Project
A report on a partnership between Zain, Ericsson and Columbia University’s Earth Institute, announced in Nairobi in May 2008, to bring mobile and internet services to the Millennium Villages, starting with Dertu in Kenya, Ruhiira in Uganda and Molla in Tanzania. The partnership aims to reach up to 400,000 people across ten sub-Saharan countries. A temporary network already served about 5,000 people in Dertu, due to be replaced by a permanent Zain site partly powered by wind and solar energy, while in Uganda and Tanzania the GSM network was upgraded to EDGE and fixed-wireless terminals connected schools and health centres. Sony Ericsson supplied handsets to health workers.