Fundamental disruptions are occurring because we are all connected to one another; last month John Gage introduced me to Greg Wyler and I got first hand examples of what these disruptions meant in Rwanda. Greg just acquired the state-owned Rwandatel in a privatization transaction. His vision is universal, cheap IP access to achieve the highest teledensity in the next 5 years to support economic development. Today's wireless rates in the region (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda) are over $.20/min, too expensive for Rwanda where 50% of the 25,000 subs can only use their cell phone to literally "ring" each other. Terracom (the new company name) is laying optical fiber (btw people dig out copper, but not fiber unless they can invest in a $15K termination point) throughout the country to reach 2,500 schools.
The entrepreneur, turned telco CEO, wants to connect students to the network but power consumption is a critical factor (both access and cost) for the client. Greg also said that viruses have a much bigger impact in a country like Rwanda than anyone here can imagine. We discussed ultra thin client Sun Ray technologies that have been successfully deployed in schools, reviewed power consumption, different form factors, VoIP integration, and developer communities.
It is fascinating to see how technology brought to an internet-starved place by a passionate individual can positively impact people's life. A sustainable economic growth in a knowledge-based society is what will draw Rwanda into the participation age.