Interview: Carlos Rey-Moreno on connecting SA's rural poor

Thank you for listening to the TechCentral podcast. In this episode, Duncan McLeod talks to Carlos Rey-Moreno of the Association for Progressive Communications about the work he and his team have done to help deliver cheap telecommunications services to the rural people of Mankosi and surrounding areas in the Eastern Cape. Mankosi, located in a deep rural region between Coffee Bay and Port St Johns in the old Transkei, has 3 500 residents spread across 12 small villages. Rey-Moreno explains how the project got its start, how it works and why he believes the model could be replicated in rural communities across South Africa. Also in the podcast, he talks about the submission made by the company behind the Mankosi project, Zenzeleni Communications, to the department of telecoms & postal services on the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill. Rey-Moreno explains what he believes government could be doing to help communities help themselves to bring down the cost of voice and data services.