Renewable Energy for Powering Smart Phones

The Times of India today has an article that reports  that scientists have developed bio-batteries that use sugar to generate electricity enough to power cell phones for 10 days. These batteries are also lighter. In the Indian scenario this would be a boon. At present rural areas face heavy power cuts and people resort to unconventional means such using tractor batteries to charge cell phones.

The smart phone with its potential for job search, education, data, e-commerce  and e-government applications is the primary device though which the average Indian would access ICTs and ICT enabled services. Making it last is vital. Long lasting batteries are also vital from the disaster communications viewpoint.

Disruptive Technology and Public Funding of High Speed Broadband Networks

In my posts on the issue of National Broadband Plan and Broadband  Networks, I have consistently cautioned against creating publicly funded monopolies for OFC Networks and reminded readers about the regulatory issues involved in managing our legacy of wire line based incumbents. One of the reasons for avoiding the same is the nature of telecommunications where technology change is the rule.The advent of affordable  and competitively provided mobile services debunked the notion of telecoms as natural monopolies, yet we risk repeating this faulty argument when it comes to high speed broadband.

In India, the Public Sector Incumbents BSNL and MTNL have been supported with billions of rupees to survive in a competitive environment. However, not even their dominance in wire line telephony has helped them compete with a nimble private sector. On the other hand, regulatory protection of legacy public investment in their wire line networks has had a negative effect on competition in that segment in the country. The result is very poor broadband penetration.

Today's Times of India carries an article about a new laser developed by the California Institute of Technology that promises to greatly  outdo the speed of existing OFC cables (that are based on older S-DBF lasers). This sort of disruption should be expected in telecommunications. There could be many more such developments even before the roll out of nation-wide  OFC network projects which is underway in many counties (like India's NOFN by BBNL) is even completed. What then will be the fate of the sunk (public) investment in these (then) obsolete megalithic OFC networks?

This will inevitably throw up complex regulatory issues such as those described above, with less than optimal results. This brings me back to what I wrote in my posts titled  "Broadband Networks through Infrastructure Sharing" and National Broadband Networks: Regulation, Universal Service, Competition and Monopolies."

We may need to learn from the story about the "Tortoise and the Hare" that we may not win in the long run if in our haste to speed up high speed broadband deployment, we ride roughshod over hard learned lessons about competition and technological neutrality.

Worship Worthy Connectivity

Its been a while since I blogged.

 Finally found inspiration in a story about a man who was saved from a tigress attack by mobile connectivity. In rural Madhya Pradesh (a state of India), on the outskirts of a national park, two villagers clambered up a tree to escape a tigress. The humble cell phone was how they could be rescued. So now the cell phone in question is being worshiped by its owner as yet another avatar or proof of God's presence.

In another article the FCC's drive for universal broadband connectivity is being seen as a shot in the arm for public safety communications.in USA.

ICTs have all the answers.

Lesssons for US Regulation from Plight of Government Schools in Rural India

An article titled "Education Scam" in today's Financial Express speaks about the poor service delivery from government schools  wherein relatively well-paid government school teachers don't go to school to teach. Students of these schools have been found fare much worse in terms of educational performance compared to those attending private schools in rural India. The former  do much better when given tuition but that means parents having to spend themselves in spite of the state funding school infrastructure and regular teacher's salaries. It has been concluded that it would be much better to allow private schools to flourish and give poor parents cash to pay school fees. 

This reminds me of the billions of Rupees pumped by USOF/Government into rural land line infrastructure (incumbent owned) with abysmal results in terms of improvement in voice or data connections.

On this analogy would it not be better to address the Market Efficiency Gap in rural telecommunications through effective regulation and resultant competition and then to focus targeted subsidies only where markets fail either because there is no viability for suppliers or certain population segments cannot afford required services. 

 I would much prefer a situation where there are a multiplicity of suppliers for the public to choose from, even if in terms of various (less than state of the art) technology platforms, than one in which much money is spent on a supposedly ideal technology platform but with sub optimal  results.  This could well be  the fate of ambitious government sponsored roll outs of OFC networks which recreate monopolies and limit competition at huge costs.

