Press Releases
U.S. Opens First of 25 ‘Last Mile’ Centers To Bring Internet to Rural Areas
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USAID Mission Director Rebecca Cohn cuts the ribbon |
MATALE, May 25, 2007: In a new private-public partnership, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) dedicated a cyber-center that links international and local businesses to bring modern information technology to some of the furthest reaches of Sri Lanka.
The cyber-center, known as Easy Seva, the first of 25 that will be launched over the next four months by the US-based Synergy Strategy Group (SSG) with support from USAID. Additional implementing partners include multi-national firms Qualcomm, Dialog Telekom and Microsoft, and local companies InfoShare, the National Development Bank, and Lanka Orix Leasing Company.
“Getting rural areas plugged into the internet and global commerce is enormously important for Sri Lanka,” said U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission James Moore at the center’s opening. “It represents instantaneous access to the world.”
USAID Mission Director Rebecca Cohn said the center represents a new innovative business model to promote rural wireless broadband access that demonstrates the ability of technology to empower individuals and strengthen communities. The centers will also provide rural residents a chance to acquire employment skills through online training, search for new jobs, and receive micro-loans and other banking services in addition to calling relatives overseas at low rates.
“Easy Seva, and is very much a private sector driven project,” Ms. Cohn said. “It’s the entrepreneurial drive that you and others have that will ensure that this center is successful in meeting global needs and demands. From our corporate partners, we’ve received financial support, technology, software, technical expertise and know-how.”
Steve Schmida, president of SSG, said the Last Mile Initiative represents a new approach to delivering development assistance by providing seed money for the private sector in a mutually beneficial profit-making venture. The Matale center is operated by Matale entrepreneur Chamel Berenger.
“This project is not about charity, it’s about value added service,” Schmida said. “We’re bringing the internet everywhere because it’s the ‘right’ thing to do, but we’re also presenting it as a business venture: there is a high demand for the services our partners are providing.”
Schmida said he was impressed how so many diverse companies came together to form a team, each providing the project expertise in their respective fields. “They didn’t just provide connectivity; they really went the extra mile. They shared the vision, they shared the values, and that’s made a huge difference,” he said, adding that he believes the Sri Lankan market could accommodate hundreds more such centers in Sri Lanka developed in the private sector using the model developed with USAID assistance.