[wsfii-discuss] I need information on ISM Bands

Sat Jul 29 18:13:05 UTC 2006

Mahabir:

Well, as one who has spent years extending the benefits of unlicensed
wireless, from Mongolia and Wales to Mt Everest and Rural Montana, I've been
down this road before. 

Mahabir does not have as much a  technical or regulatory problem, as a
Political Problem.

 Almost all '3d World' countries have it also. Nepal is not alone. The US
Congress has is having the same problem, believe it or not. For added to the
political problem of competing 'special interests'  very few people
including government decision makers - can grasp the technical reasons why
Unlicensed ISM band communications works, does not have to interfere with
any other radios, and that 

So I will be glad to help Mahabir, but my advice will be far more addressed
to the political hurdle, and some ways to deal with it, than technical or
jus regulatory. 

1.  Start by asking yourself who will be affected - harmed, IN THEIR OPINION
(whether true or not) - by making some spectrum unlicensed for use and
eliminating or reducing greatly the government 'taxation' on ISM band
radios. Let me list a few:
          a. The Nepalese Army and Security Services
            b. The Nepalese PTT - government owned telephone company
            c.  Maoists 
            d. Airlines, especially in-country local ones.
          e.  Commercial or Noncommercial services that already use whether
legally or not  USA ISM frequencies  902-928Mhz, 2.4-2.483 Ghz or 5.2-5.8Ghz
frequencies.
            f.  Cell phone companies and operators in Nepal. 
          g.  Companies - stores that sell radios using anything in those
bands now. 
            h. Local Nepalese radio broadcast and television operators
            i.  The Revenue offices of Nepal (those who have jobs collecting
taxes on radios)
            j   Whatever government agencies get the revenues from the tax
on radios.

Now as I said, many of the above would NOT be harmed in the least by
permitting the spectrum for Wi-Fi (2.4-2.483ghz) to be unlicensed. But that
that makes no political difference. If they THINK they will be affected
adversely you have a political problem.  

One ISM band which is ok in the US 902-928Mhz, is NOT ok in any country with
GSM cell phones. I would NOT include those bands in your request. In fact
your observation that if you can just get Wi-Fi bands authorized, you would
be happy is valid. I would zero in on that band ONLY, and forget the other
ones. If you get Nepalese government authorization for that band only, the
higher ISM bands, where Wi-Max is, for example will be easier to get, late.
In fact you should go after the 2.4-2.438 spectrum slice and NOT call it
just Wi-Fi, or get the words Wi-Fi into the changed regulations. Because
there are OTHER companies, world wide, like Alvarion, who sells good,
powerful, radios in that band but are Proprietary systems. Just ask for that
band.   

2. All national governments have SOME spectrum regulations. Often they are
borrowed from the regulations other countries have. And in some countries
there are NO laws or regulations covering some of those frequencies above,
especially the higher ones. That's good and that's bad. If it is not
regulated, your job is easy. If it is, you may get resistance from some of
the above. In MOST cases you need to get your arguments together why Wi-Fi
does NOT interfere at the power levels you use in RURAL Nepal. The Katmandu
and other dense urban areas may be another story. 

3. Find out WHO regulates the spectrum  for the Nepalese Government Find the
one low level bureaucrat (I'll bet there are very few) who (a) has the
authority and (b) understands radio technically. Wine and dine him, maybe
grease his palm. Or give, loan, him a Wi-Fi radio. But politically, make him
a Hero if you can. Get him willing to recommend it - as if it is HIS idea -
and he won't lose his job. Make him the Expert of Nepal in Wi-Fi spectrum.
.     