Progress the E-way

A though provoking article "Solving Social issues through Technology" draws attention to the progress India has made in the realm of technology (reference the latest Mars mission) and the need to harness technology to bring education, facilities and opportunities to rural Indians and others who aspire to break out of poverty. It pins hope inter alia upon the NOFN.

Another article, "Technology rings in Financial Inclusion" highlights that in India, 65% of population has no access to banking but mobile phones  can change that. Innovative applications can enhance financial literacy and in fact, it has been proven by field research that even illiterate Indians take to financial inclusion apps and become adept at mobile banking.

All this has been said before (and posted about before in this blog). What we need most in my opinion is the Market Efficiency side of reforms to ensure that connectivity is widespread and universally available and that regulations encourage the use of ICTs including all aspects of the mobile/broadband ecosystem. This includes of course Universal Service Regulation.

Mobile Connections for the Poor-Is this the Right Way

I have written on more than one occasion on USOF India's Schemes aimed at providing subsidised devices and mobile connections to the rural poor. This scheme has finally been cleared by the Government for implementation. In general my posts have inter alia tended to caution against potential  implementation problems. These can be seen under the label USOF India.

A news item about  FCC's detection of rampant misuse of the United State's Universal Service Fund's Lifeline Programme in North Carolina should further caution us. Here people in the eligible category were found to be beating the call limit associated with this subsidised facility by taking multiple connections under the programme (from different telephone companies in the state). While in this case the fraud has been detected, there are calls to close this programme.

USOF's own experience with the (fixed line) individual rural household phone scheme has been that it posed a monitoring headache. Why compound the error with mobile connections?

US Regulation in a liberalized environment

An interesting article titled "As Regulatory Power Wanes, State Crafts New Telecom Plan" about the state of Vermont captures the problem of achieving Universal Service (US)  in an advanced, competitive and liberalized without making typical public investment mistakes and in my view underlines the importance of US Regulation.

The article points out that when much of what the telecommunications sector does is de-regulated the government has only investment as a tool to achieve the desired level of penetration. However, it cautions against the government getting involved in the following quote:

“The danger, of course, when government gets involved in these kinds of investment activities, is: Is government going to put money in the right places?”

My answer would be to better define government's role and methodology within the regulation of US so that public interventions don't end up doing more harm than good. 

Digital Literacy and the Huge untapped Demand for Internet in Rural India

An article in the Financial Express titled "Time to Push the Pedal" highlights yet again the huge potential of imparting digital training to rural Indians including grown ups and particularly women. 

My own experience with USOF India's project for ICT facilities and skills  for women is exactly as stated in this article. Parents/mothers in rural India and even ultra conservative states would like their daughters to educate themselves and seek employment as a means of financial independence. For that purpose alone they would happily embrace a tool like the internet which provides convenient access to information and knowledge on a vast range of topics from online courses, university admissions to entrance exams and job opportunities. Please see my post titled " Special Initiatives, ICTs for Women" under the label ICTs for Women. My articles on this scheme may also be seen at 

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2103235

and

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=230247

Needless to say along with supply side measures like broadband infrastructure, local language content and useful applications, efforts to precipitate demand as envisaged in India's National ICT policies are of critical importance. While doing so we must focus on adult education and ensure inclusion of women and the disabled.

Adopting Open Access Models

Today's newspaper carries a report about USOF India's project to provide mobile towers in naxalite affected areas. This project is being implemented by the incumbent PSU BSNL on nomination basis. The report states that BSNL is soon to finalise its tender for equipment which is being sourced from indigenous manufacturers.

I have written earlier on this topic in my post, "USOF India's Scheme for Mobile Towers in Disturbed Areas" under the label USOF India and mentioned that this project could have  been awarded based on  bidding basis as there is no information in the public domain that indicates that private operators were unwilling to compete for such a project.

In my view, competitive neutrality is possible even when security concerns are paramount and viability is non-existent in the short to medium run. 

Bidding could have been carried out for setting up and running of the sharable mobile towers at hundred percent government cost (as is being done in this case)  for a predeclared period covering at least the the life of the towers. Thus the company setting up the tower would be fully compensated for its costs and (possible) lack of tenants/customers. 

