Take a look at: http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.html
It's mostly my invention, resulting from Lee Thorn's comment that the Laotian villagers with which he works doing economic development had requested a communication system which would enable them to make telephone calls. They wanted to have market information regarding pricing for their crops.
The whole system consists of parts that are available off the shelf and software that is open source. Mark Summer, a German engineer who would have been running an ISP in CAmbodia but for unforseen political events in that country, is taking the lead in implementing it. I am sawing aluminum angle stock to make the folding fram for the computer boards (PC-104 embedded baords).
I'm doing this after hours with the knowledge of my empoyer, with whom I have an agreement not to take on clients on the side. I design medical electronics for their cients. This is pro bono publico work ("for the good of the public") that is something every professional is supposed to engage in. And it's also the way to start industries (assuming everything falls into line along the way).
I've had to face up to the fact that, at heart, I am a technological adventurer. The problem is getting anyone to pay for it. Fortunately, technology is relevant to economics, and sometimes money will show up after the fact. More often it does not, but at least I improve my skills at engineering, project management, and product design.
Often, when I'm describing my latest adventure project, I will get a response to the effect of "We don't understand why you're doing that", usually from serious people who deal with serious money and serious issues. When that happens, I know I'm on the right track.
In the case of Jhai (pronounced "Djeye" as one syllable), the future i not clear either. There's a lot of people around the world in diaspora - having emigrated from one place or another. They don't want to lose their ties to the people back home, and they have developed skills and had experience that could be of great value to those back home. Right now they send money back - "remittance income" is a major source of support for many developing countries.
There's got to be a payoff in linking up the diaspora people with their lands of origin, using the best the Internet has to offer, if even for phone calls. It's my contribution to the war on terrorism, or as I put it, the war on ignorance, hatred, and vengeance. If I can't see exactly where it's going, that's no reason not to start.
2:27:35 PM 
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