Rural Connectivity Options for Microfinance Institutions

    David Bridge and Ignacio Mas

The objective of this paper is to inform chief information officers or senior information technology managers at rural microfinance institutions (MFIs) about the technology options that may be available to them so that they can assess and engage with potential connectivity solution suppliers. This paper also reviews possible limitations of connectivity solutions as they relate to an MFI’s requirements, so that MFI managers can ask the appropriate questions when engaging a connectivity solution supplier.

This paper focuses on commercially deployed access bearer technologies that can be used to connect an MFI device or application to its intended use. This connection is generally referred to as the “last mile” and is primarily the link between the remote site or device and the core network, which may be a local telephone exchange or a service provider point of presence.
We first review the main reasons why MFIs may require connectivity in rural areas. The various uses or applications have different technical requirements, and the various technologies have different characteristics. To help assess the “fit” of technologies to the uses, we describe a reduced set of key attributes that can be used as a basis for comparison. We then profile the various connectivity technologies that might be used, with reference to the defined attributes. In the final section, we summarize the performance of the various technologies against the likely applications MFIs may use in rural environments.

Read entire publication