It complements telecommunication infrastructure belonging to existing operators in the region and provides open and non-discriminatory access to providers of wholesale and last-mile services. As such, the investment is helping to lower the investment barrier for next-generation access-network (NGA) services and eliminate the digital divide in areas currently without access to basic broadband services. The underlying idea of capturing the data and transmitting it over a wireless channel makes use of a specific wireless technique known as cooperative communications, which is low-overhead and can be implemented using low-cost radio sets.