Community networks are Internet communication networks deployed and operated by citizens to meet their own needs. In recent years, the community networks movement has grown, with more and more people pointing to them as a solution for connecting the next billion.
Community networks are key to helping close the global digital divide.
A community network can be a single Wi-Fi hotspot or a huge mesh network in a city. It can take the form of a series of ethernet cables, a local cellular system, or most commonly, a larger Wi-Fi network. It can provide services ranging from locally hosted offline resources, to local-only voice calls, to high-speed broadband connectivity. What all of these have in common is community governance or ownership.
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The community governance of community networks must include interacting with regulators and universal service agencies, whose main interactions are with large companies like mobile (cellular) network operators (MNOs). Competing with companies for the attention of authorities is one of the biggest challenges facing community networks.
In Africa specifically, the very rapid growth of cellular networks dramatically changed the lives of many people. But it also highlighted deficiencies—areas where there is inadequate service, or where people can’t afford to benefit fully.
Community networks are a tool for communities to utilize information and communications technologies (ICTs) and digital resources in a way that is valuable for them. We now live in a world where increasingly public and private services are becoming digitalized, and where access to technologies and digital resources can offer ways to improve lives and livelihoods.
Community networks give people a way to access digital resources as well as other benefits.
10 Steps to Build a Community Internet Network
The Community Networks Readiness Assessment Handbook was developed by community networks practitioners in Africa. It is aimed at Africa-based practitioners and organizations who want to expand into community networks. The approach was informed by the challenges faced on the Continent and by the strategies people have used to overcome them.
1. Understand Community Network Examples
What can you learn from other community networks? All over the world, people are coming together to build and maintain their own Internet connections by setting up municipal and community networks, cooperatives, and other complementary access solutions.
2. Identify the Community and Champions
Who is the community you are seeking to serve? Who are the individual leaders or organizations that can help champion your work? Your first task is to clearly determine what exactly is the “community” for your network.
3. Define the Functions and Services
What services and functions can your network provide to your community? These are critical questions to answer as you plan your network.
4. Identify the Regulatory Requirements
What regulations, legal frameworks, and policies will your network need to comply with? Understanding regulations, legal frameworks, and policies that your network will need to comply with is critical for a successful launch.
5. Determine Technology Requirements
What technology do you use to connect your users? To connect to the Internet? Unfortunately, there is no single technology solution that will work best for every community network.
6. Research Financial Sustainability
How do you fund your community network over the long term? You need to develop a successful business model to ensure that the people, technologies, and processes are able to operate over time in a sustainable manner.
7. Decide on Organization Structure
Who owns your community network? Who makes decisions? How you structure your community network is a critical step. Is it a nonprofit organization or a cooperative? Is it part of a local or municipal government? Is it a private company? Does it have an elected or appointed leadership team?
8. Engage with Stakeholders
How can you get your community excited and bought into the launch of your network? Your next step is to plan public meetings and other ways to engage your community.
9. Deploy the Community Network
It’s time to connect! After all the research, planning, and engagement, it’s time to bring connectivity to your community!
10. Monitor, Maintain, and Improve
Are people using your network? How can you improve it? With your network launched, what is working well for your users? What are your users asking for next?
A lightly edited synopsis of Community Networks Readiness Assessment Handbook by the Internet Society Foundation.
Wonderful, looking at the situation of our community’s lack of internet connectivity due to poverty, l think somebody must think again, with this INFORMATION, to do something!