Back and Forth with O3b Networks CEO Steve Collar
by Lou Zacharilla
In their new book, The New Digital Age, Google’s Eric Schmidt and Jarren Cohen note that 5 billion people will soon be connected to the Internet – and that it will change everything. Cohen, who leads the Google Ideas venture, says that the consequences include the “balkanization” of the Internet, with an attempt by national governments to exercise control over it. Governments will be caught off-guard as large numbers of citizens, armed with virtually nothing but cell phones, take part in “mini-rebellions that challenge their authority.” It is an interesting concept, which ultimately confirms a conclusion I made long ago: that the anticipation of being connected drives a host of aspirational notions and investments, as people realize that the economic and political playing field will become much smoother. This also means that the “local” – the village and the town – will become far more relevant again, while national governments, if not hip to the new reality, will become increasingly ineffective and mistrusted.
Alongside this trend is another that has already begun to worry highly-populated, authoritarian nations like China, Iran and North Korea: by the year 2030, nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in dense, largely under-resourced cities. As a result of this planning agencies seek to find ways to incentivize people to stay where they are and to not become part of these bulging cities, while trying to control them for economic and political purposes.
When it comes to connecting people in remote areas and giving them opportunities via connections to the global economy, nothing is more relevant than a satellite. Satellites, as we all know, cover vast distances and provide connectivity to “telecom islands.” You would think that satellite services would not only be welcomed, but that NGOs, national governments and other leadership institutions would rush to learn more and to install this infrastructure, as Australia has, at any cost.
Have faith.
With this as the backdrop, I had a conversation with Steve Collar, CEO of O3b. His venture is designed to empower large numbers of people where they live, whether “home” is a remote Pacific Basin community or one in the hills of Pakistan or Africa. We discussed the vision of a profoundly interconnected world.
Lou Anthony Zacharilla (LAZ): Steve, I noticed that O3b was very visible at the PTC (Pacific Telecommunications conference) this past year. You were one of the major sponsors. What is your strategy for the Pac Rim?
Collar: The Pacific is a vast region and an example of societies of where “Have’s” and “Have Not’s” are in striking contrast and apparent. While a number of Pacific Islands are well served by diverse fiber, others either have no fiber connectivity or a single, old and unreliable solution. Laying new fiber over the distances required in the Pacific is not commercially viable. So O3b is there to provide up to 1 Gbps for a fraction of the cost.
LAZ: What has been the response?
Collar: We have become very interesting to governments, telcos and ISPs in the region.
LAZ: You would think that “interesting” would be transformed very quickly into service, since as Eric Schmidt and others say, the Internet is going to level the playing field, and could make governments heroes.
Collar: We say it simply. Our tag line is “We bring the Internet close to you.”
LAZ: Which is simple, clear and direct. I guess the big question is, “What problem is O3b trying to solve by bringing the Internet closer to people?”
Collar: That’s an easy one. “The Internet has become the world’s information exchange, and we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to participate.” Period. Our founder Greg Wyler said that back in 2008, and it is truer today than ever. The Internet has become the conduit for the world’s marketplace, enables new forms of education and boosts access to health care. It moves through mobile devices and is part of everyday life. You also have been very articulate in promoting this idea.
LAZ: I like to say that it is the new railroad. You cannot do business without it. The new, weightless cargo is the wealth of ideas and applications being carried along on it. But it needs high-speed rail,right?
Collar: Sure. Yet more than 3 billion of the world’s 7 billion people don’t have access to this fantastic resource. We plan to help fix that.
LAZ: I get that. I like the whole concept of what O3b can do for the satellite industry. Do you ever get impatient with the industry? I want us to take on big challenges, like you guys are doing. It can change lives. In April my foundation, the Intelligent Community Forum, which has been supported by ViaSat, Globecomm and others launched the rural imperative project. www.ruralimperative.com The goal is to find ways to encourage people to either move out of cities, when possible, or to remain in non-urban areas because Internet access is available. Once digital literacy arrives the idea of distance is changed. I am glad the industry is part of this dialogue. Do you think that this is a goal worth pursuing at the carrier and government level?
Collar: I do. I was speaking to the CEO of Telecom Cook Islands, Jules Maher recently. He stressed your point. Without high quality and reliable Internet connectivity, the youth of the Cook Islands will be forced to move, not only to the big city, but to another island – most likely New Zealand, where they have already been going – to find opportunity.
LAZ: That’s the problem. Brain drain translates into economic stagnation and also turns governments into social services agencies, tasked with trying to build social safety nets rather than robust entrepreneurial, educational cultures.
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Lou Zacharilla is the Director of Development of the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). He can be reached at: LZacharilla@sspi.org