Additionally, the possibility of (other/multiple) service providers being willing to compete in the access segment could have been explored. The  underlying condition could have been the requirement for the infrastructure providing operator to provide non-discriminatory access to licensed mobile service providers. The latter would be enabled to  hoist their antenna on this tower free of cost and provide access to customers in this region. This would bring in competition both from economy in use of public funds (assuming that at present USOF would necessarily bear the cost of service provision by BSNL too) and from choice for customers.

Given that some of these areas may not attract service providers even with rent free passive infrastructure being in place, BSNL could have been asked by the government to be the provider of last resort on towers where no service provider came forth with due compensation.

Such a scheme would require more effort on the part of USOF in terms of design and implementation. It would however be worth the effort as it would lay the ground for access competition in in the medium to long run if not short run even in thsi disturbed region.

There is a need to learn from past experience regarding the easy option of monopoly service provision, especially when public funds are used.

Is this what NOFN was Meant to Do?

Another article appeared today in the Economic Times about NOFN/BBNL  plans to acquire an ISP license to provide e-services based on Wi-Fi in rural areas.

I had written earlier about the proposal to provide Wi-Fi for India's rural local Government offices and my worries on this count. 

Firstly focusing energies on the Village Panchayat Telephone or Government sponsored Common Service Centres(for internet) has not met with notable success in the past. What has succeeded  is the creation of a conducive environment for services and applications to flourish on a commercial basis.

 Thus, in the pre-mobile revolution era, India's subsidised Village Public Telephones which were supposed to be the village life line were often found to be lying in disrepair or being used as private phones of rural elite but once wireless appeared on the scene, commercially run public phones did roaring business.

Secondly, I fail to understand why the Government must select the technology and service provider to deliver e-Government services to citizens. If this was bid out with desired specifications, the lease cost solution could be selected. This would be conistent with the regulations laid down for Universal Service Funding in India

Thirdly, public money (USOF) is being used to fund NOFN/BBNL's OFC roll out which was meant for areas that markets would not serve. Thus, the network was to provide high capacity backhaul from villages to blocks on a non discriminatory basis. NOFN was never meant to be a service provider. If the argument is that its viability is uncertain, well, that is exactly why it is being fully subsidised. If  USOF was to float another tender for broadband access in non viable areas, then the selected access providers would need  back haul and BBNL would get its business and revenues. Ignoring competitive neutrality today means a heavy cost in terms of poor telecommunications in the future. We have already seen this pan out in the case of fixed lines and rural broadband in India.Should we be repeating the same mistakes?

Please also see my posts on NBN and lessons for NOFN.

Limiting Public Funding to Access Gaps

It is reported that the fact Sing Tel Optus has plans to roll out fibre to the  "basements of apartment buildings and shopping complexes [ and use] [t]he existing copper wiring within the buildings .. to deliver faster, NBN-like broadband speeds is being seen as a threat to NBN's viability. There are apparently other operators with similar plans too.

My question is why should the Government sponsor/fund NBN like roll outs in cities where markets may (and will) serve customers? Why should NBN's business model have factored in markets where competition cannot be ruled out?

It has been stated that,

Breaking NBN Co’s business model could force it to be reclassified from a profitable investment to a multibillion-dollar expense on the federal budget... NBN Co’s entire business model ran on the assumption of a flat national price for all customers. Labor’s NBN was designed to act as a cross-subsidy system where the higher revenues generated by city users paid for broadband in the bush.

This business model was discarded with the onset of  competition in  erstwhile monopolistic and fixed line based telecoms markets across the world. I have written earlier about the flawed and "Back to the Future" feel of ambitious National Broadband Plans based on incumbent centric National Broadband Networks.

Again there are lessons for India's NOFN which is basing its arguments of veering way from its original mandate of strictly (actual access) gap filling based on similar fallacious business viability models.

Competition & Consumer Welfare-Infrastructure Provision

I salute the contents of two interesting news items from the Business Standard dated December 7, 2013. The first is titled "Try and Introduce Competition". It suggests that the dismantling of the government monopoly in power supply in New Delhi and replacing it by three area wise private sector monopolies has not sufficiently addressed consumer welfare and that we also need competition in each sub market for lower tariffs and quality of service rather than expecting the present regulated prices to substitute competitive markets. 

The second is a report on an interview with the Civil Aviation Minister and its title says its all- "I am not Minister for Air India." The article tells us that the Minister when questioned about his promotion of private competition made it clear that his job is consumer welfare rather than protection of the public sector incumbent. 

