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Good practice Imported

RedINC — Indigenous, Black & Campesino Community Cellular Network

Colombia · Buenos Aires (Cauca) · See the Colombia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 10% 96/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A community-owned GSM/4G cellular network built and operated by Indigenous, Afro-Colombian and campesino communities in Buenos Aires, Cauca, after they won a first-of-its-kind local spectrum agreement with Colombia's telecoms regulator.

20
Community leaders who approached Colnodo to start the project (September 2017)
nearly 50
Households connected via 4G
20 Mbps
Mobile broadband speed delivered
32,600 approx.
Population of Buenos Aires municipality, Cauca
RedINC — Indigenous, Black & Campesino Community Cellular Network

Details

Promoter
Colnodo
Period
2017–present
Keywords
community networks, telecommunications regulation, indigenous & Afro-descendant communities, connectivity

Context

In September 2017, around 20 community leaders from the rural districts of El Porvenir and El Ceral in Buenos Aires municipality, Cauca, Colombia (population approximately 32,600), approached the Colombian NGO Colnodo about the total absence of cellular coverage in their territory.

Activities

Working with Colnodo, Rhizomatica, the Internet Society and the Association for Progressive Communications, the communities installed trial GSM equipment using the open-source Osmocom "network-in-a-box" software in the 900MHz band, on spectrum approved on a pilot basis by Colombia's telecoms ministry (MinTIC) and National Spectrum Agency (ANE).

Results

Colombia's GISWatch country report records that, almost a year and a half into negotiations, regulatory delays meant the pilot had still not been fully implemented — a cautionary note on how long community-spectrum approval can take. The network eventually became operational as RedINC ("Red Indígena, Negra y Campesina"), now reported to serve nearly 50 households with 4G connectivity at 20 Mbps, plus a neighbouring school.

Conclusions

RedINC is one of a small number of community-run cellular networks anywhere to secure a direct spectrum-sharing agreement with a national regulator.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

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