India to get WiMax-ready devices

NEW DELHI, INDIA: At a telecommunication conference, Sriram Viswanathan, VP and GM—WiMax Program Office, Intel announced that Intel Corp is working with Indian service providers (SPs) and device manufacturers to help bring WiMax-ready notebooks and netbooks to the India market segment mid-2009.

Established by Intel and the WiMax Forum India, this group will gather key global WiMax company participants in India to collaborate with WiMax SPs, as well as local government and businesses to deliver innovative, affordable WiMax-enabled devices targeted specifically to meet the needs of the India market segment.

“The availability of low-cost devices for end users forms an essential part of the promise and capability of WiMax,” said Viswanathan.

As new networks are deployed, Intel and the WiMax Forum India will work with the ecosystem to bring innovative and affordable devices to market, meeting the needs of the Indian people as well as the goals of governments and SPs.

“These efforts are in line with Intel’s focus of connecting Indians to the Internet and enable them to leverage its unlimited potential. WiMax is a major component in Intel’s goal to shift the industry and consumers to a ‘mobile Internet’,” added R Sivakumar, MD—Sales and Marketing, Intel South Asia.

The initial focus will be on 2.3 and 2.5GHz devices. Companies will be joined by the Open Patent Alliance and other important ecosystem members to determine device needs, time lines, testing and interoperability plans and collaborate on cost reduction programs for fixed, portable and mobile devices.

According to the WiMax Forum, they project there will be more than 27.5 million broadband Internet users in India by 2012.