The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Wireless Bangalore in 18 months

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 24, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Wireless Bangalore in 18 months

Staff Reporter

Unrestricted Internet access to be offered

Rs. 900 crore to be spent on unwired
Bangalore project
Vision group set up for nanotechnology sector

BANGALORE: Bangalore is set to offer unhindered wireless Internet access to the entire Greater Bangalore within 18 months. With this, Bangalore will be the second wireless city after Taiwanese capital Taipei.

“Project Unwired Bangalore has just been launched as we strongly believe mobility in terms of personal computers and laptops,” said M.N. Vidyashankar, Secretary to Government (Information Technology and Biotechnology), here on Friday.

He was speaking after inaugurating a five-year integrated M.Sc. course in biological sciences of the Bangalore University on its Jnana Bharathi campus here.

Stating that the 21st Century belonged to wireless and nano technology, Mr. Vidyashankar said Karnataka, being the pioneer in information and biotechnology, had planned well to be ahead of others in these fields.

Wireless Bangalore was one among the two major initiatives of the Government while focus on nanotechnology was the other, Mr. Vidyashankar said.

Unrestricted Internet access will be offered in the entire 743-sq. km. area of Greater Bangalore under the unwired Bangalore project, which requires an investment of over Rs. 900 crore.

To give fillip to nano technology, the Government has constituted a vision group for the sector under the stewardship of scientist C.N.R. Rao. On the lines of IT.IN and Bangalore Bio, “Bangalore Nano” is slated to be held in Bangalore on December 6 and 7, he said. Mr. Vidyashankar said that the IT and BT sectors had been witnessing 35 and 40 per cent annual growth respectively.

The biotechnology sector, particularly agri-bio and pharma-bio sectors in Karnataka, had been witnessing a phenomenal growth of 170 per cent as against the national average of 20 per cent, he pointed out.

Commending Bangalore University for taking up the initiative to start an integrated course in biological sciences, Mr. Vidyashankar said students who complete the course would have a bright future.

Bio-technology industries in Karnataka had taken the initiative of setting up a finishing school that would start functioning in February next, he added.

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