Rural areas of Tanzania are still disadvantaged in terms of diffusion of IP-based services; this is due to lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures, especially lack of connectivity. One of the limitations for connectivity problems in rural areas of Tanzania is the high cost to establish infrastructures for IP-based services [1-2]. However the cost of connectivity varies from one technology to the other and at the same time, the cost is also different from one operator (service provider) to another within the country. This paper presents development of software system to calculate cost of connectivity to rural areas of Tanzania. The system is developed to make an easy access of connectivity cost from different technologies and different operators. The development of the calculator follows the V-model software development lifecycle. The calculator is used to evaluate the economic viability of different technologies considered as being potential candidates to provide rural connectivity. In this paper, the evaluation is based on the techno-economic analysis approach.
[1] Sedoyeka, E. Hunaiti, Z. Al Nabhan, M. Balachandran, W. (2008).
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Computer Society Washington, DC, USA.
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B.M.M., (2009). Strategies for Connectivity Configuration to Access e-
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2070-3742. Vol. 54. Pp 889 - 894. Paris, France.
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[1] Sedoyeka, E. Hunaiti, Z. Al Nabhan, M. Balachandran, W. (2008).
WiMAX Mesh networks for underserved areas. In Proceedings of the
2008 IEEE/ACS International Conference on Computer Systems and
Applications - Vol 00. Pp 1070-1075. ISBN: 978-1-4244-1967-8. IEEE
Computer Society Washington, DC, USA.
[2] Simba, F., Mjema, E.C., Mvungi, N.H., Lena, T., Mwinyiwiwa,
B.M.M., (2009). Strategies for Connectivity Configuration to Access e-
Learning Resources: Case of Rural Secondary School in Tanzania. In
Proceedings of World Academy of Science and Technology. ISSN
2070-3742. Vol. 54. Pp 889 - 894. Paris, France.
[3] The Guardian. (2009). The Tanzania local news paper accesses online
via the ippmedia http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=5095
Accessed on 23rd July, 2009.
[4] SEACOM (2009). Seacom Goes Live in East Africa
http://www.seacom.mu/intro.html accessed on 23rd July, 2009
[5] eThinkTanktz, (2009). Seacom has arrived.....
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eThinkTankTz/ . Accessed on 27th July,
2009
[6] MST Minister-s Speech, (2009).
http://www.mst.go.tz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id
=64&Itemid=94 accessed on 23rd July, 2009.
[7] Lenoir, M. (2008). Building a Wireless Mesh Network in Sengerema,
Tanzania
http://www.iicd.org/IICDCorporateBlog/categories/articles/launch-ofwireless-
internet-in-sengerema-tanzania/
[8] TTN Report (2008). A TTN workshop: The Sengerema Wireless Shared
Community Network
October 19-24 2008.
http://www.swopnet.or.tz/docs/sengeremawirelessshared.pdf accessed
on 28th July, 2009.
[9] Geocities, (2009).
http://www.geocities.com/rmtiwari/main.html?http://www.geocities.com
/rmtiwari/Resources/Management/SoftwareDevelopmentLifecycle/VModel.
html accessed on 22th july, 2009.
[10] free enclopedia, (2009). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VModel_(
software_development) accessed on 20th July, 2009.
[11] TCRA, (2009). List of licensed Service Providers in Tanzania.
http://www.tcra. go.tz/licensing/ CLFlicensed_ operators. php accessed
on 19th July, 2009.
[12] Jerman-Blaži─ì, B (2007). Techno-economic analysis and empirical
study of network broadband investment: The case of backbone
upgrading. Journal of Information Systems Frontiers. Volume 10,
Number 1. Pp 103-110. ISSN 1387-3326 (Print) 1572-9419 (Online).
Springer Netherlands.
[13] Mishra, S. M., Hwang, J., Filippini, D., Moazzami, T. D, R. and
Subramanian, L. (2005). UCB Technical Report UCB/CSD-05-1411:
Economic Analysis of Networking Technologies for Rural Developing
Regions.
[14] Wikipedia, (2009) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_present_value
accessed on 28th July, 2009.
[15] Cadman, R; Dineen, C; Twomey, P. 2006. Trends in Economics and
Finance. Volume II: Use of Economic Modeling in
Telecommunications. ITU Report.
[16] Raman, B and Chebrolu, K. (2007) "Design and Evaluation of a new
MAC Protocol for LongDistance 802.11 Mesh Networks". In ACM
MOBICOM.
[17] Vodacom Internet Bomba, (2009).
http://www.vodacom.co.tz/docs/docredir.asp?docid=3569 accessed on
23rd July, 2009.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:50621", author = "F. Simba and L. Trojer and N.H. Mvungi and B.M. Mwinyiwiwa and E.M. Mjema", title = "Rural Connectivity Technologies Cost Analysis", abstract = "Rural areas of Tanzania are still disadvantaged in terms of diffusion of IP-based services; this is due to lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures, especially lack of connectivity. One of the limitations for connectivity problems in rural areas of Tanzania is the high cost to establish infrastructures for IP-based services [1-2]. However the cost of connectivity varies from one technology to the other and at the same time, the cost is also different from one operator (service provider) to another within the country. This paper presents development of software system to calculate cost of connectivity to rural areas of Tanzania. The system is developed to make an easy access of connectivity cost from different technologies and different operators. The development of the calculator follows the V-model software development lifecycle. The calculator is used to evaluate the economic viability of different technologies considered as being potential candidates to provide rural connectivity. In this paper, the evaluation is based on the techno-economic analysis approach.
", keywords = "rural, connectivity, cost, V-model, techno economic analysis.", volume = "3", number = "11", pages = "2041-7", }
