On November 8, “Bamboo Towers for Low Cost, Affordable Internet Connectivity to Remote Rural Areas” won first place in the “Technical Concept” category of IEEE Connecting the Unconnected challenge, 2021.
Dr. Sarbani Banerjee Belur, Siddhartha Ghosh, and Subhrajit Dutta (India), who proposed this thoughtful initiative, also received a grant of USD 5000 to proceed with the efforts.
Senior Research Scientist at Spoken Tutorial, Sarbani Banerjee Belur from The Indian Institute Of Technology, Bombay, shared their journey behind this innovative concept.
"It is an honor and very prestigious for us, especially at the beginning stage of the solution when we decided to set up the task. Besides, I have been doing the rural deployment in many rural villages for years now. Setting up a steel tower is very expensive. It takes up to 70% of the cost of rural network deployment.”
But why bamboo, why not any other material? Dr Bellur replied that bamboo is available abundantly and is available in all places close to the equator. “So, in every Continent, it is there. Bamboo is also used for structural purposes like making houses. Hence, it is thought of as an alternative.”
The innovator added that there is a lot of craftsmanship around bamboo in India, Indonesia, Thailand, etc. “So, because bamboos are available freely in the rural parts of India, it is easy for the people there to craft towers or manage them. The rural people are quick to grasp such things."
FPJ asked Doctor Belur about the sustainability of these bamboo towers and in which areas would be located. "We select bamboos that are sustainable, and in places where it's not available, we intend to plant bamboos in those areas. We want it to be a local resource within the rural community. Besides, it has experimented in various villages. Like in Kerala, the people have started using these bamboos for structural purposes. It does not grow in Kerala, but over time they have started to plant those. We also have our partners who are working on cultivating these bamboos in many areas. The bamboo tower's sustainability is good. The people in the villages can not only set up these towers but can climb, manage, operate and maintain them. These things are all being done by big tower companies like American Tower Company, India (ATC).”
The plans are to erect one plant in IIT Bombay Campus with bamboos available in Mumbai or Maharashtra. “Then, we will be replicating one tower in North East (Manipur) because it is a bamboo-prone place. We will set up small towers in the rural villages of Maharashtra. Internationally, these towers will be replicated in Indonesia and Thailand. They will work with their bamboos. Our focus is not just on Bamboos from India but making the best use of local resources for setting up the tower,” Dr Bellur informed.
