Even in the dry season it's a long 4 km up the red-dust road from Laos' only north-south highway to the village of Phon Kham. Judging from the gravel washouts across the road it's a river of water or red muck during the monsoon season. The village is isolated not only physically but in the information domain as well. With no telecommunications the farmers are unable to call around to find prices in nearby towns and thereby bargain with knowledge when dealing with buyers for their crops.
The villagers are unable to participate in the market economy as other than resources to be mined by middlemen. They know that if they had telephone connectivity they could nearly double their income. This is real economic development - powered from below, enabled by connectivity.
If the world is going to solve its problem of rural poverty, migration and the ensuing urban poverty it will have to provide all of the Phon Khams in the developing world with the means to enter the market economy as autonomous participants.
Lee Felsenstein
Of course, communication infrastructure is one of the first targets of any invading military force to control or destroy. Therefore, one may say, a nationwide cellular network would not survive the depredations of any military force.
Posted by: cheap cigarettes | November 10, 2010 at 06:41 AM