VSAT Project in Yuri Village, Simbu Province

Written by;

Hombande Gladwin; John Jeremy; and Nahua Johnson   

Background of the Project

 Yuri Village is located approximately 120 kilometres, south of Kundiawa in the Simbu Province. The Very Small Aperture Terminal or VSAT for short is a two-way satellite ground station or a stabilized maritime VSAT antenna with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3 meters. In simple terms it is a satellite dish that will enable people from the remote places to send and retrieve information through technological devices such as mobile phone devices, radios and computers. Yuri village is so remote that the use of information and communications technology is non-existent.

 The evaluation report on VSAT in Yuri Village was basically compiled and documented with the aid of marking guide and the framework distributed in class and the information in this report was from a hand-out based on a case study for Yuri Village given by the Management Information Systems Course lecturer Mr Nogini Miopa. This report is basically in five parts which are; Definition and Background of the Project, Historical Background, Significance of The Project and Identification of Stake Holders, Effects/Issues/Problems Associated with the Project, Relevance to Government’s Development Strategies (Vision 2050) and finally Recommendations/Suggestions that may help the project to succeed in the future.

Historical Background

Yuri village is surrounded with pristine mountain environment, rain forest, cool climate, natural vegetation and clean mountain streams. The village is about 2hours drive by tough road conditions from the provincial headquarters, Kundiawa. The village has approximately a total population of 5000 people. Almost 80 per cent of the population is illiterate. Most of them are not fully aware of the development issues such as HIV/AIDS, politics, climate change, education, and many other issues that is affecting not only them but the country as a whole. Access to media such as newspaper, television, radio, video, telephone services is non-existent.

  Significance of the Project and Identification of the Stakeholders

The VSAT technology will help bridge the digital divide so that people can have access to proper and factual information that will help build their society. This is because many of the people have been either misinformed or have wrong public perceptions of issues such as HIV/AIDS epidemic which are often ridiculed with myths, innocence, suspicion, stigma and fear. Many of the HIV/AIDS deaths are believed by many people to be sorcery related. The project is there to help bridge the knowledge divide as well so it will give a proper insight to the people regarding such issues.
The project also aims to provide high speed internet access, telephone and radio access to the Yuri village that is often disadvantaged by geographical, physical and social barriers.
The Department of National Planning (DNP) in partnership with the Telekom PNG, Simbu Provincial Administration, South Simbu District Administration and Digine Local Level Government and Yuri Village community are the main shareholders undertaking the collaborative community VSAT project in the village. The project requires the installation of VSAT technology to facilitate access to telephone, mobile phone services, radio broadcasting services and internet services.

Problems associated with the Project

Since almost 80 per cent of the population is illiterate, the VSAT technology might not be fully utilized and may become obsolete over time. People must know how to use a certain infrastructure, for example the VSAT technology before it can be used. In the case of Yuri Village, the government and the stakeholders made the project become a reality however; many of the people do not know how to use the VSAT technology and very soon it may become obsolete and useless.
The VSAT technology may not transmit data and information due to the physical topography and the location of the village. As the village is so remote and is surrounded by rugged mountain terrains and the climate and weather is unpredictable, it may affect the transmission of the signals required to send and retrieve information.
There should be more funding coming from the stakeholders to carry out awareness on how to use the project and also to maintain and upgrade the VSAT technology. However, many a times most of the projects such as the Yuri VSAT project lies idle and eventually become of no use due to lack of funding.
There are some people who fears or dislikes the use of new technology such as the VSAT technology. It is common to many rural and remote places where new technologies are being introduced into. This might be a barrier to the use of VSAT in Yuri.

Relevance to the Government’s Development Strategies (Vision 2050)

According to the PNG Vision 2050 Handbook, under pillar 1 specifically 1.17.1 Human Development; Section 1.17.7.3 Infrastructure and Utilities, subsection 1.17.7.3.6 states that to increase communication access from 10 per cent to 100 per cent of the population.
Also under subsection 1.17.7.3.11 of infrastructure and utilities the government is to establish a communications satellite network for Papua New Guinea and Yuri VSAT project is that type of satellite networking project.
The VSAT project in Yuri is also significant to subsection 1.23 Infrastructure where it specifically states in subsection 1.23.1 is that the development of high quality infrastructure is critical to ensure that there is effective service delivery. The construction and maintenance of high quality communication networks such as Yuri VSAT Technology in Simbu province will create economic corridors and increase service delivery.

Recommendations

 In view of this we recommended that in order for the project to be more effective in the future, more stakeholders must be involved to support and maintain the project. Also if such project is to be carried out in other remote places, there should be some form of awareness or trainings conducted in the particular locality on how to use such new technologies and infrastructure. Initiate contact with the stakeholders and the government to take part in development of the VSAT technology, so that it become useful and people will understand and use the content of the service provided otherwise the services provided and the money used will not outweigh the benefits.