Intel (China) Ltd yesterday signed an agreement with the
Guangdong Provincial Information Industry Department to promote the
use of information technology in the province's rural areas.
Under the agreement, Intel will provide financial and
technological support and human resources to the province's IT
applications for rural areas program.
The program provides training, the construction of IT
application experience centers, development of information
resources and content, development of affordable and computers and
software, as well as service promotions.
The plan is to establish 100 IT application experience centers
in the province and offer training courses for 3,000 rural
information service staff members, who will then train a rural
population of one million throughout the province.
The IT application experience centers, by integrating the
resources of the government, computer manufacturers, Internet
operators and content providers, will be able to train the rural
population on how to use a computer, how to use the Internet and
produce Internet advertisements.
The centers will also offer Internet access to those who cannot
afford personal computers and will offer professional consultation
services, free of charge, on purchasing a computer.
A thousand IT application experience centers are to be set up in
the province over a period of three years.
"IT application in rural areas is a long-term and systematic
project," said Jane Price, Intel China country manager. "It is
Intel's long-term commitment to offer all kinds of support for the
promotion of the project."
She said Intel has also participated in the pilot rural IT
applications projects in Beijing, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shandong, Henan and Yunnan.
Price said Intel's involvement in the rural IT applications
program in Guangdong and in other parts of China is part of the
company's "World Ahead Program".
With capital inputs of more than US$1 billion over the coming
five years, the program aims to expedite access to technology and
education for people in developing countries worldwide.
The program aims to create opportunities for widespread ownership
and use of personal computers, to expand wireless broadband
Internet access, and groom students for success in the global
economy.
Vice-Minister of the Information Industry Gou Zhongwen spoke
highly of Guangdong's efforts to promote IT applications in its
rural regions, saying that the province's IT program has become a
vanguard of the nation.
Guangdong began introducing IT applications to the rural areas
in 2003, and has earmarked 175 million yuan (US$21.58 million) for
the program.
(China Daily May 17, 2006)