Background

The SARI project, in association with N-Logue Pvt Ltd, has established 30 public access Internet kiosks  in  villages across Madurai, Tamil Nadu. This public-private programme also involves the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The technology provides high speed Internet wireless access to more than 1,000 systems within a radius of 25 km. The kiosks have been established by individuals who invested Rs 50,000 in computers and other accessories. Now these owners, who have installed the user-friendly Tamil software `Padhami', `Padhakkam' and `Minnal', make an average income of Rs 2,500 a month and their patronage is growing steadily. As of the time of the study, a large number of villagers in these 30 villages have e-mail identities, which they use, among other purposes, for seeking assistance from the Government under various schemes. The SARI project has evoked excellent response from the Government and the public.

Objectives and Goals

The goals of SARI are to demonstrate the impact of ICT on issues like health, learning, empowerment of the poor and economic development, in a sustainable manner. The project aims to provide access to computing and networking through community centres. This project was envisaged as an experiment to test and develop low-cost connectivity options. The major objectives are:

• To research and develop appropriate access devices for rural Internet and telephony.
• To research and source other supporting technologies such as alternate sources of power.
• To research and facilitate the development of applications that will be useful to the users of the service in these villages.
• To provide Internet and voice connectivity to rural India.

Planning

N- Logue Telecommunications (Pvt) Ltd has planned widespread use of CorDECT technology in rural areas. For this purpose they have developed partnerships with schools, colleges, hospital, and local administration to start 78 centres. The project is fully funded by N-Logue Telecommunication Pvt Ltd.

Services Provided

This project provides health services: the webhealth centre (a product of Tata Consultancy), and consulting with Arvind Eye Hospital. The kiosk operators take the patients’ photographs and send them to the hospital. Video-conferencing consultations are conducted with related universities and hospitals on veterinary, agricultural and educational problems. The kiosk also provides various certificates like birth, death, old age pension, and caste certificate as well as providing information on various governmental schemes. Entertainment and educational material is available online: astrology services, job services, travel and railway information, village information, Chirag radio (songs online).

The kiosks also facilitate the following services:

• Off-line applications
• E-mail
• Entertainment based on Internet
• Online knowledge delivery (agriculture/delivery)
• Online application for certificates
• Advertisements
• Insurance applications 
• Online medical check-up

Target Group and Intended Beneficiaries

The intended beneficiaries are the rural people residing in the remote villages of Madurai. N-Logue encourages a number of small entrepreneurs in all the small towns and villages where it sets up its operations, accelerating the spread of Internet awareness.

Institutional Arrangements

At the top level is N-Logue, which provides equipment, training and support and also takes care of regulatory and connectivity issues. To represent the second level, N-Logue identifies partners with a local entrepreneur (also called a Local Service Provider or LSP) in every area in which it wishes to operate. These LSPs find subscribers, provide services and collect payments. At the bottom level are the village kiosks, which provide services and information aimed at the rural market. With the help of N-Logue, the LSPs recruit the local entrepreneurs who set up the kiosks. Thus there are up to three business entities involved in the operation - N-Logue, the LSP and a kiosk operator. All three must work hand in hand for the operation to succeed. 

Technologies

Internet access and networking is achieved with technology invented by TeNET (a spin-off of IIT Madras) called WiLL. The server room has an interface unit with a capacity of 1,000 connections. There are two Pentium III servers with 20 GB hard disk (HDD), a UPS, generators and an operating maintenance console. Each kiosk has one Celeron PC (1.1 GHz), 20 GB HDD, 64 MB RAM, one dot matrix printer, one web-camera, one UPS and one wall set with antenna.

Primary Access Points

The primary access points are the Chirag kiosks located in the houses of the villagers.

Capacity Building

Basic training on computers, Internet and use of other services has been provided for two weeks. This training is provided in-house whereas monthly kiosk meetings give a refresher course to the mangers of the kiosk. Special training is also given to the operator in charge of technology on server management and refresher courses (held in Chennai). Local people with a minimum high school education and three to 12 months of computer education were selected as kiosk operators. They undergo eight days of formal training provided by the company. This is at present being imparted at Madurai Centre for Entrepreneurship Development.

The training covers:

• Basics of computers
• Use of Internet and other related services like e-mail, information searches, etc.
• Various applications developed specifically for this project like e-government services.
• General maintenance of various electronic gadgets installed at the information kiosk.
• Marketing of services offered by the information kiosk at the local level.

Constraints and Implementation Challenges

The introduction of new CorDECT technology in rural areas is an implementation challenge. The limited numbers of telephones in the rural areas are inadequate to fully utilize the capacity provided by the CorDECT technology. Building three towers and six repeaters along with kiosks maintaining line-of-sight access is not a small technological challenge.

Project Outcomes

This project has been successful in motivating the rural masses to use Chiraag services. The project has generated interest amongst the villagers on the Internet. The kiosks charge only Rs 25 for surfing. The project has generated earnings of Rs 2,500- 3,500 per month per kiosk. The project technology also provides simultaneous connection of voice and data transmission. Video-conferencing facilities available at the kiosk have been effectively used for tele-medicine purposes. The project has been widely replicated in many parts of India.

Key Lessons Learnt

CorDECT technology provides simultaneous voice and data transmission. This reduces the cost of telephony, Internet surfing, and video-conferencing in rural areas. The poor rural health infrastructure in India has created considerable scope for the use of tele-medicine, which can bridge the divide in the health infrastructure in India.

Sustainability

The project works on user charges. The technology is cost effective, but returns from investments still do not fully justify the existence of the project. The approach of using self-help groups in managing the kiosks is innovative but the kiosks are unable to provide adequate remuneration to all the members of the group.

Replication and Scaling Up

The project has been replicated in many locations in Tamil Nadu including Nellikupam, Madira, Tirpur, Bhawani, Melladudurai, Shivganga and Tiruvallen. At the time of the study,  6,000 kiosks in Gujarat and Maharashtra had been sanctioned to be opened using the same methodology of implementation. The project has also been also replicated in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Contact Information

SARI in Madurai, Tamil Nadu
The Telecommunications and Computer Networks Group
Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering
IIT-Madras, Chennai 600036, India
Tel/Fax:  +91 44 235 2120