Chapter 10: Conclusion—Learning, Looking Ahead, and Keeping an Eye on the Ball

Chapter 10: Conclusion—Learning, Looking Ahead, and
Keeping an Eye on the Ball

10.2. Looking Ahead

Telecenter deployments are taking place around the world in a very dynamic environment, which presents opportunities and challenges. Business models are constantly evolving to enable provision of a broader set of services in a more sustainable manner, and technological advances are expanding the range of options available for deployment of telecenters. Having more options is certainly an advantage, but it also presents decision-making challenges.

There is good reason for optimism. In many cases, the solutions employed to date have been the best (or only) choice for a solitary telecenter, but are suboptimal on a larger scale. This has been particularly true for rural connectivity, where there are only a few possible solutions, all of them very cost ineffective. Acting collectively at scale, rural communities can have very affordable communications and connectivity, if the national processes for infrastructure investment are handled thoughtfully. The same is true of applications that serve the common people—no single center can afford
to generate much appropriate content, but once the market is aggregated and many of those individuals have access, the cost/benefit ratio becomes very attractive.

Beyond the issue of new deployment, “established” telecenters need to keep an eye on the horizon. Many of those established in the late 1990s and early 2000s now need to replace their equipment. They may also need to rethink their connectivity solutions or even their modes of operation. Established telecenters need not stick to what they started as. They need to think creatively about how they can continue to serve the needs of communities while staying on firm financial footing.

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