In January of 2018, we set out to demonstrate our FSOC technology in a very remote part of Andhra Pradesh, India. Our target was the Chaparai Valley in the northwest portion of the state and an area that until we deployed had been over 30km from any form of communications. What an incredibly beautiful and tranquil place. Three years ago they didn't even have roads into the valley and the people there had to walk for 3-4 days to reach a town where they could communicate with the outside world. Last year several dozen people died from malaria and they had no way to communicate with the government officials to let them know about it so the valley became a poster child for the need for 21st century communications infrastructure and a good target for us to focus on in our early deployments for AP.

Installing FSOC links in Chaparai Valley, Andhra Pradesh, India - January 19, 2018

Conference Call With Chief Minister Naidu from Chaparai Village, India

We had only two weeks to connect the villages up the valley in time for the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (Chandrababu Naidu) to demonstrate the technology during his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He wanted to hold a live video conference with the village where the malaria outbreak had occurred a year earlier. We worked around the clock to make it happen and what an incredible feeling to see the emotion on the villagers’ faces as they spoke live with the CM for the first time.