4. Now for the Political Benefits argument. 

a.	See if you can get at least one Parliament member and Minister as
your Champion. 
b.	Think through all the REAL benefits to Nepal, its ECONOMY, its
PEOPLE, its EDUCATION, its MEDICAL (services in remote areas) Benefits. And
get vivid examples and testaments from other countries and from inside Nepal
itself to use on decision makers AND with the Nepalese press, when they
start interviewing you - which they will. Have your sound bites ready, and
give them email and telephone contact information for those who can make the
same case from their countries. (I will be glad to talk to them - endlessly
about the benefits to Nepal, and use my work in Namche among the Sherpa's as
an example. If they call voice, I can, via Vonage or Skype, talk their ears
off if need be)
c.	In ALL the topics below,  think about what Nepal would Like to
happen. Its not enough to just say that Nepal will be technologically
backwards unless they do it (don't threaten). You need to think, for EACH
area, what will Wi-Fi unlicensed communications do POSITIVELY for Nepal.
Such as:
d.	ECONOMICALLY - a large part of the economy of Nepal is Tourism. Give
all the things that Wi-Fi can help bring more trekkers to the remote, but
attractive areas of Nepal OTHER than just the Solu Khumbu Mt Everest
Corridor. Predict that more and more Tourist/Trekkers will be carrying their
OWN Wi-Fi radios inside their laptops, or PDAs. And if they can 'connect up'
back home from their sometimes-many week treks, they will being money to
some of the poorest villages they pass through, or stay over - which you
Mahabir are trying to do in your remote valleys. And of course, as Tsering
Sherpa has been doing for years now, he provides a satellite 'connection' to
the rest of the world from Namche, and did so at Base Camp at Everest,  for
the climbers and trekkers, journalists, and medical people, and is able to
use Wi-Fi Radios to connect up  trekkers who can 'call home' - and pay for
the privilege. Don't overlook what it can do (and is doing now) for
business, government, in Kathmandu and other urban centers.  Get Dileep
Agrawl, owner of Worldlink to help make the case for you (but remember he is
using those radios right now for his customers in Kathmandu and has no
specific authority to do so I believe. So don't get him in trouble)
e.	BUSINESS - Tell them that in Bangladesh a small wireless enterprise
has been set up in the countryside. She and her computer is linked to the
Internet  several miles away to a city, wirelessly. She offers a service to
farmers, who come to her and she get answers for them about their crops from
far away experts. They don't use the Internet themselves. She does it for
them as an Information Service, charging them a very small fee. She has an
income, with just her computer and a wireless connection, the farmers get
agricultural answers, an Internet provider in the city gets some income, and
everybody wins.
f.	And if any very small, business has something to sell of value -
products, Nepalese arts or crafts, music, or carvings or religious images,
they can sell them over the Internet if they have a low cost connection to
the Internet, and be wirelessly connected where there are no wires. They can
set up web sites as 'Marketplaces' which can reach the world 
g.	EDUCATION - I don't have to lecture you on what you have done for
schools in your Himanchal area, but broaden the BENEFITS case for ALL
education in ALL Nepal. Making it possible for bright kids to learn about
the rest of the world and even take lessons from teachers and schools around
the world. And schools and universities in Nepal can become better connected
to the Internet inside the schools, between schools, and to the outside
world and its knowledge. (you will want to set up one of your 'conferences'
with Parliament and Ministers WITH a wireless connection to your computer.
Get Worldlink's assistance. And be able to SHOW them how you are connected
and let them ask you questions to ask Google and instantly get them answers.
(put the Nepalese character font on your Windows machine and access Nepalese
language sites - there are quite a few) 
h.	Education - Tell them, as one example, how, Tsering and I, helped by
Jim Forster of Cisco Corporation, set up a wireless link 5 miles from the
satellite base in Namche to Thame, and a Sherpa in Pittsburg, America,
Mingma Sherpa taught them ORAL English over the Internet by Internet voice
(VOIP) at a tiny cost. So kids in 10 years old in Thame, whose Nepalese
teachers did not know English were able to learn some English, AND
technology - (and the teachers were learning at the same time) all because
there was a 5 mile wireless connection from Namche to Thame. (now don't
forget that the Nepalese government, BECAUSE it owns the Telephone Company
(PTT) does not like VOIP. Because they think it takes revenue from them. BUT
you should argue that there is NO reason why the Nepal PTT cannot use
unlicensed wireless ITSELF, and offer voice telephone services where there
ARE no costly telephone lines!) 
i.	MEDICAL - tell your government that Unlicensed wireless links are
being used in Rural America to connect up small clinics, doctors, and
hospitals to the Internet. They can send X-Rays, and get vital medical
information  from the centers of medical knowledge and other doctors for
difficult cases. And the rural doctors and nurses can themselves continue
their medical education.
j.	PUBLIC SAFETY - Educate them on the ability of wireless connections,
even mobile, can help enormously Search and Rescue in the Himalaya
mountains. That, as you proved already you can go 60 km or more (line of
site, or with relays, solar powered) to summon help. If unlicensed wireless
was authorized, every mile of trek from Juri, Lukla, Namche, Tengboche, to
Gorek Shep and the Base Camp, could be reached and be connected BY TREKKERS
AND THEIR GUIDES themselves, where no voice cell phone towers will ever be.
And we are talking about 20-50,000 paying trekkers alone that go up the Solu
Khumbu every year, taking risks, and far from conventional communications. 
k.	Public Welfare - Many places in the world, from remote Alaska to
urban centers, governments can MONITOR, with wirelessly connected Sensors
and Data Collectors, weather, water, rain, snow, levels, detect avalanches.
Because of the wirelessly connected Data Loggers I helped the University of
Alaska set up, operating hundreds of miles out of Nome, Alaska, Eskimos can
watch the weather and plan their snowmobile trips carefully. The University
gets and can broadcast better data and forecasts than the US Weather
Service! 
l.	PEOPLE - with wireless connections, in cites and villages and even
remote homes, or one-person wirelessly services connected places where
people connect up Nepalese People can connect up to their relatives all over
the world - and there are MANY Nepalese who live outside of Nepal. Keeping
Connected to their families, and communities is very important to Nepalese
people, in my experience. Every village in Nepal could be connected at very
low cost (equipment and service). Just as every Sherpa in Namche is able to
use Tsering's Cybercafe the past 5 years.

