Aid Agency's Initiative Brings Internet to Rural Vietnam

USAID program also will open 60 technology-training centers in Lao Cai province

Many rural parts of Lao Cai province in Vietnam now have Internet access, and 60 technology-training centers will open within two years, thanks to a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program that has drawn support from U.S. corporations, Vietnamese companies and governments in both countries.

In October, the Last Mile Initiative launched WiMAX technology, or "WiFi [wireless fidelity - a wireless method of connecting with the Internet] on steroids," according to Juan A. B. Belt, director of the Office of Infrastructure and Engineering in USAID's Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT).

Like WiFi, WiMAX offers wireless broadband Internet connectivity, but with a much greater range. Instead of serving only one building like a WiFi connection does, WiMAX allows users to log on to a wireless network anywhere in the community.

"What has always excited us about these technologies is that they are wireless," said Bernard J. Mazer, EGAT team leader for information and communications technology. "We are able to override the lack of wires or landlines in the community."

In a place where little wired infrastructure existed, the wireless network now allows nurses at rural hospitals to access medical reference information quickly on the Internet and has allowed a farmer in the countryside to stay in touch with a son who went to work in Lao Cai city, Mazer said.

Voice-over-Internet-protocol technology allows those with access to a WiFi- or WiMAX-enabled phone to make calls at low or no cost. Handsets cost around $100, but Mazer says the prices soon may fall enough for the devices to be more affordable. People also can rent the phones.

While many in Lao Cai do not own WiMAX phones or home computers, they can use this equipment at schools or community centers. Ten schools already host technology training centers, where students log on to computers to learn technology skills from a curriculum designed by Microsoft. The 60 additional tech centers will be installed in schools, libraries, post offices and other community spaces.

Other U.S. corporate partners in the project include Intel, Qualcomm and Hewlett Packard. The Vietnamese nongovernmental organization Center for Research and Consulting in Management and the utilities provider Electricity of Vietnam also provided support.

With the wireless system in place, Mazer says, companies from Vietnam or other countries will see the technology as a viable business opportunity, and take up its maintenance.

"Our idea is that we did some initial capitalization and we demonstrated that this [Internet service] is very feasible" as a business opportunity, Mazer said.

The Vietnamese government has agreed to subsidize telecommunications businesses that chose to serve rural areas using a phone bill surcharge the government collects, he said.

USAID's Last Mile Initiative has helped build information technology infrastructure in about 30 other countries since it launched in 2004. It aims to build advanced technology infrastructures, support beneficial telecommunications policy and regulatory environments and leverage partnerships between governments and private businesses.

More information about the Last Mile Initiative can be found on USAID's Web site.

For more information on U.S. policy, see Science and Technology. USINFO also held a series of webchats with experts Seymour Papert, Derek Bambauer and Shalini Venturelli November 14-16 on how low-cost laptops, cell phones and other information technologies are changing the developing world.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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