Skip to Main Content
Submit your project or idea
Co-create with community
20 votes
In review by moderator
Refine your idea
Submit your final proposal
Jury review (pending)
In review by moderator
This idea has passed the community trust. You can continue to give feedback to this idea and share new insights with the idea owner.  Trust is build through mutual support, so do not hold yourself back in giving constructive feedback.
Thanks for your vote
This voting milestone has now ended, and the idea has progressed to a private milestone
Return to idea list
Thanks for approving the idea
This milestone has now ended, and the idea has progressed to a private milestone
Return to idea list

Catalyst Point Rural Solar Powered Wifi Internet Connectivity On-The-Go

CatalystPoint is a technology startup that provides affordable and reliable unlimited high-speed broadband internet service in Nigeria where a large part of the semi-urban and rural population is currently undeserved through solar powered outdoor network tower antennas hotspots stations.  We offer access to internet data plans via solar powered wifi hotspot stations and satellite dish which allow users to access the internet and connect as many device as possible on a pay per use business model with the option of exchanging their recyclable waste value for internet service payment.

Our aim is to provide a sustainable and affordable internet connectivity solution to the poor internet connectivity and coverage problems in Nigeria. We have currently pilot our services in Kano state where we have installed over 200 new public wifi hotspot point across high density middle/lower income communities with over 500 users at a N100 token per 250MB in Kano municipal that provides residences, businesses, popular public spaces and conferences with unlimited high-speed unlimited broadband internet access.

Presently, Nigeria has over 100 million mobile data users and 50 million broadband users which has surge due to the current virtual and remote work push as a result of the coronavirus pandemics imposed lockdown. Demand evidently exists in the market, as many factors have resulted in such a small penetration of broadband.  With big players such as MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile taking over 98% of the market share we will address this by lowering the cost of access. Our key differentiator would be the innovation in technology and green energy adoption to lower operational cost and enable us scale in with uninterrupted renewable power supply.

Define three specific objectives that you would like to achieve with your proposal.

Our set goals are:

1, To make internet broadband connectivity accessible, reliable and affordable.

2, To enable local host communities with uninterrupted and reliable internet for essential services such as telemedecine, remote works and virtual connectivity which will help them adopt to to the movement restriction  lockdown imposed by the government to reduce the spreed of the virus.

3, To connect undeserved rural population in lower income communities with high speed internet.   

What problems (particularly in value chain competitiveness and global disruption) are your community’s stakeholders facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

 

Nigeria has the highest number of internet users in Africa. However, internet infrastructure within urban and rural environments remains a challenge in the country and the continent. With over 50% of Nigerians lacking access to affordable and reliable internet broadband connectivity, CatalystPoint aims to provide fast and affordable internet to the undeserved population using solar powered wireless towers hot tackle the poor internet broadband connectivity in Nigeria. However, due to Covid-19 pandemics which forced physical business to close down that have push people to remote virtual work, internet is fast becoming one of the most essential and necessary services to adopt to the new normal but currently its expensive charges and poor connectivity throughout Nigeria have created a huge market gap for new players as current infrastructure is inadequate to cope with current stress levels.

What minimum viable solution(s) are you proposing to address the challenge(s) in your community?

We are proposing to address the challenges of internet broadband infrastructural deficit and lack of electricity to also power the network infrastructure for a viable and accessible internet connectivity.

Share your story (your narrative)

My name is Tijjani Ali Lawal, a telecommunication engineer who have passion for leveraging technology and digital innovation to solve social problems. I was grew up in Kano suburb city side which have always being a low mobile phone network site where we have to walk to the top of a mountain in my area to be able to make phone calls, so i always have that that quest inside of me on how to make mobile phone network and reliable for making calls and browsing the internet. So due to the low internet bandwidth coverage in my home i team up with my brother to co-found CatalystPoint which we design and develop an and in-house solar powered network tower with rauthers and repeater boosters to bring high speed internet broadband connectivity and steady mobile phone call network which we have piloted and make it cheap which allow users to pay for the services using the value of their recyclable waste in exchange.    

Please provide any additional relevant information that you would like to share.

CatalystPoint is a social enterprise which aims to deliver the necessary high speed internet services to undeserved and low network coverage areas targeting middle and low income earners.   

edited on Jul 31, 2020 by Tijjani Ali
Public (24)
You will need to login to post a comment
Sunday Bawa Aug 1, 2020

Solar, very good man.

Tijjani Ali Aug 1, 2020

Thanks

Sunday Bawa Aug 1, 2020

You're welcome.

EUNICE KAJALA Aug 1, 2020

Hi Tijjani,
Good idea.Does your underserved population need high speed internet? Most of the time, people in those areas, they need WHATSAPP, Facebook.

Tijjani Ali Aug 1, 2020

Yes with the lockdown imposed in Nigeria, as more physical processes are now moved to virtual space. There is actual needs to connect the undeserved population to affordable and reliable internet for telemedicine, virtual office meetings and also to connect school children.

Tijjani Ali Aug 2, 2020

I will amaze you to know even finding mobile phone networks in most rural or semi-urban areas is still very difficult as in most cases even 2G for making calls is either fluctuating or no available as people are forced to climb to mountains or tress o be able to make calls or browse the internet. We feel our idea of making mobile phone and data broadband connectivity network available and affordable will go a long way in easing the processes and making life more productive under the covid-19 movement restrictions.

