Remote Communities Services Telecentre Project.

Abstract

The delivery of teleservices to rural communities is challenged by the high cost of infrastructure and maintenance. This is compounded if land-based telecommunication links are absent or if bandwidth is limited, as is the case in many areas of the world. The concept of the Remote Communities Services Telecentre (RCST) is a shared-use facility that can be implemented in rural and remote communities to provide telelearning, telehealth, communications, and information access services. This can be through conventional telephony or cable or, as more likely in remote regions, through the use of a shared wireless facility using satellite. This model is being implemented as a wireless network in the Province of Newfoundland through collaboration between the Telemedicine and Educational Technology Resources Agency (TETRA) of Memorial University and a number of partners. Private sector partners in St John's include Collaborative Network Technologies Inc. (CNTI) and FutureWorks Inc. Partners in Ottawa include Telesat Canada, QTECH Hybrid Systems, and the Communications Research Centre. Funding support has been provided by the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Industry, Research and Education (CANARIE); Operation ONLINE of Newfoundland and Labrador; and the European Space Agency. The Newfoundland partners were part of the Team Canada exhibitors group at the G7 Information Minister's Summits in 1995 (Brussels) and 1996 (Johannesburg). The TETRA Centre at Memorial University has previously been involved with international telehealth and telelearning projects in Africa and the Caribbean. This presentation will discuss the RCST project as a model for widespread implementation in the belief that many rural communities world-wide which currently lack adequate wired telecommunications, will opt strategically for a wireless solution given technologic and economic realities. The concept of the Remote Communities Services Telecentre (RCST) is to provide a telecommunications resource facility in small remote communities that have limited communications infrastructure. Such communities are found throughout the world, in lesser-developed and developed countries. In Canada, these communities tend to be in the north. The Telemedicine and Educational Technology Resources Agency (TETRA) of Memorial University has considerable experience in the delivery of services in education and health to such northern Canadian communities.