IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2015 - 25

Stage 1 (2011)

Health
Municipalities

Stage 2 (2014)

Local Businesses
(Tourism, etc)

Figure 8. Most local citizens of the villages that benefited
participated in different aspects of the implementation.

Social
Organizations
Community
Cabins
Expansion to
Nearby Sites

Stage 3 (2015)

Community
Added-Value
Provider
Service to
Households

Stage 4 (2016)

Community
Telecoms
Figure 7. Stages in the expansion of the services provided by

the network.

the period; initially it will derive from cooperative
membership fees, grants, and income from health and
education budgets destined to telecommunications.
The entrepreneur has ties with the local communities
or the area, thus increasing the probability that he will
stay in the area, rather than leave in search of better
prospects, once he is trained.
Technically, the network resembles a regional area network. For local and regional voice communications, which
accounts for over 50% of traffic, it keeps the traffic local
(i.e., maintains VoIP communications local without interconnecting to an external network). Otherwise, VoIP traffic
is routed through the Internet. The different points in the
MARCH 2015

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villages are served through low-cost mesh networks. Internet traffic is freely given to all members of the cooperative.
Important characteristics of the Peruvian Amazon initiative that are influencing the business plan are:
■ Towers for backhaul are situated on the premises
of health centers or on nearby land donated by the
local community.
■ Implementation funding was given as a grant or
donation; local and foreign volunteers helped
through implementation and socialization.
■ For over two years, the infrastructure has serviced
mostly health centers and the municipality; funding
for maintenance came from the Health Network.
■ Expertise in tower building and other areas are readily found in Yurimaguas; minimal technical expertise can be found in Balsapuerto and Varadero.
■ Balsapuerto is known to attract tourism, particularly
related to archaeology. Locals are in the process of
creating community tourism and ecotourism.
■ Balsapuerto has a high school and serves as the
host of the Balsapuerto Municipality, which until
recently was located in Yurimaguas.
■ The reality in Varadero is different. The village is
important because it is a strategic hub between
Yurimaguas and Balsapuerto, including other villages in the region.
■ Yurimaguas has seen a significant increase in economic activity. High-speed Internet connectivity is
available in the city.
■ San Juan is a strategic small village 27 km (16 miles)
from Yurimaguas that is accessible by car except at
times during rainy season.

Recommendations
In the light of the mixed (positive and negative) experience that we have had in the last five years, we furnish recommendations that underline important issues

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