(Account removed) Aug 1, 2020

WOW can't imagine the level of impact and from this initiative would bring to our rural communities,

Joseph Bozimo Aug 2, 2020

I commend on your efforts sir. It's nice to see young men who has taking the initiative innovative and add value to the Society.

Quickly let me drop some points that will help you identify your Strengh Weakness Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis.

1) what competitive advantage do you have over the key players in the industry what makes you uniqly qualify to propose such solution.

2) What is your innovation and how does it solve a development challenge due to disruptive techlogical innovation like 5G

3) What sustainable model do you have in place

4) Why does the innovation have the potential to be better than other ways of addressing the challenge (to lower costs and/or increase impact)?

5) What evidence supports this claim?

6) who are your key team members / partner organisations (if applicable)

Best regards sir

Onwuka Uchenna Aug 2, 2020

Nice idea
Keep it up.
However how do you generate an adequate solar power during the raining seasons?

Israel Abazie Aug 3, 2020

What are your pricing options and how will that be affordable to people living in underserved communities

DJ Koeman Aug 3, 2020

nice initiative! I hope the public hotspots will generate enough revenue. from experience, it will not be easy. happy to have an offline chat about it. good luck with this, we need more innovative last mile solutions

DJ Koeman Aug 14, 2020

Hi Tijani, hope you are well. As this part of the challenge is about co-creation, can I suggest we get in touch and see how you can benefit from our experience in this field. Who is your wholesale ISP? How many PoPs, What tech will you use for P2P (5GHz?)? Which vendor (UBNT, Mikrotik, Cambium, Mimosa)? Have you thought about fixed wireless access to the home (steady revenue stream)? In the meantime, have a look at our idea and if you like it, vote for it: https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3496670

James Kiruri Aug 3, 2020

Hello Ali, well done on your idea. Kindly co-create with DJ Koeman of Poa Internet in Kenya who is this community and you can share ideas. All the very best!

Achia Khaleda Aug 5, 2020

Hello dear, I always love the solar system because I feel its neutral. Recently I have research on IOT and get some interesting idea, if you wants you can implement it on your project,
Solar IoT Projects
Solar Tracker with Live Data Feed – Windows IoT: This project is a solar tracker with live data feed which is powered by windows IOT running on raspberry pi-2.
Solar Panel Dual Management System: This project proposes an IoT based solar panel management system. Mainly the dust accumulation on the solar panel will reduce its efficiency, theft of solar panels is also increasing these days. These two aspects were considered in this project.

Agnes Brenda Tugume Aug 8, 2020

Good idea,what do you mean underserved population? Could you elaborate futher!

SSEMPALA EDWARD Aug 9, 2020

Good work Tijjani, With lowering the costs in order to gain market share wont this in the long run comprise on the quality of your service?

Nabuyuni Sankan Aug 9, 2020

Hello Tijjani Ali

Amazing thought and initiative.Kindly share how your idea adopts to the fast changing technology and implementations.Also is the router water resistant and lighting adoptive incase of bad weather how will users access wifi during such time?

Good luck,
Best Regards.

DJ Koeman Aug 12, 2020

nice one! who do you source your internet from? what do you use for middle mile to bridge between where you pick up the internet and where you deliver? is public wifi your only customer delivery model?

Jude Okoye Aug 12, 2020

How is your internet metered for the end-users.
How do you source the internet you deliver to your endusers?

Muyunda Kaonga Aug 14, 2020

Hi Tijjani, this deserves so much credit. Brilliant imitative to help bring internet to the rural population. This is something that as Africa we are still trying solve and find lasting solutions for the challenges of digital inclusion in rural areas. Are you able to share some statistics of how many people you have impacted so far and also share your value preposition. All the best

Augustus Nwangwu Aug 15, 2020

Your idea is very good and will benefit a lot of people, especially if the services is free or at least barely no cost

Kazi Jawoad Hossain Aug 17, 2020

Do you build the networking parts yourself or import it from China or elsewhere? How can you compete with other big internet providers in your country? Can rural people afford the cost of subscription?

Ivana Kostic Aug 17, 2020

Great idea, 100% needed! What are the target markets after Nigeria? Do you envision other countries outside of Africa? What is the funding source, are you looking for investors? In other words, what do you need to reach the next step / s? Many thanks, Ivana

Calister Simba Aug 18, 2020

The use of solar to provide internet connectivity in rural areas!! That's a good initiative, something we all need in Africa.

Your idea has a potential, keep going!! Rooting on your project!!

Users tagged:

Samuel Mugabi Aug 23, 2020

What would you define as objectives to articulate the best business model for this? How long do you hope to break even?

Alex Carle Aug 26, 2020

Like the others i like you initiative. WOuld be interesting to look at maintenance and up keep as well. How will this be provided. Are part readily available etc. Best of luck

Jaymer Jayoma Aug 27, 2020

Dear Tijjani, this is the way to go for eliminating the digital divide. Good Job
Thanks
PS: Please like or give advice to my project https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3484280

Olajide Ogunmoroti Aug 29, 2020

Dear Tijjani,
This is good concept.
PS: Please like or give advice to my project https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3488310

Hassan Rabiu Aug 31, 2020

You need to quickly integrate it with IOT system so you can track and automatically connect devices within range