Intel offers Saudi Arabia a boost in WiMax and E-learning

7 Apr 2008 | 14:58 BST

By Sylvie Barak

SAUDI ARABIA WAS THE first stop on Intel Chairman, Craig Barret’s whistle-stop tour of the Middle East’s Gulf States, which kicked off yesterday. On his travels, Barret is purportedly offering Intel’s technical support to build up the region’s high speed, wireless WiMax technology, and pilot projects aimed at e-learning in Saudi Arabian schools.

Under the auspices of his role as chairman of a United Nations panel on technology and also as an emissary of the Intel World Ahead Program, Barrett will visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, in what Intel calls a “global initiative” which “strives to improve education, healthcare, entrepreneurship and government services by accelerating access to computers, connectivity and localized Internet content”. What Intel thinks about recent reports of honour killings and religious rants by Saudi clerics on social networking sites and easier online access to “immoral” content by the region’s youth, is not mentioned.

What Barrett did say was that "Investments in education are important to the future, in the Arab world and around the globe." To this end, Intel said it would be launching an e-learning pilot programme, which would see schools outfitted with notebook computers and Intel-powered Classmate PCs.

As for its WiMax plans, whilst in Riyadh, Barrett signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia's telecom operator, STC and Knowledge Economic City (KEC) of Medina, to set up a fully working WiMAX network, by 2011. µ

L’Inq
Intel Press Release

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