Research Article
Leveraging SMS Infrastructure for Internet Access in Developing Countries: Scenarios, Architecture and Research Directions
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-23828-4_2, author={Fatna Belqasmi and Carl Aniambossou and Roch Glitho}, title={Leveraging SMS Infrastructure for Internet Access in Developing Countries: Scenarios, Architecture and Research Directions}, proceedings={E-Infrastuctures and E-Services for Developing Countries. Second International ICST Conference, AFRICOM 2010, Cape Town, South Africa, November 25-26, 2010, Revised Selected Papers}, proceedings_a={AFRICOMM}, year={2012}, month={5}, keywords={SMS Internet access networking for developing countries e-services}, doi={10.1007/978-3-642-23828-4_2} }- Fatna Belqasmi
Carl Aniambossou
Roch Glitho
Year: 2012
Leveraging SMS Infrastructure for Internet Access in Developing Countries: Scenarios, Architecture and Research Directions
AFRICOMM
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-23828-4_2
Abstract
Short message service (SMS) is now pervasive in many developing countries, thanks to the large footprint of second generation cellular systems, especially GSM. However, in many of these countries, only a handful of privileged end-users have Internet access. This state of affairs is a major impediment to the wide deployment of e-services, since most e-services require Internet access, and so has created a strong motivation for leveraging SMS infrastructure to enable Internet access for e-services in developing countries. This paper introduces real life scenarios, proposes an architecture and discusses the related research issues. The scenarios show that near-real time and even delayed access may be sufficient for many e-services – an option that has been used as the premise upon which the architecture relies. The kiosks are its pillars. They mediate between the widely deployed SMS service and the scarcely available Internet access. Related research issues are identified and discussed. Related work is also summarized.