First Mile Overview
School children carrying flash cards and batteries to and from their local school can provide the "first mile" of Universal Communications connectivity between inaccessible households with no electricity or postal service and the rest of the world.
Introduction
For background see these 1998 FAO papers on The first mile of connectivity - especially the introduction, Why the first mile and not the last? by Paisley and Richardson.
This World Bank case study provides detailed information and analysis of a WiFi based approach from first firstmilesolutions.com.
A lot of the issues considered and approaches taken in this project are similar to those described above. In particular the viability and importance of "asynchronous" or "store and forward" communications like email and voicemail.
Key differences include:
1) Focus on a specific leading application - distance education for teachers.
2) Transport of physical media (flash cards and DVDs) without needing WiFi.
3) Actually aiming for the very last mile - on foot, by school children.
4) Integration with existing cell phone and VSAT systems.
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