Post by Bozur on Dec 16, 2007 17:25:02 GMT -5
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Macedonia Becomes World's First 'Wireless' Country
Working with the Government of Macedonia and the private sector, AED has helped transform Macedonia, once the least developed of the Yugoslav republics, into the world's first 'wireless country' of its size or larger.
Now a vast majority—95 percent—of the country's population has access to wireless, broadband Internet service.
Through a grant from USAID, the AED project Macedonia Connects worked with a local Internet service provider to connect every one of the country's 460 primary and secondary schools to a wireless network. Two years ago most of these schools did not even have working telephones. Now each is outfitted with a computer lab, and the students are connected to the world.
That network became the backbone for the national wireless system. Macedonia Connects also worked to extend the reach of the wireless network to rural communities scattered throughout the rugged mountainous countryside.
"Our project team had the technical vision of how the network we created for the schools could be expanded to benefit the entire country," said Dennis Foote, vice president and director of the AED Center for Applied Technology. "We were able to make it happen through support from USAID's 'Last Mile Initiative,' which Administrator Natsios created to expand the access of the rural poor to communications."
The public-private partnership involved in making this exciting advancement possible includes members from the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian Ministry of Education and Science, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the People's Republic of China, Microsoft, and Motorola. Microsoft provided valuable software packages and licenses to the government of Macedonia, and Motorola contributed necessary hardware.
"This infrastructure will bring in investment and create jobs", says Jani Makraduli, President of the Committee for Information Technology of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. "The benefits to the country are mind boggling. Already, private companies are poised to take advantage of the new system."
Another result of the Macedonia Connects project was a steep reduction in the costs associated with Internet access. According to Glenn Strachan, who directed the project for AED, there is now more competition among Internet service providers in Macedonia, prices have dropped, and "the Internet is accessible to students, teachers, and the general population, rather than just the wealthiest section of society."
ewancoo.blogspot.com/2007/03/macedonia-becomes-worlds-first-wireless.html
Macedonia Becomes World's First 'Wireless' Country
Working with the Government of Macedonia and the private sector, AED has helped transform Macedonia, once the least developed of the Yugoslav republics, into the world's first 'wireless country' of its size or larger.
Now a vast majority—95 percent—of the country's population has access to wireless, broadband Internet service.
Through a grant from USAID, the AED project Macedonia Connects worked with a local Internet service provider to connect every one of the country's 460 primary and secondary schools to a wireless network. Two years ago most of these schools did not even have working telephones. Now each is outfitted with a computer lab, and the students are connected to the world.
That network became the backbone for the national wireless system. Macedonia Connects also worked to extend the reach of the wireless network to rural communities scattered throughout the rugged mountainous countryside.
"Our project team had the technical vision of how the network we created for the schools could be expanded to benefit the entire country," said Dennis Foote, vice president and director of the AED Center for Applied Technology. "We were able to make it happen through support from USAID's 'Last Mile Initiative,' which Administrator Natsios created to expand the access of the rural poor to communications."
The public-private partnership involved in making this exciting advancement possible includes members from the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian Ministry of Education and Science, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the People's Republic of China, Microsoft, and Motorola. Microsoft provided valuable software packages and licenses to the government of Macedonia, and Motorola contributed necessary hardware.
"This infrastructure will bring in investment and create jobs", says Jani Makraduli, President of the Committee for Information Technology of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. "The benefits to the country are mind boggling. Already, private companies are poised to take advantage of the new system."
Another result of the Macedonia Connects project was a steep reduction in the costs associated with Internet access. According to Glenn Strachan, who directed the project for AED, there is now more competition among Internet service providers in Macedonia, prices have dropped, and "the Internet is accessible to students, teachers, and the general population, rather than just the wealthiest section of society."
ewancoo.blogspot.com/2007/03/macedonia-becomes-worlds-first-wireless.html