My name is Steve Song.  I am the Founder of Village Telco, a social enterprise that builds low-cost WiFi mesh VoIP technologies to deliver affordable voice and Internet in underserviced areas.  When I am not doing that I am a passionate advocate for cheaper, more pervasive access to communication infrastructure in Africa.

Prior to that I was lucky enough to have a fellowship for three years with the Shuttleworth Foundation to work on telecommunications and access issues in South Africa.  And before joining the Foundation, I spent 10 years at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa funding and engaging in research into Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) issues, mostly in Africa.

This blog covers a variety of issues that interest me from telecoms in Africa to Open approaches to just about everything, to understanding in general how our lives and livelihoods are being reshaped by telecommunications and the Internet.

If you’d like to get in touch with me, please indulge my SPAM paranoia and fill out the contact form.

-Steve

P.S. A long time ago, in 1994, I drove a motorcycle from Cape Town up to Cairo. That’s me on the right in the blog banner a few minutes after arriving at the pyramids.