InFRA

Internet For Rural Africans(InFRA) aims to provide cheap internet to people living in Rural Africa.

The Internet has become very costly for the rural villagers of South East Asia and Africa. This has resulted in these people having less connections with the outside world. I want to give them a chance to connect with the outside world by providing Satellite Internet for a cheap cost.

My solution aims to launch CubeSats into LEO, which will be in the dimension 20*20*20 cm. These satellites will receive internet from transmitting stations all over Africa, transmit it between satellites and send them to receiving stations located in the houses all over Africa. Thus, there won’t be any need for high maintenance for both the operators as well as the customers. But, before this, we need to bring electricity to these homes. Less than 10% of the population has access to electricity, so, for this solution to work, we also need to bring electricity to these villages. We can do this by producing biofuel in the Central African Nations and Solar Panels in Saharan and Sub-Saharan Nations. Though this may increase the costs associated with the project, it is needed for this project to come to life. Also, it will further make the lifestyle of these better. The Satellites will be launched from launch stations in India and South America. They will also be manufactured in these locations. These satellites will be carrying a receiver, a transmitter and a propulsion unit so that it can be held in its place. It will be powered with solar panels which will be covering the satellite. Coming to the transmitters on the ground, they will be built in the major cities of Africa like Johannesburg, Kinshasha, Nairobi, Cairo, Niamey(Niger), etc. This is because they will be easier to build and maintain in these cities. After receiving the signals from the transmitters, the satellites will send them to the receivers located in the houses of the users. Though the Internet will be slow, it will open a gateway for these people to connect to the world grow along with the world.

My solution is mainly designed for the people of Rural Africa. Although, it can be implemented to be used by the poor people living in cities of Africa and then for rural people of other regions such the South-East Asia, where the condition is a bit better. Overall, this solution is made for a specific region but can be implemented all over the world.

Even though I am the only man behind this project and not even a resident of Africa, I believe that in the coming years, I an build a strong team to turn this proposal into a reality. I have done research on the life of Rural Africans and on their lifestyle. I saw a huge untouched market where we can help these people to turn their dream into a reality. I heard many stories where children risk their life to go to schools and some of them lose their life. I think this solution will help in promoting the idea of online education for these people so that however dangerous their surrounding may be, but, they will be able to pursue their education.

After research on Internet services in Africa, I found out that only 40% of Africans have access to the Internet, and out of that, most of them are located in countries like South Africa, Morocco, Kenya and Morocco. This means that many people from the Central African Region, Saharan Region and Sub-Saharan Region have little to no access to the Internet. I think this problem can be solved through this solution.

This solution aims to use cheap CubeSats to provide internet, which has been done in other areas but not in Africa.