Dr Onno Purbo, Indonesia's most prominent information technology advocate, just proposed another "crazy" idea: Do-it-yourself GSM base station! According to him, we could create our own GSM base station and provide free telephone calls for the people. "All we need is an open source technology and VoIP network," he said.

OpenBTS is allowing standard GSM-compatible mobile phones to make telephone calls without using existing telecommunications providers' networks. To develop this technology, "we should invest US$2,500-3,000 for each base station. Not that cheap, but of course, it's cheaper than commercial GSM base stations offered by Nokia, Siemens and the likes.

"Isn't this a good idea to provide free telecommunications for rural areas?" asked Dr Purbo who added that this approach is also in line with Universal Service Obligation (USO) proposed by the Government to provide telecommunications solutions for rural and remote areas.


Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus shares a light moment with Dr Onno W. Purbo at Harvard University [photo source].

 

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