Always

electricity, connectivity and digital services

Heikki Almay
heikki@karugrid.com

© 2022 Karugrid
 What to do without

electricity, connectivity and digital services?

© 2022 Karugrid
 1B people without access to electricity
Missing basics 3B people without Internet
are holding many
of us back Many more suffer from sporadic or poor
availability of power and connectivity.

The lack of basic prerequisites for modern

life holds back economic development.

Blocking point: business cases of the large

utilities and telcos

© 2022 Karugrid
 Modern life in a box

Digital
Services

Connecti-
vity

Zero-
Electricity
touch
© 2022 Karugrid
 Power outages – blocking
digitalization
Power outages in
firms in a typical month
(number)
in year 2020

830h: 2 hours 16 min every day Finland: 0.2

Zambia: 13.3
Africa Western and
Central: 12.8
http://data.un.org/

420h: 1 hour 9 min every day

© 2022 Karugrid
 Decoupling digital services
from the power grid

Off-grid/hybrid power solutions for infrastructure

Local services/content

Mobile (battery powered) devices

© 2022 Karugrid
 Community hosted systems
Self-contained infrastructure package
Platform for local software and content
Enough electricity to serve basic needs of the community
Simple enough for local people to operate

© 2022 Karugrid
 Private LTE + smart solar
Licensed spectrum

1-2 km cell radius, up to 500 simultaneous users

Mifi devices recommended for providing local Wifi Rough network coverage for a
refugee camp
Local messaging/ calls, web server

Need Internet connection: microwave + fiber, public

LTE, satellite…

Off-grid power for the system + for the community

© 2022 Karugrid
Social ISP
• Internet access using 3GPP ecosystem
• Involve communities
• Build coverage where needed
• Run software locally
• Works 24/7 on off-grid solar
• Provides electricity to the community
• Provides low-cost data service
• Profitable enough for growth and investors
 Boundary conditions for Social
Internet Service Providers
A Social ISP shall not distort the competition of existing
mobile operators but offer a complement for the low
ARPU market.

No telephone numbers, no voice calls / SMS. Roaming

restrictions.

Local low-cost frequency licenses: use or lose.

…or nation wide 20 or 40 MHz

© 2022 Karugrid
 Increasing availability of electricity,
connectivity and digital services is hard…
… but reduce dependencies by
• Off-grid or hybrid power systems for infra and access networks
• Local services that do not require constant Internet connectivity
• Distribution, enable social ISPs…

© 2022 Karugrid
 Heikki Almay heikki@karugrid.com
+358 40 5040763

© 2022 Karugrid