The Role of Community Based Networks in the Development of Rural Broadband. The case of Djurslandsnet in Denmark and lessons for rural sub-Saharan Africa

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, Aalborg University, course: Paper presented at the CMI/GTUC ICT conference in Accra Ghana (2014), language: English, abstract: The Universal Access and Service of Broadband of different capacities is of interest to national Governments of sub-Saharan Africa. The problem is how to facilitate Broadband Infrastructure development in rural Areas of the region. This paper investigates the possibilities of facilitating this development using Community based networks. The DjurslandsNet Network in Denmark is used as an inspiration for the organization and financing of such networks from a bottom-up approach. The conclusion is that facilitating these networks is possible as the social structures already exist in Africa. This is a case study where the Actor Network Theory is used as the analytical tool.