Date:20/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/20/stories/2006102011540400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bangalore to get seamless wireless connectivity soon

Special Correspondent

WiMAX technology to be rolled out by January-end or early February

Bangalore: The State Government will roll out seamless wireless connectivity in Bangalore, covering 699 sq. km, using the WiMAX technology by the end of January or the beginning of February next year, a top official has said.

"We have invited competitive offers from five pre-qualified bidders and the successful bidder, who will execute the project, will be finalised in November," M.N. Vidyashankar, Secretary, Information Technology and Biotechnology, told presspersons here on Thursday. A Government-appointed committee headed by S. Sadagopan would recommend whether there should be one or multiple players to set up the facility, he said.

But the trial run will have multiple players providing the facility free of cost to users from October 23 to November 5. "Aircel has been confirmed as one of the entities to provide the WiMAX facility. We are negotiating with two more, including Airtel, to cover a larger area," Mr. Vidyashankar said.

According to him, the trial run will cover important areas of the city, including the Vidhana Soudha, so that people will get a feel of what WiMAX is like. "We are going to use state-of-the-art WiMAX technology that was introduced just seven months ago in the U.S. and Taipei," Mr. Vidyashankar said. Bangalore would become only the second city in Asia after Taipei to introduce the facility. The fee for using the facility would be regulated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology will showcase a representative set of companies developing intellectual property (IP) in India as part of the forthcoming annual mega IT event, Bangalore IT.in

SME Forum

A Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Forum will be set up during the four-day event starting October 28 to focus on issues faced by SMEs in the IT sector, which stand to lose out heavily when compared with their larger counterparts due to economies of scale, said B.V. Naidu, Director, STPI, Bangalore and Hyderabad.