Inmarsat has secured a strategic three-year agreement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to provide developing countries with cost-effective telecommunications resources to assist in their transition to digital economies.
The “Distance Learning Initiative,” which is effective immediately and is based on the provision of Inmarsat’s Regional BGAN service, seeks to ensure a rapid rise in literacy levels and aid sustainable development in rural communities.
The poor state of physical and economic infrastructure in developing countries acts as a major impediment to economic development and social progress. The lack of technological infrastructure often means that local populations are without access to information and educational facilities. The Distance Learning Initiative invites developing countries’ governments, ministries of education, ministries of telecommunications, public sector organizations and private sector entities to take advantage of the program and to deploy Inmarsat’s state-of-the-art communication services to rural schools.
The project also calls on other international organizations to participate in the scheme, ensuring that universal access of ICT applications and services becomes a reality, helping to bridge the digital divide between the developing and developed world.
“It is our aim to provide effective, useful and self-sustaining projects for the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure in poorer economic countries across the world, ” said Hamadoun Toure, director, Telecommunications Development Bureau, ITU.
“The Inmarsat service, already a proven success in E-Learning projects in the Middle East, will enable a quantum leap for educational communications in developing communities.”
Internet connectivity to rural schools will be offered through Inmarsat’s Regional BGAN IP satellite modem. Using a secure shared channel, the Regional BGAN solution provides a high-speed data service at up to 144 kbit/s where and when needed. It is available in up to 99 countries in the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Europe, the Indian Sub-Continent, and parts of Central Asia. The unit is notebook size, weighs only 1.6 kg and is simple to set up. By pointing the lid of the unit at the satellite the connection to the Internet is established within seconds.
Rural communities in southern Lebanon are already utilizing the Regional BGAN service to great success. Al-Ishraq School in Ainata and St. Joseph School in Ain Ebel have both been using Inmarsat’s Regional BGAN satellite modem in the delivery of their educational material as terrestrial infrastructure is not available.
“Students are learning about the Internet and use it for research, to obtain supportive information, and to apply for universities,” said Amale Yamin, director, St. Joseph School.
“Through the Internet, our teachers are also benefiting, by delivering to students more exciting and updated material than what we can deliver using only textbooks.
Students performance in exams has improved.” Rabiaa Baydoun, director, Al-Ishraq School added “In Ainata, teachers do not have access to comprehensive libraries and therefore have to travel all the way to Beirut every time they need to research a topic. Since we installed the Inmarsat solution, everybody has information right at their fingertips.”
