Wireless initiative connects remote areas

Hanoi Times – Wireless internet facilities will be set up in rural areas across Vietnam under a project to improve access to education resources in disadvantaged areas.

Muong students learn how to access the internet in the northern province of Hoa Binh. Wireless internet facilities will be set up in Vietnam’s disadvantaged areas to improve access to education resources.

US-based wireless technologies developer Qualcomm o­n Monday said it was working o­n a project to provide CDMA wireless broadband services at Han’s Community Technology and Learning Centre (CTLC), part of the broader initiative to expand wireless internet access across the country.

The centre in Dong Anh District is part of the broader Training o­nline Programs and Incubation for Communities (TOPIC64) initiative, supported by USAID, Qualcomm and others. The initiative aims to empower disadvantaged communities in each of Vietnam’s 64 provinces by establishing a network of community learning centers with computers, software and Internet connectivity via 3G CDMA wireless technology.

The project’s partners also include the United States Embassy, Electricity Viet Nam Telecom (EVN Telecom), Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Vietnam’s Centre for Research and Consulting o­n Management.

Each organization contributed to the project by providing software, equipment, technical support, and management for implementing and administrating the project and wireless equipment.

"TOPIC64 is an excellent example of the power of public-private partnerships to facilitate education in Vietnam by bringing affordable wireless voice and data services to rural areas and creating learning opportunities for Vietnamese communities," said US Ambassador Michael Michalak.

Qualcomm’s vice-president of business development, Ming Li, said the company would actively support the Vietnamese Government in improving Internet penetration rates and the overall educational environment.

TOPIC64 was launched in April 2006 as o­ne of Qualcomm’s first wireless initiatives in Vietnam. It seeks to educate Vietnamese citizens in basic IT, management and marketing skills by providing technical expertise via teacher training and technical support at each of the community centers.

TOPIC64 has already been recognized internationally by being short-listed in the finals of two awards that recognize excellence in the application of technology for education.

Director of the Centre for Research and Consulting o­n Management, Pham Tuan, said that approximately 24,000 students have been trained with the centers’ basic IT training program and 840 teachers have been tested and trained in the new curriculum and teaching methodology.