WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Geeks Without Frontiers (GEEKS) announced the release of its Community Connect initiative, designed to drive and inspire a global policy effort to help close the digital divide, and to accelerate broadband connectivity to the estimated 4.2 billion people who do not have the benefit of internet access. Community Connect is code of best practices for Satellite Operators, Regulators and Service Providers & Integrators, drawn up in conjunction with thought leaders from the satellite and broadband communications industry, and designed to help promote the rapid and cost-effective deployment of satellite broadband.
GEEKS’ co-founder Michael Potter said: “The Community Connect vision is to enable 100% availability of broadband communications services everywhere, providing businesses, governments, hospitals, schools, NGO’s, individuals and others with access to broadband services, wherever they are located. This will help to bring the educational, healthcare, social, economic and e-government benefits to communities everywhere and facilitate and accelerate the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).”
GEEKS’s co-founder, John Morris said: “The Geeks initiative reflects the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development’s recommendations for counties to both ‘develop enhanced national broadband plans’ and to ‘update regulatory frameworks for broadband’ in recognition of the vital role of broadband in building and transforming economies and societies and achieving the SDGs. Community Connect will provide a powerful tool that can be harnessed by any country to help develop satellite broadband services as an important part of their national broadband strategy and policies. The initiative addresses the core challenges that need to be met in order to help facilitate the more rapid and cost-effective deployment of satellite broadband services.”
The Community Connect initiative would not have been possible without the knowledge, experience and commitment of the industry experts that helped to create the best practices code. The Community Connect working group, includes BLUETOWN, EchoStar Corporation, Eutelsat S.A., The Global VSAT Forum (GVF), ManSat LLC, SES S.A. and law firm Reed Smith LLP. The group compiled a review of the factors influencing the availability and cost of satellite broadband and compiled the “Best Practices for Satellite Operators, Regulators, and Terrestrial Service Providers” in order to help achieve ‘Connected Communities’. The report provides strategically important steps that governments, regulators, funders, the satellite industry and other service providers can take to help promote Connected Communities as part of an informed Information and Communications Technology policy. The Community Connect report is available here: http://geekswf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Community-Connect-Master-18-Oct-2017-Final.pdf.
About Geeks Without Frontiers
The GEEKS’ goal is to positively impact the lives of a billion people in the next ten years through the innovative use of technology, connectivity, and sustainable social enterprise models. GEEKS’ initiatives include: ‘DigOnce!’, ‘VillageConnect’ and ‘Community Connect’.
GEEKS was a Global Grand Challenge finalist in 2017 for its Community Connect initiative and also in 2016 for its ‘DigOnce!’ Model Law. DigOnce! is a global policy initiative designed to help close the digital divide by introducing a customizable legislative framework designed to increase the availability of broadband internet facilities by reducing the time, cost, and environmental impact of rolling out high-speed communications networks. Following the release of ‘DigOnce!’, GEEKS’ co‑founder Michael Potter (and fellow co-founder John Morris as alternate) was appointed to a sub-committee of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, which is focused on introducing model codes of practice designed to help close the digital divide in the U.S.A.
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