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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Oct. 27 The Intel Corp CEO, Mr Paul S. Otellini, on Tuesday asked India to make broadband wireless access a national imperative to leverage healthcare, education and employment opportunities.

The global chipmaker also announced a WiMAX acceleration programme here in alliance with two Indian companies.

The visiting Intel chief sounded upbeat on India’s design and development capabilities, although the company has no plans to set up a manufacturing unit in the country.

The WiMAX acceleration programme will see Intel, BSNL and HCL Infosystems adopting a slew of initiatives to expand access to wireless broadband Internet, and to roll out WiMAX-capable ‘nettops’ loaded with Atom chips in the coming months. The pricing of these devices has not been finalised yet.

Intel and BSNL will jointly propagate wireless broadband Internet, a move that will ultimately translate into a nation-wide mobile WiMAX network.

BSNL will also work with Intel and HCL Infosystems to make available WiMAX-capable computers in rural regions.

The ‘nettops’ have been designed by Intel and HCL Infosystems; they will be manufactured by HCL Infosystems and will use Intel’s Atom chips.

“India has done an excellent job in putting cell phones in the hands of its people…the next challenge is making broadband wireless access a national imperative. It will lead to better opportunities in education, healthcare, and employment,” Mr Otellini said.

Citing the recent measures taken by China to boost its PC penetration, he said, the country was set to surpass the US, over the next few years, as the world’s single largest market for computing.

“We are excited about India because it is China minus ten years in adoption of computers. If we start initiatives today, there is a good chance that we can accelerate the penetration and growth rates,” he said.

Intel, he said, did not need any more capacity and so there were no plans to put up a factory in India. “But it makes good economic and technical sense to pursue product development, which is a better investment,” he added.

On the delay in the auctioning of spectrum, the Intel CEO said it would not cause much disruption.

“The technology for WiMAX, which we are interested in, is in deployment worldwide over the last 12 months. So in the worst case, it (India) is just six months behind. I understand that the spectrum auction in India is slated for January 2010…it is quite adequate. A number of companies are interested and the rates seem reasonable,” he said.

Mr Otellini said that corporate spending on PC was expected to show a significant improvement in 2010.

Computing was moving towards small and low-cost devices, and Intel is building chips to bring WiMAX access to these smaller devices, netbooks and smartphones, he pointed out.

The WiMAX acceleration programme will see Intel, BSNL and HCL Infosystems adopting a slew of initiatives to expand access to wireless broadband Internet, and rolling out WiMAX-capable ‘nettops’ loaded with Atom chips.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Alliances & Joint Ventures | Broadband

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