The ‘Village Telco’ project is developing a low-cost, scalable, standards-based WiFi telephone company toolkit using open source software and open hardware.

What makes the Village Telco different from similar projects is its distinct focus on the creation of a sustainable business model for entrepreneurs to provide competitive voice services to businesses in areas where there is limited or no access. While the Village Telco concept was being developed, Dabba, a start-up company based in Johannesburg, was already offering low-cost voice services over WiFi networks using open source software in Orange Farm, a township south of Johannesburg.

A partnership developed between the Shuttleworth Foundation and Dabba, where the Foundation committed to help develop, document and popularise the technologies in use by Dabba in the form of the ‘Village Telco’. This gave the Foundation the opportunity to invest in open source communication tools that could immediately be practically applied by companies like Dabba, to make a difference in rural communities.