Zenzeleni Networks South Africa Community Networks Workshop AUC

Zenzeleni Networks South Africa Community Networks Workshop AUC, Addis Ababa, 19 th June 2018 Sol Luca de Tena - Zenzeleni Network NPC

Zenzeleni Networks Mankosi Cooperative & Zenzeleni non-for-profit Mankosi, South Africa May 2018

Legal License exemption to deploy and offer telecommunic ations services

Working Area 100, 000 people 93% unemployed, 90% not completed school Non/poor basic infrastructure Most people live on 1 USD daily threshold, up to 25% of monthly income spent on Telecoms

Example: amount of school that can be reached through current coverage

Wi. Fi Internet Backhaul Wi. Fi Hotspot Wi. Fi Mesh Solar Panel Solar Powered, Wi. Fi Internet Backhaul, Mesh & Hotspot Current backhaul (intranet) capacity 160 -600 Mbps Current upstream (fiber) 40 Mbps, 5 10 Mbps (hotspots)

Some hard facts Sept - Oct 2017 Nov - March 2018 March - April 2018 3 schools, 2 local businesses 100 unique devices 600 GB of traffic 3 schools (+2), 5 businesses 3400 unique devices +1 TB/month traffic 3 schools (+2), +7 new bus. pending 4980 unique devices +1. 5 TB/month Some statistics from last months Cost more than 20 x less than other options

Quick glance at 2017 Own backbone built, Zenzeleni NPC & Connection to fiber established Reliable, affordable connection and two entities with focused mandates, Trust Establishing and maintaining trust for 6 years. International and National recognition Finalist in Mozilla Equal Rating Challenge, Winner of SA National Award for Best Innovation with Social Impact, National intergovernmental committee, presentation to Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, DTPS budget vote, etc. First Anchor tenants & upgrading of backbone Allows for significant upgrades and a commercial fiber connexion. Pull and funding to scale Overwhelming interest and managed to secure funds for initial scaling

2018 a year of scaling & consolidation for Zenzeleni ● Network expansion & establishing techno-financial management models (new communities and looking at contextualising the Guifi. net commons model to the South African context) ● Growing local capacity (undertaking regular skills transfer workshops, focus on youth and women) ● Team operational consolidation be able to answer to overwhelming interest from more rural and urban communities, businesses etc. ● Maintaining national and international relevance (hosting of African Summit on Community Networks, liaising with public and private stakeholders, etc. ) All required to create a positive growth environment for Zenzeleni.

Zenzeleni sustainability now and future

Zenzeleni’s benefits 1. High value asset local ownership, participation, ICT for and by local benefit/ 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. relevance Creation of new rural businesses and new rural income streams. Provision of, and access to, cheaper telecommunications. Facilitating community development through the vehicle of collective (community) ownership. Maximizing the retention and circulation of capital within rural micro-economies. Creating local, critical and scarce higher value added services. Retaining the most skilled youth and decreasing the number of forced migration split households. Enhanced savings for impoverished households. Enabling the development of other existing and new rural businesses. Increased access of rural households, hospitals and schools to the benefits of connectivity and the digital knowledge economy

Conclusions: key sustainability and value elements Ø Local ownership, consultative integration of technology and “business purpose” – relevant to needs and decided by residents Ø Partnerships: access to low cost infrastructure, bandwidth and services and navigate telecommunications sector and raise adoption, anchor tenants – private and public. Ø Seed fund for the creation of new cooperative CNs: Ø Ø initial business and network infrastructure set- up (legal/ governance, initial hotspots, initial capacity building (business and network operation) first year mentoring

“I didn’t know that you could get a little bit of money without having to go outside of the community to work hard [in the mines]. That is the future I want for my children. Sifuna u. Zenzeleni anwenwe nje ngomlilo “We want Zenzeleni to spread like fire” - Zenzeleni Networks Mankosi board members

Thank you! sol@zenzeleni. net info@zenzeleni. net