Connected Indian movement takes wings

'Connected Indian' movement takes wings

Computing devices to be available at Rs. 5000; minister invites silicon giants to provide affordable WiMAX, 3G devices

Thursday, August 28, 2008

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Union Minister of Communications and IT A Raja today announced the launch of computing devices starting at an affordable price of Rs. 5000. The devices, based on Intel’s revolutionary Atom Processor, will be available in the Indian market very soon.

Launching the ‘Connected Indian’ movement, which could revolutionize the Internet connectivity in all parts of India, Raja said this could provide the ‘unconnected’ citizens with a truly affordable, simple and easy-to-use access to the Internet. He hoped that the price range would appeal very strongly to the broad citizen base.

The new movement has been facilitated by Intel with partners from the industry and support from the Government.

While addressing the gathering at the launch of ‘Connected Indian’ Raja called upon the industry to continuously innovate to create cost-effective Internet access usage models. The Minister had earlier directed Intel to create a computing device at an approximate price point of Rs.. 5,000.

Raja observed that the movement will bring with it rapid broadband deployment and help harness the powers of Internet to accelerate inclusive social and economic change.

He commended the industry for working on a new class of simple, affordable, Internet-centric devices “nettops”; “netbooks” and mobile Internet devices along with affordable broadband connectivity schemes from the service providers.

Bridging the digital divide is a key concern for India, considering that nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population has been bypassed by the ICT revolution, the minister said.

Referring to the recent announcement of the WiMAX and 3G broadband wireless access policy by the Ministry, Raja said, this will go a long way in providing true broadband Internet access in the hands of every Indian.

He said, the government would ensure that licenses are awarded so that operators can create long-term profitable business model.

He expected global silicon companies like Intel to facilitate the bulk adoption of broadband wireless through a range of affordable WiMAX & 3G devices.

Speaking on the occasion, Intel South Asia’s managing director of the sales and marketing group, R. Sivakumar said, “Intel recognizes that the Internet is capable of transforming lives and the future of our country. At the same time we also recognize that there is an urgent need for industry and government to collaborate to enable people to connect to the Internet.”

He said the ‘Connected Indians’ movement is aimed at achieving that goal.

To give a fillip to the movement, the BSNL and Intel have also announced a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will spread Internet across the country along with wireless solutions such as WiMax.

Various industry bodies such as The Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT), Confederation of Indian industry (CII), the ASSOCHAM and the WiMax forum have endorsed this movement.

NIIT will support it through its reach to proliferate the benefits of Internet education through a special course on Internet education PC fundamentals. Further, NIIT will also open various centres across India.

Tata Communications and Tata Teleservices will team up Intel to make broadband and Internet solutions pervasive. They will cover approximately 100 cities and towns over the next few months.

Google, Reliance Communications, Croma and Tata Indicom have also pledged their support to this cause.

©CyberMedia News