Wimax to bridge Mae Hong Song’s digital divide
Written by Writer on Saturday, October 4th, 2008
Wimax to bridge Mae Hong Song’s digital divide
By Pongpen Sutharoj
The Nation
Mae Hong Son
Nectec will implement the technology in the region within first half of next year
Despite being in a deep valley where telecommunication infrastructure is limited, people in the isolated region of Mae Hong Son will no longer feel left behind as they will now get a chance to connect to the outside world through WiMax - the latest wireless broadband technology platform.
With WiMax, students in the region, who are mostly from hill tribes, will be able to access a wide range of information and educational content from distant sources to develop new skills, enhance their learning and improve their standard of living.
The move to implement WiMax in Mae Hong Son is part of the National Electronics and Computer Tech-|nology Centre’s (Nectec) IT Valley project aimed at promoting the province as a technology-development centre.
Last month, Nectec obtained approval from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to test WiMax technology in Mae Hong Son for three years.
NTC has allocated radio-frequency waves between 2.50 to 2.52 gigahertz for the pilot project.
The centre has also received assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for the technology’s implementation in the valley region.
Nectec deputy director and IT Valley Project director Kwan Sitathani said the agency hoped to improve the standard of living of the people in the province and, more importantly, eliminate the digital divide between the isolated region and the rest of the world.
“We believe the new WiMax technology will have a social impact on the people in Mae Hong Son because they will be able to utilise the technology to connect to the outside world and improve their education. It will eventually also help create new job opportunities for the locals, enabling them to earn while staying in the province,” he said.
Currently, a team at Nectec is surveying potential areas for setting up WiMax base stations and hopes to begin implementation by early next year.
Nectec’s National Security Technology and Innovation Laboratory director Siwaruk Siwamogsatham, who is overseeing the WiMax implementation in the province, said the team plans to initially set up three to four base stations in Muang, Mae Sarieng and Pai districts.
The company aims to bring wireless broadband services to the province within the first half of next year.
“Because Mae Hong Son is surrounded by high mountains, wireless technology will be the answer to all its Internet connectivity needs,” he said.
In the first phase, the team will set up a base station that will provide connectivity to 20 WiMax clients, such as schools and government offices, located within a 10-kilometre radius of the station in each district.
The 1-megabit-per-second broadband infrastructure will provide connectivity to schools and government offices, allowing them to access information, which will help improve |their work processes and enhance |knowledge.
Kwan said WiMax would help schools improve their system because it will provide access to a wide range of educational content from outside sources to students.
“Earlier, children in the province lagged behind in knowledge, but with WiMax, they will get similar opportunities as children in bigger cities,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the government sector, the wireless broadband service will help officials improve their internal work processes.
These could serve as a foundation for government agencies to provide electronic services to people.
WiMax technology can also help in the development of various kinds of applications in Mae Hong Son. Siwaruk envisions WiMax could, for example, help create an e-learning system in the province.
With this three-year pilot, Nectec will be able to evaluate the efficiency of deploying WiMax in the valley and study both the technological and social impact on the region’s people.
In the short term, the centre will use imported WiMax equipment sponsored by Jica. But later, Nectec plans to develop equipment indegeneously, which will bring down costs by about 50 per cent.
