Rural, Off-Grid, Hubs For Providing Power, Internet, Phone To Communities

FEB 08, 2015

I have this idea. We should design a concept for a hub where one can co-locate a bunch of services for rural inhabitants:

1. Phone towers
2. Internet stations (e.g. 4G devices)
3. Power-Banks where people can go and charge batteries

The hubs use a mix of solar and diesel power to keep running. This way, there is always a central spot within a certain kilometre radius where people can access the world. These hubs are built with a modular, extensible design where additional services can be added in future as needed. For now, people can deposit batteries for charging. In future, the same hubs can be used as electricity distribution hubs. The same hubs can be used as security outposts in case of regional problems. The idea is that a simple concept now can grow over time to provide full connectivity to all parts of the continent, while scaling for cheap.by Mark Essien