Center

Broadband helps connect remote areas

By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-01 09:12

Currently more than 8,800 small villages in the province have no telecoms service, while 7,000 large villages have no broadband.

Chen Qinggong, a middle-aged university teacher in Guangzhou, was delighted with the news for personal reasons.

"With a telephone service available soon, I'll be able to talk to my elderly parents often," he said.

Chen's parents live in a very small village in the mountainous county of Raoping in east Guangdong.

According to Chen Junhua, an official with the provincial information industry department, the MOU will step up the pace of "digitalizing Guangdong" in rural areas.

The programme was kicked off in 2003 when the provincial government earmarked 35 million yuan (US$4.32 million) each year for the next five years.

IT companies such as Intel and TCL are participating in the programme.

Intel, for example, is financing 100 IT learning centres this year and will train 3000 rural staff. These staff are in turn expected to teach 1 million rural residents basic computing skills.

One service proving popular is being run by China Mobile. The firm provides 3 million rural subscribers with free text messages.

Ma Weiwen, a middle-aged farmer in a rural town called Feilaixia in Qingyuan, said these special text messages have become a normal part of his day.

"The messages are very useful for us, they are teaching us how to select good seeds, when and how to prevent pests, how to take better care of fruit trees, how to pick and keep fresh seasonal fruits like lychees and longan," said Ma.

Ma said he is expecting a bumper harvest of longan, about 3,500 kilograms, later this month.

"I have been learning how to use a computer and how to place ads online at the IT leaning centre in my village." he said. "I'm going to put the information of my longan on the Internet soon."