Solutions / Access & Edge
Community Communication Centre
Connect the unconnected, sustainably. Modular ICT hubs that bring mobile, broadband, IoT and entertainment services to communities fibre and grid power never reached.
The problem
Three billion people still lack meaningful connectivity.
Coverage maps show signal reaching most of the world’s population. What they do not show is affordability, device availability, or local power to charge them. A community communication centre bridges the gap between coverage-on-paper and access-in-practice.
Solar-powered sites
Solar PV with battery storage. No grid power required. Designed for 3+ days autonomy for the cloudy season.
Local Wi-Fi and IoT
Wi-Fi hotspot, device charging stations, IoT sensor hub for agriculture, water, weather. One site, many services.
Microtransaction billing
Pay-per-use pricing. Mobile money integration. Subscriptions where the market supports them; tokens where it does not.
Service mix
Each site supports a layered service portfolio.
A communication centre is not just a cell tower. It is a community asset, voice, data, financial services and entertainment, run from a single site.
Mobile voice and data
2G/3G/4G coverage from a single site. Local SIM distribution, top-ups, KYC where required.
Broadband Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi hotspot. Per-session vouchers, daily passes, monthly subscriptions. Captive portal for advertising.
Mobile money agent
Cash-in, cash-out, bill payment, transfers. Brings the unbanked into the digital economy.
Device charging and services
Phone charging ports, screen-and-repair kiosk, e-government services access, education content.
Sustainability
Revenue model, not charity.
Universal-service projects die when donor funding ends. The communication-centre model works because each site generates revenue from day one, voice, data, mobile money, paid services. Site economics determine which communities are viable.
What makes a site viable
Population within 5 km: 1,500+ for break-even, 3,000+ for attractive returns.
Backhaul availability: microwave to a fibre PoP, or LEO satellite where neither fibre nor microwave reaches.
Local partner: a local entrepreneur who runs the site, sells services and earns a commission. The site is theirs as much as ours.
Mobile money penetration: M-Pesa, Orange Money, MTN MoMo, these make microtransaction billing work.
Field note
Universal service funds across Africa and Latin America are increasingly underwriting the capital cost of rural communication centres. The model works because the operating revenue covers the operating cost. That is the bar, and most rural site designs do not clear it.
We design for the bar, not above it.
A community communication centre is a solar-powered hub that brings voice, internet and mobile money to rural and underserved areas where traditional infrastructure does not reach. Managed end to end — power, connectivity, local agent, billing — as a service, so the operator or NGO deploys impact without building operations.
What is inside a centre.
- Solar power + battery: sized for 3 days autonomy, no grid dependency
- Connectivity: FWA backhaul or satellite where cellular does not reach
- Local services: voice calling, internet access, mobile money agent, device charging
- Local operator: a trained community member who runs the centre and earns from it
The economic model.
The centre pays for itself through per-use revenue: calls, data, charging, agent commissions. The operator provides the platform; the community provides the demand; the local agent earns a livelihood. Connect this with FWA backhaul and mobile money monitoring for the full stack.
Next
Have a rural connectivity programme to deliver?
Tell us the population centres and the backhaul options. We will scope the sites, the service mix and the economics.