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August 09, 2004
High Speed Internet Access to the Urban Poor - An Entrepreneurial Solution
Via the Washington Post and reviewed at MSNBC.com: Bridging the digital divide , high speed Internet access is a reality for the urban poor in Philadelphia. Chalk this one up to entrepreneurial spirit attacks the socio-economic Internet access challenges of the urban poor.
"The real issue was trying to get access in the home where it's convenient," said Rey Ramsey, chief executive of the nonprofit One Economy Corp., which pioneered the approach being used in Philadelphia and several other cities. By the end of this year, One Economy estimates that 5,000 households will be connected, and the group is negotiating with Verizon Corp. (Verizon Avenue) for a major expansion of the project.
Families pay approximately $12 per month for high speed connections via a small window mounted antenna. For the service provider, this is an untapped niche, and having many people connected at lower costs provides a revenue stream that requires less infrastructure investment per customer than hard-wired connections. Donated, self-built, and/or inexpensive computers provide the actual connection. Web sites such as the The Bee Hive provide all sorts of jump-start information for parents and students.
In previous posts, I have talked about three key factors in gap-bridging strategies for education. The strategy that Ramsey applied in Philadelphia shows signs that all three are present: Low cost connectivity can provide the level of access needed, social workers who are adding Internet training to their skill sets can provide training, and specialized web sites such as The Bee Hive can provide a curriculum-type focus on priority needs of the community.
Posted by Paul Chenoweth at August 9, 2004 05:18 AM
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» Private Sector Addresses Internet Access for the Poor from The Entrepreneurial Mind
Some politicians have touted government supplying access to the Internet to the poor in this country to level the economic playing field a bit. Maybe well intentioned, but most likely doomed to mediocre results and high costs for tax payers,... [Read More]
Tracked on August 10, 2004 05:44 AM