It would be good if the telecom sector were to recover from their past follies and pick up a cue rather than blunder ahead in a manner that harms competition. This is especially so when it comes to public funding/Universal Service. 

Reassuringly Sensible Approach to Future Regulation

It was good to read a press release titled, "ECTA Regulatory Conference - Competition should remain at the heart of EU telecoms regulatory policy." I reproduce it (verbatim) below as it is in my view a very significant post.What is particularly important is to not let political compulsions or economic downturns allow a movement away from competition and towards monopoly as incumbents would like. This is especially important as the arguments against competition in the era of NGN sound very similar to those propagated by interested parties in the eral of fixed line services before mobile services proved them wrong. Telecoms are always going to be subject to disruptive technologies and to be lulled into thinking that competition can harm or than monopoly is inevitable or desirable in view of the pressing need for universal broadband or in view of declining profit margins would be shortsighted.

This argument applies equally well to developing countries. In India, a short phase of  cut throat competition in the mobile voice segment caused by faulty policies of the recent past (ending with cancellation of licenses) and a sudden resurgence of faith in public rather than private sector for rural roll outs (owing to a beleaguered bureaucracy facing the aftermath of a phase of crony capitalism)  is leading many to the wrong conclusions.

The post reads as follows:

"European policy makers, regulators, key players from the telecoms industry and other stakeholders meet for three days under the auspices of ECTA to discuss pressing issues for the telecoms sector, including the recent European Commission proposal on the telecoms single market.With high level speakers, including Vice-President Neelie Kroes, the ECTA Regulatory Conference will address a plethora of issues ranging from net neutrality, data protection and consumer protection to regulation, competition, market structure, investments, the review of relevant markets and spectrum harmonization.

The implementation of a genuine single market for telecoms ranks high on the EU agenda, as does the role that regulation should play going forward. This conference will promote an open debate on the challenges the sector is facing and provide the opportunity to discuss how regulation can continue ensuring that tangible benefits are delivered by the EU’s pro-competitive framework and maintained in an NGA setting.

Tom Ruhan, Chairman of ECTA said "This conference is a great opportunity to stop and think. Alarming misconceptions regarding the state and performance of the sector and the role of regulation could divert the EU from a competition and end-user friendly path. We must not forget that competition has proven to be the best driver for efficient investments and also acknowledge the key role played by competitors in driving innovation and affordable prices for users (consumers, businesses and public administrations) as well as network investments. The immense benefits associated with open and competitive telecoms markets must not be undone by attempts to push for premature de-regulation. The review of relevant markets is particularly important in this regard. Regulation should also not be used to give a hand to those dominant companies, which have failed to take the necessary business decisions to adapt to a data centric world and now want to reduce competition instead of correcting their mistakes. Using regulation to implement the wrong industrial policies is a no-go.”

Erzsebet Fitori, Director of ECTA said “Experience has shown that ‘two is not enough competition’ for European consumers. More than ever we need pro-competitive policies, which recognise that regulation of the fixed infrastructure remains an essential competition enabler in an NGA environment and that investments are fostered and not hindered by competition. We must ensure that regulation remains neutral to whoever invests.”

The pro-competitive principles enshrined in the EU Regulatory Framework, namely the need to promote market liberalization and ensure open access to infrastructure, have been regarded outside EU borders as “best-practice”.[1] Indeed access based regulation - namely to physical access products of dominant operators - has played a key role in ensuring that new entrants are able to enter the telecoms markets, climb the ladder of investment, start rolling out their own networks and take the driver’s seat when it comes to NGA broadband deployment.[2] The need to make available, across all EU Member States, fully equivalent and fit-for-purpose wholesale access products, at a fair price and tailored to the needs of business services, is all the more necessary in the transition to NGA.

The development of a true single market depends on the genuine barriers being tackled, not on meeting demands of dominant operators for intervention aimed at reducing competition. Premature de-regulation or the implementation of unfit regulation must therefore be outright prevented. The upcoming review of relevant markets will have a fundamental role to play in this regard."

Internet for Indian Villages-Where does the solution lie?

One possible answer is that we have to encourage community participation rather than purely top down supply side big schemes. We have had little success with the former as for example the Common Service Centre scheme of Department of IT. 

