Evaluation of access technology to speed-up Internet penetration in remote areas, case study: Community access point in Regency of Garut, West Java, Indonesia

Rural and remote areas in developing countries represent a market with potential in growth of internet users. Yet, the access technology to rural areas remains a major problem. For this study, Regency of Garut in West Java, Indonesia was chosen to represent a high population density of rural areas for a techno-economic analysis on providing internet access to users with typical characteristics of those who will constitute the rural users. While previous study shows that internet penetration rates increases with GDP, telephone penetration, and PC penetration in developing regions, in this study penetration of internet is estimated to boost GDP and PC penetration of rural and remote areas, so as to solve the chicken-egg problem. Various fixed and mobile data technologies were evaluated and compared (DSL, VSAT, UMTS, and HSPA) in order to speed up internet penetration. The study produces technology and regulatory assessment to boost internet penetration rate to rural areas.