Scalable Digital Infrastructure:
Community Networks, Local Language AI, and Standards-Based Innovation - The Path to SDG Implementation
Date/Time:
05 May 2026, 08:00-10:00 EDT/12:00-14:00 UTC
Reliable digital infrastructure is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda, yet many communities remain underserved due to cost, limited capacity, and a lack of locally relevant services. This session will highlight practical, scalable pathways that combine community-led infrastructure, local-language AI, and standards-based innovation to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation.
Showcased initiatives included:
- Community Radio (CR)-Bolo, which integrates community radio, hybrid wireless networks, interactive voice response (IVR), and decentralized local-language AI for low-cost services;
- Interoperable and Secure Public Wi-Fi Architecture enabling affordable last-mile hotspots operated by village entrepreneurs;
- Frugal 5G, demonstrating how standards support low-cost, energy-efficient broadband for rural areas;
- Solar-powered receivers for rural communication.
These use cases will illustrate how governments, standards bodies, and community networks can reduce fragmentation, improve affordability and reliability, and promote inclusive innovation. Informed by deployments in rural India and aligned with SDGs 6, 7, 11, and 17, the session will explore replicable models for inclusive digital ecosystems.
Speakers
Karen McCabe
Senior Director, Technology Policy
IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA)
Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman Board
Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), Government of India
Dorothy Stanley
President
IEEE Standards Association
Fellow, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Past Chair of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group of the IEEE Computer Society
Dr. Ashutosh Dutta
Chief 5G Strategist
Applied Physics Lab Sabbatical Fellow
Johns Hopkins University, IEEE Fellow
Talant Sultanov
Chair and Co-Founder,
Internet Society Kyrgyz Chapter
Purva Rajkotia
Director, Connectivity and Telecom Practice
IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA)
Sandeep Agrawal
IEEE SA Rural Communication Industry Connections Program Chair
Team Leader, Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), Government of India
Agenda
1. Session Opening/Welcome
Karen McCabe
2. Keynote – Opening Remarks
Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay
3. IEEE SA Standards Enable Technical Innovation for the Benefit of Humanity
Dorothy Stanley
4. IEEE Connecting The Unconnected – Bridging the Digital Divide
Dr. Ashutosh Dutta
5. Reliable climate monitoring infrastructure: How can IoT/LoRaWAN and Edge AI help rural communities with climate resilience and disaster risk reduction?
Talant Sultanov
6. Trials and Deployment of Rural Connectivity Solutions
Purva Rajkotia
7. Dialogue/Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Karen McCabe
8. Closing Remarks
Sandeep Agrawal
Background Information
- White Paper – Localized Community Networks Co-Create the Internet and Preserve Cultural Ethics: A Case Study from India
- CR Bolo: An IVR enabled hybrid connectivity model for enabling rural entrepreneurship environment
- 6G Rural Connectivity and Intelligent Village
- Workstream: Rural Connectivity
- New Foundations of Trust in Digital Communication, Interactions, and Transactions
- Video Q&A: Connecting Rural India Through Technology Standards
- The Future of Connectivity: From Networks to Intelligent, Trusted Infrastructure