SATELLITE DELIVERY OF ALL TYPES OF CONTENT TO ANYONE, EVERYWHERE
Leveraging satellites to deliver education, entertainment and information, and mission critical content to areas with limited or no internet access
Project Highlights
Project Title: Delivery of Content via Satellite to Sub-Saharan Africa region (www.learningspots.org)
Project Brief Description: Develop the commercial Business Plan, including functional Demo, that leads to the delivery of various types of audio, video and file (e.g. PDF) content assets through the satellite to individuals who reside in remote areas within the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
Start Date: February 2021
Completion Date: October 2021
Project Location: Sub-Saharan Africa
Website: www.learningspots.org
Consultant(s)/Member(s) Involved: Mario J Pino, Shane Robinett, John Larson, Ravi Ghaghada, Tariq Bhatty, Agha Altamash, Ramiro Ruiz, Richard Feliz
Consultant(s)/Member(s) Role(s) or Contribution(s): Ideation, Branding, Program Management, Technology Assessment & Selection, Platform Development and Integration with Third-Party Systems and Devices, Go-to-Market Team Inputs, Operating Company Organization Set-up and Business/Commercial Plan.
Partnership Collaboration(s) of Significance: Curriki (a leader in education technology to create interactive learning experiences that are created once, and published to various LMS platforms), Quadrille (an independent software company having leading technology for delivering content to edge devices no matter the network type (e.g. DTH, DTT, One-Way Cable, and IP Networks), and Noovo (a technology company having industrial grade edge media gateways, realizing the vision of one-to-many content access through a smart device and anywhere.
Business Impact(s)/Result(s)
New and innovative approach to
- reaching users with content no matter where they reside geographically, but within the service area of a satellite
- bridging the digital divide by making interactive online education available to everyone
- making various types of entertainment and information content (audio, video, and files (e.g. PDFs, eBooks) available to users
providing access to education, entertainment and information content in areas where no Internet access is available or affordable to the masses
bringing create once and publish everywhere capabilities to educators where not previously available
making both types of offerings incredibly affordable for all concerned
Business Scenario
Company having content desires to deliver content to all individuals throughout the country, using the individuals smart device and with no Internet connection required
This Sub-Saharan African country has over 14m households, of which less than 1.2m households have always on power and Internet connectivity.
Of the remaining 12.8m households, 60% are located in the most remote areas of the country, with 90% not having access to the Internet, or even able to afford it.
The project involves taking education content, with later ability to send all types of entertainment and information content, to the more than 3.7m children that are challenged to receive a quality education using the traditional Internet.
By utilizing the reach of the satellite, the combination of the Curriki platform, the Quadrille software, and Noovo industrial grade media gateways, for the first time, children will be able to utilize blended education. This includes accessing the online coursework by simply utilizing a tablet with a keyboard that connects to the media gateway (Noovo MAP-100) via Wi-Fi, WITHOUT the student requiring an Internet connection.
NOTE: EXAMPLE ABOVE IS USING A SATELLITE AS THE 'ONE-WAY NETWORK', BUT, THE 'NETWORK' COULD BE A DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL, TELECOM FIXED OR MOBILE, LAST MILE WIRELESS, ONE-WAY CABLE TV, AN IP NETWORK.
- Teachers create lessons once, using the CurrikiStudio platform
- Lessons are 'published' to the Quadrille QuadriFast and/or QuadriLive Servers located at the main distribution point of a network (e.g. DTH, DTT, One-Way Cable Headend, Telecom Main PoP, and/or IP Network-DataCenter)
- The Lessons are then delivered via Satellite (but could be a terrestrial HD, one cable, telecom fixed or mobile, or an IP network) to LearningSpots edge media gateways (Noovo MAP-200) where it’s stored for local access
- Lessons are accessed by students via a dedicated Wi-Fi that is created by the edge media gateway, or through a last mile network, through their smart devices such as phone, tablet, notebook or Chromebook
- Students interact with the lessons as if they are on the Internet, although they are not. This is done by using the application that has been downloaded onto their smart device
- Statistics, on what lessons the student has watched and their progress with their courses, is captured and delivered back to the CurrikiStudio platform, which includes the LMS that is integrated for the client (Moodle, Docebo, Canvas, Talent LMS, Google Classroom, etc.)
- An existing, local, low bandwidth internet connection of at least 128kbps is all that is needed to return the statistics from the students
Approach
From the creation of the business plan until the long-term strategic goal is delivered, a project like this can be divided into four (4) main phases:
1. Commercial Plan
2. Implementation of Platform and Service Offering
3. Launch of Service Offering
4. Long-Term Commercialization of Service Offering
The commercial business plan was comprised 2 content types: 1) education and 2) entertainment and information.
Education: As highlighted above, the Curriki platform is provided to educators who will create the content based on the countries chosen curriculum. Once the content is created, it is 'published' to the Noovo media gateways located throughout the country, that are connected to the satellite. The content is delivered reliably using the Quadrille software. Once the content is residing on the media gateways, those requiring access utilize an Android tablet with a keyboard and a standard Wi-Fi connection.
Business models to support this project range from:
- governments that have allocated funds to support the education of students in remote areas
- working with an NGO to provide microloans to parents of children that includes the tablet with keyboard and 1 full year of service
- obtaining funding from international monetary or united nation funds that are available to support education
- establishing a non-profit to seek 'sponsors' of children that are to be educated for their tablet and keyboard and one year of service
Entertainment and Information: Once the media gateways located throughout the country are provisioned to support education, delivering all types of entertainment and information content (video, audio, files (e.g. PDFs), can also be delivered via the same infrastructure. The difference being that instead of utilizing the Curriki Education app, the user utilizes an app that functions similar to a common streaming service app (e.g. NetFlix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc..). Additionally, the Entertainment and Information app works on both Android and iOS devices and through a standard Wi-Fi connection, all content available at the media gateway is accessible.
Finally, various payment methods can be integrated (credit card, prepaid card, digital wallet) and business models of the service can be applied (Free, Free with Ads, Day, Week, or Monthly Subscriptions, or Pay-Per-View).
In both cases above, the innovation of this project is that the individuals accessing the content do not require an Internet connection, yet their experience would be as if they were connected.
