Empowering Rural Progress has provided first-time internet access to a Mixtec village in rural Oaxaca.
Empowering Rural Progress is aimed at addressing the lack of internet access in a rural village in the southern Mixtec region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Despite receiving one of 5,000 Altan Redes antennas from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's internet initiative, Santiago Yucuyachi has seen no benefit as the antenna continues to remain inactive years later.
The goal was to build point-to-point network infrastructure and create several WiFi Hotspots that would support the indigenous population, education, and healthcare. With support from The Orduna Family and a fellowship from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, I established seven access points across the village, providing coverage for nearly 220,000 square feet with 230 Mbps internet, serving 300+ active users.
Four VLANs were set up, the main one being InternetParaTodos ("Internet for All" in Spanish), a public voucher-based access WiFi network. Additionally, as part of our philanthropic goal, I set up a private network for the local municipal officials that can be accessed during business hours, a private network for the local health center and its staff, and a closed network for students which can be accessed for free.
Our community outreach included working with local stakeholders and municipal officials to install equipment inside public buildings (health center) and using municipal-owned machinery. Our project also offered several competitive paying jobs for the local community. Furthermore, I hosted a community panel alongside several stakeholders to address questions from the community, complete surveys, and to demonstrate how to utilize our network.
Future goals include expanding the reach of our network to cover a higher percentage of the population within their street and exploring advancements in networking technology that enhance existing infrastructure.
