What folks can do when they put their minds to it

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"But, after raising half a million pounds from locals who bought shares on the promise of a fast connection, the project now needs to move to the next stage"

Arkholme had a population of 334 at the 2001 census.

Money talks.
 
Blue 1 said:
"But, after raising half a million pounds from locals who bought shares on the promise of a fast connection, the project now needs to move to the next stage"

Arkholme had a population of 334 at the 2001 census.

Money talks.
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Yeah, good luck raising that kind of cash in many rural areas.
 

Bruce Wayne said:
In 2011 microfinance lent nearly $7bn to some of the poorest rural areas in the world.

http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.53112/Symbiotics%202011.pdf

In many such communities, they've simply skipped a generation and gone straight to mobile internet.
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To be honest mate i'm not sure why you've linked me to that PDF, as i have absolutely no clue what it's talking about.

I think you'd struggle to find people in my rural area, which mainly comprises of farmers who are struggling to make a living as it is, that could find the time or money to lay down their own high speed broadband cables. It's a nice thing to read about but it's not really an option for the majority.
 
Brennan said:
To be honest mate i'm not sure why you've linked me to that PDF, as i have absolutely no clue what it's talking about.

I think you'd struggle to find people in my rural area, which mainly comprises of farmers who are struggling to make a living as it is, that could find the time or money to lay down their own high speed broadband cables. It's a nice thing to read about but it's not really an option for the majority.
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It's basically a state of the microfinance industry report. 'Twas just a reference for the $7bn figure I used.

You might find this an interesting read if you're into this kinda thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fortune-Bottom-Pyramid-Eradicating-Poverty/dp/8177587765

It's written by the sadly deceased CK Prahalad. The basic premise is that there's money to be made from the billion or so people who live in poverty (ie the bottom of the pyramid). It's not talking in an exploitative way, but more of a study of how creatively looking at a situation can give you new (and often simple) ways of both serving this huge market, and making money in the process.

The microfinance industry is an excellent example of just that.
 
Bruce Wayne said:
It's basically a state of the microfinance industry report. 'Twas just a reference for the $7bn figure I used.

You might find this an interesting read if you're into this kinda thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fortune-Bottom-Pyramid-Eradicating-Poverty/dp/8177587765

It's written by the sadly deceased CK Prahalad. The basic premise is that there's money to be made from the billion or so people who live in poverty (ie the bottom of the pyramid). It's not talking in an exploitative way, but more of a study of how creatively looking at a situation can give you new (and often simple) ways of both serving this huge market, and making money in the process.

The microfinance industry is an excellent example of just that.
Click to expand...

It's a fantastic book. Can be seen as an inspiration for people who didn't think before that they could improve their standard of living.

The book "banker to the poor" is another great example of micro-finance. The Grameen bank in Bangladesh.

Brennan said:
I think you'd struggle to find people in my rural area, which mainly comprises of farmers who are struggling to make a living as it is, that could find the time or money to lay down their own high speed broadband cables. It's a nice thing to read about but it's not really an option for the majority.
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I think this holds true probably due to "the majority" taking the same attitude that you have. As highlighted by the original post, it can work. It just requires the right mindset.
 
pbeyer said:
It's a fantastic book. Can be seen as an inspiration for people who didn't think before that they could improve their standard of living.

The book "banker to the poor" is another great example of micro-finance. The Grameen bank in Bangladesh.



I think this holds true probably due to "the majority" taking the same attitude that you have. As highlighted by the original post, it can work. It just requires the right mindset.
Click to expand...

You can have the mindset to save the world mate, but it won't happen without money.
 

Broadband is a decreasing cost industry = natural monopolies. The only way it's profitable to build out that type of network on a small scale privately is if 334 people are able to pay half a million for internet access.

If you want people who don't have that kind of income at their disposal to still be able to access the internet, you have to have government intervention.

Mind, I don't know much about broadband in the UK, but I have extensive experience with broadband networks in the US. I'm not defending the status quo, especially in the US where a handful of companies manage to dominate, but Bruce I think you know this is a corner case, and doesn't really demonstrate a scaleable model.

With regard to the money raised through microlending for rural areas: for those investments to be profitable and for the recipients of that investment to not default on their loans, they would still have to charge exorbitant rates of the rural folks, as they're not going to build out in areas where they won't recover their initial costs.
 
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Is this average or really slow?
 

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