Rural areas are at a particular disadvantage because they do not receive the technology as quickly as urban areas do. Absence of telecommunication infrastructure and services prevents rural communities from benefiting from the quality of life and economic opportunities that new technologies bring. Therefore, one must recognize its potential and learn more of its capabilities, especially in rural development. The focus of this research is on the provision of rural telecommunication infrastructure, as a major part of rural development. A deeper understanding of the essential features of the latter is considered a precondition for the planning and rollout of rural telecommunication services and thus deemed necessary by the author, to emphasize the aim of this research.
Planning of rural telecommunication infrastructure should first consider the development of rural areas as an essential part of a coordinated evolution in a given country (ITU-D, 2006). The role of such infrastructures for development has been agreed to be remarkable by several authors, especially in developed countries (Hudson, 1995). Development as a concept, especially rural, has many implications. One may view it as economic progress while another may view it as the modernisation of facilities and services or industrialisation. Goulet (1985) gave his three views as follow:
1. Development as synonymous with economic growth in aggregate terms, where one measure is based on Gross National Product (GNP) per capita;
2. Development as “development = economic growth + social change”; and
3. Development viewed in terms of ethical values, which centres on the qualitative improvement in all societies and in all groups and individuals within societies. Recognising the significance of telecommunications services in rural development, the ITU-D7 (1998) highlighted the following points:
They are increasingly becoming a vital link between rural and urban areas, and between rural communities and the rest of the world;
They represent a tool with which rural businesses and citizens can directly participate in national and global economies, thus providing opportunity to compete in the fast- growing service sector;
They are fundamental to service industries as well as to rural economic diversification strategies; and
They function as electronic highway, allowing urban-based industries and customers to access rural products and services, and markets more easily.
It is because of these wide-ranging and vital benefits that telecommunications services provision in rural areas should be at the forefront of any discussion on telecommunications development. This will require a delicate blend of appropriate technological choices, in combination with management and financing mechanisms, initiated at the governmental level, to support the creation of rural providers. With the ability of telecommunication to overcome the barrier of distance, it can facilitate the development process by ameliorating (Hudson, 2006):
Efficiency: or the ratio of output to cost;
Effectiveness: or the quality of products and services;
Equity: or the distribution of development benefits throughout the society; and Reach: or the ability to contact new customers or clients.
Further, rural areas in developing countries, despite governments’ legislations, remain far behind their urban counterpart in advanced telecommunication development. It is theoretically simple for the governments to approve development, but it is much harder to implement strategies to incite it (Hudson, 1999). Therefore, the issue of rural telecommunication development is commonly left for the local organisations to solve, with the hope that the quality of life and economic growth of their communities will improve over time.
Hudson (1984) proposed a series of hypotheses in an attempt to establish a theory on the role of telecommunications in development, which are subsequently demonstrated in her research and those of the ITU studies. These are listed below:
Telecommunications use can facilitate social and improved quality of life;
The effects of telecommunications use do not accrue exclusively to the users, but accrue also to the society and the economy in general;
Telecommunications permits improved cost-benefits of rural social service delivery and more fair distribution of economic benefits for rural economic activities; and A certain level of organisational development and complementary infrastructure is
required for socio-economic benefits of telecommunications to be realised.
The above issues raise an important question: How can these development matters be taken into consideration in the deployment of rural telecommunications infrastructure? Rural areas are being affected strongly by the shift to an information economy. There have been dramatic changes in both the technology of telecommunications and the regulatory environment under which the information economy operates (Hudson, 1999).
Technological innovation coupled with wireless and satellite technologies can extend connectivity to rural areas, while backbone fibre optic networks across continents and under oceans link the most isolated communities to the internet. Information technology, primarily telecommunications and computers, is part of the problem that requires rural communities to adapt to new communication technologies, and at the same time is part of
the solution available to make successful adaptation possible. However,
telecommunications and other information technology do not offer a ‘magic solution’ for rural economic development because the process involved is more complex than that. “the essentials of rural economic development can be classified into three categories (Parker, 1996):
Investment in human capital, i.e. providing education and health care for the community;
Investment in physical infrastructure such as water, power, transportation, and telecommunications; and
The reform of social organisations, i.e. the way in which individuals collectively relate to each other, needs considered attention.
Much of the economic development in rural communities requires role models incentives, social support, and a variety of services — including financial, technical, accounting, legal, consulting, training, and marketing. It should be obvious that the deployment and development of infrastructure type technologies, whether it be transport, electrical power distribution, or piped water in a particular rural area, is intended for the development of
that area and rural telecommunications should be no different. Numerous studies from around the world have explored the link between economic development and the presence of different levels of telecommunications infrastructure, most concluding a positive relationship between access to telecommunications capabilities and improvement in certain economic indicators (Parker, 1996; Hudson, 1999; Strover, 2001, Williams, 1995 and etc.). Several other studies (Cronin et al., 1991 & 1994) had shown that technology could promote the deployment of other needed infrastructures for rural areas in a cost-effective and technically feasible manner. Telecommunications provision can stimulate development and is therefore an essential infrastructural component. However, installing telecommunications networks, equipment and computers will not magically change rural culture and bring about development. It may take strong leadership and organized social pressure to obtain the necessary infrastructure in the first place.
Nonetheless, Hudson (1984) stated “As a developmental tool, telecommunications has been largely ignored by planners and theorists. It is generally grouped with public utilities and infrastructure, ranking far below roads, power supply, water, and sanitation as investment priorities. Yet telecommunications is a tool for the conveyance of information, and it is the lack of the consideration of the role of information in development that is perhaps more surprising”.
Moreover, it must be stated that simply rolling out of massive amounts of infrastructure is not the most appropriate cure to underdevelopment. Numerous studies have shown that telecommunications is necessary but not sufficient for rural development (Hudson, 1999). Telecommunications infrastructure by itself will hardly promote development. However, one cannot emphasise adequately the significant role of telecommunications in rural development. There are several concerns associated with the need for improvement of rural telecommunications. It is therefore not possible to determine the facts without carrying out some detailed analysis. It is the author’s view that the deployment of rural telecommunication services is a necessary step towards the provision of information with respect to the improvement, or lack thereof, of rural development in a given area.
The next section will first present some points to explain the need for telecommunication services in rural areas followed by a discussion of telecommunications-intensive applications that will be used by rural communities to improve their economies and their quality of life.