What sets NTCA members apart is their commitment to service and to their communities. Mirroring its NTCA member customers, several of Vantage Point’s staff have undertaken Herculean efforts to bring connectivity to an area where reliable electricity is still a luxury.  A few of those staff members were at NTCA’s 2023 RTIME and provide an overview of their takeaways and learnings from their many trips to rural Uganda.

Vantage Point CEO, Larry Thompson, explains that the AsOne Ministries is the focal point of their work. Thompson, who is also the Treasurer of the U.S. Board of Directors for AsOne Ministries, is intimately involved with this organization which has a counterpart Ugandan Board of Directors.  As Thompson points out, most of the management and staff are Ugandans that run the day-to-day operations.

In their travels to Uganda, Thompson and team have used their expertise in building networks to connect the AsOne headquarters and a high school to the Internet. It goes beyond connectivity, however, as Thompson describes how they set up servers so that content is available at the school even when they lose connection to the Internet. Their efforts are as much about teaching and helping the Ugandan students maintain the infrastructure, as it is about building the network.

As with rural U.S. deployments, Thompson stresses the importance of creating sustainable networks. In the case of the schools, the school’s connectivity could become an anchor tenant of sorts for local shops or even adjacent farms.

Jacki Miskimins, Vantage Point Director of Marketing, builds on Thompson’s comments pointing out that, like rural U.S. ISPs, “They [the Ugandans] are smart and resilient and eager and inspired.” She indicates that Vantage Point believes that “Better broadband means better lives” and that this improvement in the quality of life is what she and her colleagues thrive on.

Their efforts are more than building physical communications networks, however, as both Miskimins and Kristy Szabo helped organize and lead leadership training. Szabo, Vantage Point Director of Consulting, describes an atmosphere of people eager to absorb and learn new things. Like Vantage Point’s U.S. customers, Szabo likens being a community leader to a lifestyle – doing what is right for the community – as opposed to a career path.

Interview Highlights

• 00:29 – The locations where Thompson and crew build networks consist of mud huts and average wages of $2 per day.
• 01:03 – Beyond the mid-mile, reliable power is a huge challenge as outages can last for days. Overcoming the challenges leads to opportunities as we have in the United States, says Thompson.
• 01:42 – Miskimins talks about her trips to Uganda, which she calls inspiring, and her involvement with the leadership conference.
• 02:34 – Szabo led a session on balancing how to be a leader, a mother, and a wife. She believes that she learned more from the women in attendance than they did from her. She says that “The role women play in Uganda is amazing.”
• 03:13 – One of Larry’s takeaways is the similarities between people, even with such a stark difference in material wealth.
• 03:52 – Thompson stresses the importance of sustainability beyond just an infusion of one-time capital.
• 04:32 – Miskimins says it is an honor to help people help themselves.
• 05:26 – Szabo emphasizes how happy, embracing, loving, and appreciative the people are.
• 06:35 – With about 185 Ugandan employees and 3 U.S. employees, the AsOne Ministries lives up to its motto of “Ugandans empowering Ugandans.”
• 07:05 – Larry talks about some of the things he has learned from his multiple trips to Uganda.

ViodiTV coverage of NTCA’s RTIME 2023 courtesy of Calix.