http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/11/02/ericssons-plan-rural-connectivity-for-the-millennium-villages Comments for "Ericsson's Plan: Rural Connectivity for the Millennium Villages" en http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/11/02/ericssons-plan-rural-connectivity-for-the-millennium-villages <img src="http://www.idc.com.my/EnterpriseMobility/image/EricssonLogo_blue.gif" border="0" width="250" height="116" align="right" />I recently came across an article on <a href="http://money.cnn.com/">CNNMoney.com</a> about world-leading supplier of telecommunications <a href="http://www.ericsson.com/">Ericsson</a>’s plan to provide mobile phones and internet connectivity to the <a href="http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/mv/index.htm">Millennium Villages</a>. It caught my attention, since it relates to a flurry of recent activity on NextBillion. We’ve seen a lot of discussion and press about rural connectivity (<a href="/newsroom/2007/10/29/desicrew-brings-jobs-to-rural-india-with-bpos">DesiCrew in India</a>), wireless internet possibilities (<a href="/blogs/2007/10/30/bringing-rural-brazil-into-the-internet-age">Al Hammond’s blog on rural Brazil</a>), mobile phone networks (M-PESA), and other technological advances (<a href="/newsroom/2007/10/31/it-solutions-meet-et-challenges-editorial-tom-friedman">Tom Friedman’s editorial</a>, and <a href="/blogs/2007/10/18/pop-tech-on-cell-phones-entrepreneurship-and-african-governance">Rob Katz from Pop!Tech</a>).<span> </span>These have<strong> </strong>now become integral to many of the most innovative and expansive solutions for providing goods and services to the poor, but through market-based models.<br /> <br /> Ericsson is partnering with <a href="http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sections/view/9">The Earth Institute</a> and with pan-African telecom <a href="http://www.mtn.co.za/">MTN</a> to bring mobile broadband connectivity to the Millennium Villages, beginning with the village of Mayange in Rwanda, with plans to extend to all seventy-nine Villages across 10 countries, reaching approximately 400,000 people.<br /><br /><span>(This post continues past the break; click &quot;Read More&quot; to continue)</span><br class="clear" /><p><a href="http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/11/02/ericssons-plan-rural-connectivity-for-the-millennium-villages">read more</a></p> http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2007/11/02/ericssons-plan-rural-connectivity-for-the-millennium-villages#comment Strategy Successful Models Telecommunications and IT The Policy Agenda Mon, 05 Nov 2007 07:03:11 -0500 Abigail Keene-Babcock 4792 at http://www.nextbillion.net