através dessas novas tecnologias de acesso haja uma diminuição da exclusão digital entre as áreas rurais e urbanas daquela comunidade. Abaixo alguns trechos da matéria publicada na BBC News.

Trechos

"The coastal town of Knysna in South Africa was one such place. But now it is the largest wi-fi enabled area on the African continent.

Working in conjunction with the town's local authorities, internet provider UniNet has set up a system of base stations which spread wi-fi around the town.

Computers with wi-fi connections can be expensive, and not everybody in the poorer areas of Knysna can afford a wireless enabled device. So the municipal authorities installed computers in places the whole community has access to. "Masifunde library is one of many libraries in the area. The municipality took the initiative to populate these libraries with computers," Mr Jarvis said.

"The computers were meant to provide internet access, but unfortunately the cost limitations meant that many of them didn't. "As part of our project we connected them with the internet. This has allowed the community to come in and, for 45 minutes, be able to use the terminals for free.

A new approach

Wi-fi enabling a town like Knysna was not as simple as applying the same techniques and equipment that are used in big cities. "The technology deployed is very different to technology that is deployed in developed world countries," Mr Jarvis said.

"We developed a system which is largely a cellular system, where you have repeaters, a bit like cell-phone masts, and you have customers who connect via fixed terminals, not wi-fi devices inside your laptop, and they get the service down a network cable. It's actually like a cable service which happens to work over wireless."

The company starts off with a repeater on a mountain which gives it coverage of an area with a 16km radius that has a few wi-fi access points.

"If they have a device which can be used for voice and for free internet services then it will be a start of a real explosion in breaking down the barriers of the digital divide."