My previous post "Wi Fi Internet for Indian Village Local Government Offices-Going Around in Circles?" has already suggested that USOF's proposed project for wi-fi and internet at panchayat offices may not necessarily meet with success as far as bringing internet to ordinary rural folk goes. I believe we have to allow big schemes to include the end users and NGOs into the design is we are to succeed. 

A good example of such a project has been documented in an article titled "Let NGOs provide rural net services" It describes a success story wherein involving and training locals in villages to provide services where big operators are not interested with the help of NGOs has enabled even illiterate villagers to benefit from online content (such as audio-visual content).

Such schemes require far more effort and time as was the case of USOF's Sanchar Shakti. However they are worth it in terms of outcomes.

 Einstein had famously said insanity is repeating the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Time to change our approach? 

Wi Fi Internet for Indian Village Local Government Offices-Going Around in Circles?

A news item in the Times of India (November 30, 2013)  titled "Govt clears internet wi-fi plan for rural India" states that a proposal to provde wi-fi hotspots and internet connections to India's Gram Panchayats has recently been approved. Slated to cost Rs 37.5 billion and targeted to be completed by 2016, the project will be funded by Indian USOF and will ride on NOFN infrastructure, 

This may be an excellent idea with two caveats. 

One is that past experience has shown that telecom services in Panchayats tend to be used only by the rural elite and are unavailable to the common people. During USOF inspections I have seen private public calling offices doing roaring business whereas the USO funded village public telephone located in the village panchayat (local self government office) bang opposite, on the other side of the village mud track was being exclusively used by the local elite. Villagers were in fact unaware of this state funded facility. Thus, given the social and economic set up of Indian villages such facilities could encourage better data keeping and connectivity within the government set up but are likely to percolate to rural society at large. The village school may have been a better venue for such a facility if empowering the common people is the aim, but then more effort would be involved in managing, maintaining and manning the facility. I have written before about the need to look at various other facets of the demand side eco-system. You need applications and trainers/facilitators in rural India. This requires a multi-stakeholder approach to project design. A good and successful example is USOF's Sanchar Shakti.

My second concern is who is providing the last mile service. I hope it is not NOFN. The entry of NOFN into access segment would in my view negate the very idea of Universal Service as a modern mechanism in a liberalized sector as being different from state owned monopoly service provision. Please see my previous articles in this regard under the same labels.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

An article in the Economic Times today laments that poor rural teledensity is lie to hamper achievement of India's broadband target of 175 million subscribers by 2017. Teledensity in rural India is crawling and is at present 41.64% compared to urban teledensity of 146%.We still have only about 16 million broadband connections. The usual culprits have been blames-poor rural demand and higher costs of rural roll out including non availability of fibre. 

I have recently written about NOFN/BBNL and why it should focus on its core objective of providing           non-discriminatory OFC backhand rather than trying to become a vertically integrated service provider. We already have one such public sector operator in BSNL (which has continuously resisted sharing its fibre with other service providers in spite of regulatory recommendations).

The poor results of USOF's substantial funding to the incumbent BSNL for rural wire lines and broadband are evident. Perhaps there is a need to review the entire strategy of promoting rural telecommunications. Perhaps the solution lies in a more level playing field via regulation (fixing the market efficiency gap) and public funding that encourages private participation. Please also see my previous articles on competition.

Internet for Rural Livelihoods

I have written earlier about internet based applications and services and their positive impact by way of bridging infrastructural gaps. An interesting article in this regard tells us about Taking Indian handicrafts online.

As per the article Craftsvilla.com is an e-commerce site that tied up with an NGO to provide an interface to about 5000 artisans across India to sell their handicrafts online thereby expanding their market access. There are challenges in terms of commissions paid to various service intermediaries and continued dependence of craftsmen on wholesale dealers but the reach of the handicrafts themselves expands to a larger market. 

My grouse is that the website does not sell handicrafts as handicrafts but rather tries to entice buyers by using references to popular culture.  Other than that this is a welcome initiative. What India needs is lots more connectivity and e-literacy so craftsmen can deal directly with buyers through e-commerce portals much as we use e-bay like sites as individuals.