These are just a few of the BENEFITS TO NEPAL that unlicensed, even just
Wi-Fi level, radios can bring.

You have not only to show them the benefits, but ALSO arm yourself  with
solid answers AND specific examples of what is NOT a problem - from getting
brain cancer from the radio emissions, interference with EXISTING radio
based services, (airlines, television, radio, cell phones, police, Army).
And make it easy for them to ask 'outside experts' in the same fields, why
and where unlicensed communications is NOT a problem for them.

Finally, you need to try and show, in Nepalese Rupee terms, how the spread
of wireless radios, if it is NOT taxed (either radios or spectrum) will
INCREASE REVENUE, not only to businesses, but ALSO to government itself from
the economic growth it can encourage. If Nepal gets a reputation for being
the most Wireless/Personal Computer mountain nation in the world (so you
have to keep the world media informed and make press releases on the entire
political campaign) I can assure you you will get more mountain climbing
trekker tourists than China-Tibet, Bhutan, or the Himalaya provinces of
India!

 This is just my first crack at it. Tsering Sherpa has invited me back to
Namche, to help cut the ribbon on his new Lodge funded by Yeti Airlines -
which wouldn't be there has not he been using, mastering, and imaginatively
deploying Wireless (linked to the base of his Satellite IP feed.). Since I
may be dropping in for a visit, I would be glad to sit down with you Mahabir
and some government officials and help convince them, and give them answers
to their (political) problems approving this. 

Dave Hughes
Old Colorado City (very wireless) Communications
dave at oldcolo.com
http://linkingeverest.com

Dave Hughes
dave at oldcolo.com

-----Original Message-----
From: wsfii-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org
[mailto:wsfii-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Mahabir Pun
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 5:03 AM
To: sylvia at colnodo.apc.org; Discuss list on the World Summit on Free
Information Infrastructure
Cc: wsfii-discuss at lists.okfn.org
Subject: [wsfii-discuss] I need information on ISM Bands

Hello All;

I am in Kathmandu now for more than a week. My mission is to make ISM band
license free in Nepal. I want to make at least Wi-fi technolgy license
free to import and use in Nepal.

Could you please let me know the names of the countries where they don't
require license to use ISM bands? It will be helpful if you tell me the
reasons as why some countries require to use it and why others don't? Any
information on this
area will be useful.

The reason is that the government of Nepal now requires license to import
Wi-fi radios and other radios using ISM bands. They also charge a license
fee of about US$85 per year per radio on the top of duties, and taxes.
Moreover, there are several places the importers need to bribe money to
the government officers. Therefore the ISM band radios cost more than five
times by the time it get to the customers.

So far I organized a seminar and gave presentation the a group of the
Members of Parliament. I invited the government minister, political
leaders, high level government officers in the seminar and presented about
Nepal Wireless Networking Project. We had a group discussion after that.

Then I gave one-hour long presentation to a group of 15 Members of
Parliament, who are the members of a committee called "Development
Committe". I told them about my network and asked them to bring new laws
for the advancement of Information Technology in Nepal. I clearly told
them that if they don't bring liberal ICT policies, they will be
responsible to take Nepal back to 20th century. Now I am talking to
several other peoples related to ICT area.

Any information provided by you will be helpful for me to lobbying.

Thanks.

Mahabir Pun

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Please visit our school and village at http://www.himanchal.org

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