Title :
Insights into sustainable energy-capacity trends towards bridging the digital divide a perspective of the need for green broadband communications in Sub Saharan Africa
Author :
Hamdoun, Hassan ; Mangeni, S. ; Dwivedi, Y.K.
Author_Institution :
Coll. of Eng., Swansea Univ., Swansea, UK
Abstract :
This paper presents an analysis of energy-capacity trends of the broadband communications services in Sub Saharan Africa sampling Sudan case. The analysis utilizes the joule/bit metric to visualize the distribution of the broadband services availability across the country, hence the region. Consequently this provides an explanation for how the energy-capacity relationship can impact the Digital Divide. The socio economic aspects and policy impacts of this phenomenon are analyzed. We further present steps towards implementing greener solutions to the digital divide via the introduction of Hybrid Wireless-fiber Broadband access systems that combine Passive Optical Networks (PON) with Self-organizing wireless Networks based on Wimax and LTE systems.
Keywords :
Digital Divide; Long Term Evolution; WiMax; broadband networks; environmental factors; optical fibre networks; passive optical networks; radio access networks; socio-economic effects; sustainable development; telecommunication services; Digital Divide; LTE systems; PON; Sudan case; Wimax; broadband communications services; broadband services availability; energy-capacity relationship; green broadband communications; greener solutions; hybrid wireless-fiber broadband access systems; joule/bit metric; passive optical networks; policy impacts; self-organizing wireless networks; socio economic aspects; sub Saharan Africa; sustainable energy-capacity trends; Africa; Broadband communication; Digital divide; Energy consumption; Green products; Long Term Evolution; Mobile communication; Broadband Services Availability Map; Digital Divide; Energy; Energy-Capacity relationship; Green Broadband Access;
Conference_Titel :
Computing, Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ICCEEE), 2013 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Khartoum
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-6231-3
DOI :
10.1109/ICCEEE.2013.6633982