Q&A GVF Photo courtesy of John Hawker, Sat-Ed. Satellite: wealth creators In December 2008, the Global VSAT Forum announced that they had launched a global satellite initiative with USAID entitled 'Digital Communities' that will eventually bring broadband connectivity to nonurban areas of the developing world. David Hartshorn, Secretary General of the Global VSAT Forum, explains how this potentially life-changing project came about and how it will work. The quest to connect the parts of the world that currently have little or no communications is something that has been a burning issue for quite some years now. Access to communications and also to the Internet is often taken for granted by developed countries and for the inhabitants of towns and cities that are well-served by terrestrial communications. Innovative programmes and attempts to help connect those who are simply cut off from terrestrial communications have been established all over the world as organisations in regions such as Africa, the Middle East and Asia strive to bridge the socalled 'Digital Divide' and to ensure that those who are without connectivity to basic services such as telephone and Internet, are given this gift. How are they achieving this? Through the use of satellite, that's how. The International Telecommunications Union is spearheading a global effort that is aiming to `Connect the Unconnected' by 2015. In doing so, the ITU has engaged governments, industry, development banks, financial institutions and civil society to help meet its goal. It's a very ambitious project but one that will change millions of communities and lives. Satellite is bound to play a key part. So how can satellites create wealth? There are many, many regions of the world where terrestrial communications simply do not exist, isolating communities from the outside world as we know it. They are miles away from towns and cities with poor infrastructure and not enough disposable income to get to the nearest city to do business or to access educational establishments. Often, when a young person does get 10 w w w.satellite-evolution.com | January/February 2009 hartshorn.p65 10 20/01/2009, 20:36