# A Decision Framework for Choosing Telecommunication Technologies in Limited-Resource Settings
## 3 A Decision Framework  
### Adopting a Business Approach  
In the proposed framework the first step is adopting a business approach for the implementation case. For that, it is necessary to have a business model in mind. A business model is a sustainable way of doing business, where the sustainability is defined as a concept that allows an entity to survive over time and create a successful, even profitable, business in the long run [22]. A relatively new approach, called business canvas, recommends a template for developing new or documenting existing business model, and it is a visual chart with elements describing a value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances. The business canvas as formalized by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [23; 24] is a generally accepted methodology for developing start-ups [25] (see Figure 1). Generally, it is considered unverified until the value proposition can be supported by data from numerous interviews with customers. The verification is evidently time-dependent as are markets and partnerships. The business canvas then needs to be periodically or even continuously revisited. For the purpose of our analysis we will split the Business canvas into two important sections:  
1. Value proposition (needs of a community), customers (who all can use the service), revenue (who will pay for the service). 2. Key partners (carrier or no carrier) along with the key resources determine your cost structure. The first part of the Business canvas will not be part of the current study and we will assume that it is developed prior to addressing the second part, which will be the topic of this section. In the second part regarding key partners, the only partners discussed presently will be the telecommunications providers. There are many other possible partners, among them notably is the University partner, which we discuss briefly in the first case study. However, such partners are commonly non-profit organizations, and as such have different goals from the commercial carriers. Figure 1: Business canvas. As shown in Figure 2, for the choice of key partners, the situation decision makers are facing is if there is or not a local carrier. When there is a local carrier, it is difficult to compete with that local carrier without satisfying all national and international laws, regulations and standards. One possible situation that a carrier exists but it cannot provide enough bandwidth. Competing with the local carrier does not make business sense and if carrier can provide enough bandwidth the decision should be to purchase an access from that carrier. If the carrier cannot provide enough bandwidth it is possible to build a private network, following the path on the tree of no carrier. One example where there is a carrier, but no high-speed internet, comes from [PERSON] who has been working for a couple of decades on such efforts [26]. Some other efforts based on public-private partnerships (PPPs) for broadband are ongoing in Africa (Botswana, South Africa, and Malawi) [27]. However, in such cases, it is important not to compete with the carrier because that would reduce the price of service and shrink the revenue. There are places in the world where there are no carriers. When the population density of an area is low enough, carriers are not interested as they cannot recuperate investment costs. Such areas include Nepal, the Amazon (Peru, Brazil, parts of Ecuador), Indian reservations in the United States, Western New Guinea (within Indonesia), and numerous others. There are many such areas in Africa and some parts of Asia. As discussed in Section 2.2, there is a consensus that in general higher population density is linked to more developed infrastructure. However, that condition has been proven only in developed countries [10]. In this study, we will argue that it holds in the developing countries also and that population density drives most cellular services providers to offer more affordable and better service.