Until recently, the village of Zardaly, in the Batken region of southwest Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous area on the border of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, was almost completely cut off from the rest of the world. There were no road connections and certainly no information highway. That all changed recently, however, when the Kyrgyz chapter of the Internet Society, an international organization aiming to bridge the digital divide, led a project to connect Zardaly to the internet. The project has inverted the arc of the typical development model, with the new technology subsequently sparking investment in more traditional infrastructure such as roads, energy production, and access to government services.
Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter
The idea of connecting Zardaly to the internet was prompted in large part by the Covid-19 pandemic, the co-founder of the Internet Society’s Kyrgyz chapter Talant Sultanov told The Times of Central Asia. “During the pandemic, we were working on a project to ensure continuing education for kids whose schools were forced to close. The government passed a law mandating the availability of online education for children in the country, but some schools lacked internet connectivity and kids were therefore effectively missing out on education. So, we decided to find the most difficult case in this regard and use it as an example proving that establishing an internet connection can be done anywhere,” Sultanov explained.
Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter
Zardaly’s remote location presented some steep challenges. The standard solution based on fiber-optic cables was not possible because of the mountainous terrain and extreme weather conditions, while the satellite technology for such a project was only just emerging when the project was originally conceived, and so was also not an option. Instead, Sultanov explained, the project team designed a solution around radio signals. “We basically found the closest internet location and installed radio transmitters,” he said. This kind of solution required direct lines of sight between the connection nodes, however, so hubs had to be built on mountaintops, further increasing the difficulty level.
Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter
Donkeys Carrying Solar Panels
The project’s designers also had to deal with the fact that there was no paved road leading to Zardaly, nor any electricity in the village. So, to get this modern technology up and running, the team turned to the traditional transport mode of donkeys to move the equipment needed to install the network of hubs and towers, which meant traveling along a treacherous unpaved path etched into the mountainside. “Our engineer suffered a broken arm from falling boulders, and another nearly fell off a cliff,” said Sultanov.
Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter
To overcome the lack of electricity, the team had to bring in solar panels and batteries to store the energy. Sophisticated gel batteries were initially used but later had to be swapped out for traditional car batteries, which locals were more familiar with and able to repair on their own.
An Opening to the World
“It was a very emotional moment once the internet connection was finally made,” said Sultanov. Locals were able to hold video calls with family across Kyrgyzstan, as well as abroad. It was also the first time that the world could look into the village live, remotely.
Perhaps the most transformative result of the internet’s arrival in Zardaly has been the development of other infrastructure for the village. “The connection has given a voice to the locals to connect with policy and decision-makers,” said Sultanov. The people have been able to show the real situation in the village to outsiders firsthand, garnering attention at the highest levels. The Kyrgyz president responded to Zardaly’s growing online profile by issuing a personal note on his social media promising more support for the area and followed that up with an in-person visit, something almost inconceivable before the arrival of the internet.
Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter
Today, construction of a paved road to the village is underway, and the use of technologies such as solar panels and micro-hydro stations for power generation is growing. A mobile operator has also connected the village to the cellular communications network. “Government ministers are visiting now, bringing development. Zardaly has gone from a place mentioned in the national conversation once a decade to a place that is popping up in that discussion every other week,” said Sultanov.