Mobiles for Medical Help in Rural Areas

In an article titled "Soon Medical Services through Phone"it is informed that

"Notwithstanding challenges like low bandwidth and internet penetration, health professionals feel that there is a huge market (900 million Indian cellphone owners) waiting to be tapped. A recent study conducted by Apollo Hospitals and Georgia State University , Atlanta, gives credence to this belief. The survey found that nearly 28% people in rural areas and 46% in urban areas owned smartphones. Conducted across a sample of 1,866 people spread in five states — Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu — it also found that one-third of those interviewed had not undergone a health check-up in five years with 55% saying they were open to accessing medical services through mobile phones."

Given the overall underdevelopment of rural areas, doctors are not easily available. Providing medical services through ICTs is the best bet in rural India. This underlines the importance of universal availability of high speed broadband.

Basic Broadband Now Universally Available Across Europe

As per an EC press release, Europe has achieved 100% coverage as far as basic broadband goes.

"Vice President of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, today welcomed the milestone achievement of one of the main goals of the Digital Agenda for Europe:

“My motto is Every European Digital – now every European genuinely has the opportunity. We have more to do to improve networks and equalise the opportunity, but the opportunity is there.”

"Thanks to the extra coverage provided by satellite broadband, we have achieved our 2013 target of broadband for all. That's a great result for European citizens.

How we got to 100 % coverage?
Fixed (ADSL, VDSL, cable, fibre, copper) 96.1%
Mobile (2G, 3G, 4G) 99.4%
Satellite 100%

By the end of 2012, 99.4% of EU household had access to basic fixed or mobile broadband coverage; including 96.1% of households in rural areas. But the final 0.6% (or roughly 3 million citizens) included many families and businesses in isolated or rural areas where fixed or mobile broadband rollout is more cumbersome and expensive."

Going further,

"The Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), has set a goal to make every European digital and ensure Europe's competitiveness in the 21st century. Essential to this goal is fast connectivity and the DAE broadband targets:

basic broadband for all by 2013;[achieved]
Next Generation Networks (NGN) (30 Mbps or more) for all by 2020;

50% of households having 100 Mbps subscriptions or higher"

 It is true that public funding has played a major role in these achievements but it is noteworthy that the same is subject to careful ex ante scrutiny to avoid market distortions that can harm the sector in the long run. I am of the opinion that India has a lot to learn from the EU's regulations in this regard.

Technology and Universal Service

I have two pieces of information to share. Both of them are related to technology and  telecom penetration.

The first is the welcome initiative on the part of the  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in exploring  the possibility of providing SMS-based mobile banking through a single application on all types of handsets.

It is reported that,

"A Technical Committee on Mobile Banking has been set up to "examine the options/alternatives including the feasibility of using encrypted SMS-based funds transfer using an application that can run on any type of handset for expansion of mobile banking in the country," the central bank said.The panel will conduct an in-depth study of the challenges faced by banks in taking mobile banking forward to the desired level. At the end of July, there were about 70 lakh users of mobile banking, which is currently offered by 78 banks.The panel will also examine "any other optimum solution" that would take mobile banking to every nook and corner of the country, in addition to drawing a road map for implementing the solutions or options recommended."

With mobile penetration outstripping land lines in India and smart phones becoming affordable, this measure could greatly address the yawning financial inclusion gap in the country. As an interesting aside, the promotion of mobile banking  is identified by the Economist as one possible way to reduce channelization of rural household savings into financially less productive assets such as cows, in India! The article is called Udder People's Money and makes for interesting reading. Please also see my previous post on mobile VAS.

The second is news about the use of  television and radio channels to transmit cellular signals when systems are pushed beyond capacity as during a disaster. "Mai Hassan, a PhD student has managed to [change] the shape of the wireless signal so she could transmit on channels that use radio or television frequencies. She then had to change the direction of transmission away from the original channel. Instead of using traditional antennas, which transmit signals in all directions , she used smart antennas in mobile phones. Smart antennas transmit signals in a single direction and can steer the beam to any direction. By manipulating the direction of the cellular signals, Hassan was able to transmit calls and texts to a receiver while avoiding any interference with the original radio and televisions signals."

Please see my previous posts on disaster communications. I am of the view that keeping the public (rather than only official first responders) connected is of critical importance during disasters.